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Monitor Kafka Clusters in Kubernetes

Overview

Kafka on Kubernetes can be monitored in SnappyFlow using two approaches:

Kafka monitoring with sfKubeAgent​

Prerequisites​

  1. sfKubeAgent container is run as a side-car n Kafka Pod

  2. Init-Container: sfKubeAgent plugin requires Jolokia to be run with the Kafka process. Jolokia exposes mbeans over default port 8778. Jolokia can be downloaded using init-container from the below url: 

    https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jolokia/jolokia-jvm/1.6.2/jolokia-jvm-1.6.2-agent.jar

    Both Confluent and Apache distributions allow Java agents to be started along with Kafka process. To start Jolokia along with the Kafka broker , set environment variable KAFKA_JMX_OPTS along with Configured agent mount path in broker’s container.

  3. The value of Kafka-JMX-OPTS must be as below:

    - name: KAFKA_JMX_OPTS
      value: "-javaagent:/agent/jolokia.jar=port=8778,host=127.0.0.1 
              -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=127.0.0.1 
              -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote=true 
              -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false  
              -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false"

    Sample Init Container Configuration for including Jolokia

    initContainers:
    - name: get-jolokia
      image: alpine
      command:
      - sh
      - -c
      - -x
      - apk add --no-cache curl && curl ${JOLOKIA_JAR_URL} -o /agent/jolokia.jar
      env:
      - name: JOLOKIA_JAR_URL
        value: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jolokia/jolokia-jvm/1.6.2/jolokia-jvm-1.6.2-agent.jar
      volumeMounts:
      - name: javaagentdir
        mountPath: /agent

Kafka Pod yaml:

Example of the Kafka Pod.yaml is below:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod

metadata:  
  labels:
    snappyflow/appname: <application_name>
    snappyflow/projectname: <project_name>
    name: kafka-pod
spec:  
  containers:
  - command:
    - sh
    - -exc
    - |
      export KAFKA_BROKER_ID=${HOSTNAME##*-} && \
      export KAFKA_ADVERTISED_LISTENERS=PLAINTEXT://kafka-pod.kafka-sfagent-kafka-sfagent-headless.default:9092,EXTERNAL://${HOST_IP}:$((31090 + ${KAFKA_BROKER_ID})) && \
      exec /etc/confluent/docker/run

    env:    
    - name: KAFKA_JMX_OPTS
      value: -javaagent:/agent/jolokia.jar=port=8778,host=127.0.0.1 -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=127.0.0.1
        -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote=true -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false  -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
    image: mahendra0939/kafka-auditable:latest
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent

    name: kafka-broker
    ports:
    - containerPort: 9092
      name: kafka
      protocol: TCP
    - containerPort: 8778
      name: jolokia
      protocol: TCP

    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /opt/kafka/data
      name: datadir
    - mountPath: /etc/customlog4j
      name: connect-log4j-properties
    - mountPath: /var/log/kafka
      name: varlog
    - mountPath: /agent
      name: javaagentdir
      readOnly: true

  - command:
    - /app/sfagent
    - -enable-console-log
    env:
    - name: APP_NAME
      value: <application_name>
    - name: PROJECT_NAME
      value: <project_name>
    image: snappyflowml/sfagent:latest
    imagePullPolicy: Always

    name: sfagent
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /var/log/kafka
      name: varlog
    - mountPath: /opt/sfagent/config.yaml
      name: sfagent-config-kafka
      subPath: config.yaml
      readOnly: true

  initContainers:
  - command:
    - sh
    - -c
    - -x
    - apk add --no-cache curl && curl ${JOLOKIA_JAR_URL} -o /agent/jolokia.jar

    env:
    - name: JOLOKIA_JAR_URL
      value: https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/org/jolokia/jolokia-jvm/1.6.2/jolokia-jvm-1.6.2-agent.jar
    image: alpine
    imagePullPolicy: Always

    name: get-jolokia 
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /agent
      name: javaagentdir
      readOnly: true

  volumes:
  - emptyDir: {}
    name: datadir    
  - emptyDir: {}
    name: javaagentdir
  - emptyDir: {}
    name: varlog
  - configMap:
      defaultMode: 420
      name: kafka-sfkubeagent-configmap
    name: sfagent-config-kafka
  - configMap:
      defaultMode: 420
      name: kafka-configmap
    name: connect-log4j-properties

In addition to the pod.yaml below config-map for sfkubeAgent container and Kafka container.

Example for the config-map are below:

Kafka config map:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:  
  name: kafka-configmap
data:
  connect-log4j.properties: "log4j.rootLogger=INFO, kafkaAppender\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender.File=/var/log/kafka/server.log\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d]
    %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.kafkaAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender.File=/var/log/kafka/state-change.log\nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout
    \   \nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d] %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.stateChangeAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\ng4j.appender.requestAppender=org.apache.log4j.DailyRollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender.File=/var/log/kafka/kafka-request.log\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d]
    %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.requestAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender.File=/logs/log-cleaner.log\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d]
    %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.cleanerAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender.File=/var/log/kafka/controller.log\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d]
    %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.controllerAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender.File=/var/log/kafka/kafka-authorizer.log\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender.layout=org.apache.log4j.PatternLayout\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender.layout.ConversionPattern=[%d]
    %p %m (%c)%n\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender=org.apache.log4j.RollingFileAppender\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender.MaxFileSize=5MB\nlog4j.appender.authorizerAppender.MaxBackupIndex=5\n
log4j.logger.kafka=INFO\nlog4j.logger.org.apache.kafka=INFO\n
log4j.logger.kafka.request.logger=WARN,
    requestAppender\nlog4j.additivity.kafka.request.logger=false\n 
log4j.logger.kafka.network.RequestChannel$=WARN,
    requestAppender\nlog4j.additivity.kafka.network.RequestChannel$=false\nlog4j.logger.kafka.controller=TRACE,
    controllerAppender\nlog4j.additivity.kafka.controller=false\nlog4j.logger.kafka.log.LogCleaner=INFO,
    cleanerAppender\nlog4j.additivity.kafka.log.LogCleaner=false\nlog4j.logger.state.change.logger=TRACE,
    stateChangeAppender\nlog4j.additivity.state.change.logger=false\n 
\nlog4j.logger.kafka.authorizer.logger=DEBUG,
    authorizerAppender\nlog4j.additivity.kafka.authorizer.logger=false\n"

Config map for Kafka sfKubeAgent:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:  
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/managed-by: Helm
    snappyflow/appname: <application_name>
    snappyflow/projectname: <project_name>
  name: kafka-sfkubeagent-configmap
data:
  config.yaml: |
    ---
    key: "<Profile_key>”
    logging:
      plugins:
      - name: kafka-general
        enabled: true
        config:
          log_level:
            - error
            - info
            - debug
            - warn
            - notice
          log_path: /var/log/kafka/server.log,/var/log/kafka/state-change.log,/var/log/kafka/kafka-request.log,/var/log/kafka/controller.log,/var/log/kafka/kafka-authorizer.log

    metrics:
      plugins:
      - name: kube-sfagent-kafkatopic
        enabled: true
        interval: 300
        config:
          documentsTypes:
            - kafkaStats
            - partitionStats
            - topicStats
            - consumerStats
          jolokiaPort: 8778
          RMIPort: 8778
          jolokiaContext: jolokia
          jolokiaProtocol: http
          jolokiaProxy: false
          port: 9092
          process: kafka.Kafka,io.confluent.support.metrics.SupportedKafka 
 
      - name: kube-sfagent-kafkajmx
        enabled: true
        interval: 300
        config:
          process: kafka.Kafka,io.confluent.support.metrics.SupportedKafka
          jolokiaPort: 8778
          RMIPort: 8778
          jolokiaContext: jolokia
          jolokiaProtocol: http
          jolokiaProxy: false

Plugin Type kafkatopic consists of documents organized into following types

  • Kafka stats: contain transactional data and metrics related to broker state

  • Topic stats: provide metrics for analyzing internal transactions associated with each topic

  • Partition stats: provide log size and segment information for each partition

  • Consumer stats: provide consumer lag and offset information

    Plugin Type kafkajmx contains single type of document

  • JVM stats: contain all JVM related metrics like garbage collection details, memory pools, loaded/unloaded classes etc.

Configuration Parameters Breakdown​

jolokiaPort: port on which jolokia based requests are served

jolokiaContext: context makes jolokia endpoint. Default value is string

jolokiaProtocol: request/response protocol

jolokiaProxy: jolokia proxy mode, if enabled for Jolokia agent

RMIPort: RMI port. if enabled

Viewing data and dashboards​

  • Metric data generated by plugin can be viewed in browse data page inside the respective application under metrics section with plugin= kube-sfagent-kafkajmx and documentType= jmxStats. Data from topics can be found in metrics section with plugin= kube-sfagent-kafkatopic and documentType= consumerStats , kafkaStats, partitionStats , topicStats.

  • Dashboard for this data can be instantiated by Importing dashboard template Kafka_Kube_SF to the application dashboard

    For help with plugins, please reach out to support@snappyflow.io.

Kafka monitoring with Prometheus:​

Refer to Prometheus Exporter Overview to understand how SnappyFlow monitors using Prometheus exporters.

Prerequisites​

  • Enabling JMX Monitoring

    JMX monitoring needs to be enabled for the kafka process. Following properties need to be set for the process.

    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
    -Djava.rmi.server.hostname=0.0.0.0 
    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.local.only=false 
    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.port= userDefinedJMXPort 
    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.rmi.port= userDefinedJMXPort 
    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false 
    -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false

  • Prometheus JMX exporter Integration

    Docker Image: solsson/kafka-prometheus-jmx-exporter@sha256
    Image Tag: a23062396cd5af1acdf76512632c20ea6be76885dfc20cd9ff40fb23846557e8

    Configuration: Exporter needs to be deployed as one of the containers in broker pods and following command needs to be executed as the actual container process

    java -jar jmx_prometheus_httpserver.jar userDefinedPrometheusPort configurationFile

    Instrumentation: Prometheus instrumentation is based on the exporter rules specified in exporterConfigurationFile. Config File needs to be mounted with following contents

    jmxUrl: service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://127.0.0.1:userDefinedJMXPort/jmxrmi
    lowercaseOutputName: true
    lowercaseOutputLabelNames: true
    ssl: false

    whitelistObjectNames: ["kafka.controller:*","kafka.server:*","java.lang:*","kafka.network:*","kafka.log:*"]

    rules:
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerChannelManager), name=(QueueSize), broker-id=(\d+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
      broker_id: "$3"
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerChannelManager), name=(TotalQueueSize)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(KafkaController), name=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerStats), name=(.+)><>(Count|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(ReplicaFetcherManager), name=(.+), clientId=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        client_id: "$3"
    - pattern : kafka.network<type=(Processor), name=(IdlePercent), networkProcessor=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_network_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        network_processor: $3
    - pattern : kafka.network<type=(RequestMetrics), name=(.+), request=([^,]+).*><>(Count|OneMinuteRate|Mean)
      name: kafka_network_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        request: $3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+), name=(.+), topic=(.+)><>(Count|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        topic: $3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(DelayedOperationPurgatory), name=(.+), delayedOperation=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$3_$4
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+), name=(.+)><>(Count|Value|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_server_$1_total_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+)><>(queue-size)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2
    - pattern: java.lang<type=(.+), name=(.+)><(.+)>(\w+)
      name: java_lang_$1_$4_$3_$2
    - pattern: java.lang<type=(.+), name=(.+)><>(\w+)
      name: java_lang_$1_$3_$2
    - pattern : java.lang<type=(.*)>
    - pattern: kafka.log<type=(.+), name=(.+), topic=(.+), partition=(.+)><>Value
      name: kafka_log_$1_$2
      labels:
        topic: $3
        partition: $4
    note

    By default, confluent and apache kafka helm charts ships with the JMX exporter. In these charts , JMX port will be set to 5555 by default .Exporter rules and whitelisted objects only needs to be updated with the above specified Instrumentation in the configuration file.

    Kubernetes service needs to be created for exposing userDefinedPrometheusPort

    Reference: Prometheus JMX exporter

  • Danielqs Exporter

    Docker Image: danielqsj/kafka-exporter
    Image Tag: v1.0.1

    Configuration: Exporter is installed as a container in separate pod. Kafka broker details and prometheus listener port needs to be configured in following way

    - args:
      - --kafka.server= brokerhost:brokerPort
      - --web.listen-address=:userDefinedPrometheusListenerPort

    Kubernetes service needs to be created for exposing userDefinedPrometheusListenerPort

    Reference: Danielqs Exporter

Documents​

Plugin Type kube-prom-kafka-jmx contains the metrics organized into following document types

  • Kafka stats: contain transactional data and metrics related to broker state
  • Topic stats: provide metrics for analyzing internal transactions associated with each topic
  • Partition stats: provide log size information for each partition
  • jmx stats: contain all JVM related metrics like garbage collection details, memory pools, loaded/unloaded classes etc.

Plugin Type kube-prom-kafka contains the metrics organized into following document types

  • Consumer stats: Contains consumers related information and the total partiton count.

Configmap for kafka Prometheus

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:  
  name: kafka-prom-configmap
data:
  jmx-kafka-prometheus.yml: |
    jmxUrl: service:jmx:rmi:///jndi/rmi://127.0.0.1:5555/jmxrmi
    lowercaseOutputName: true
    lowercaseOutputLabelNames: true
    ssl: false

    whitelistObjectNames: ["kafka.controller:*","kafka.server:*","java.lang:*","kafka.network:*","kafka.log:*"]

    rules:
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerChannelManager), name=(QueueSize), broker-id=(\d+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        broker_id: "$3"
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerChannelManager), name=(TotalQueueSize)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(KafkaController), name=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.controller<type=(ControllerStats), name=(.+)><>(Count|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_controller_$1_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(ReplicaFetcherManager), name=(.+), clientId=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        client_id: "$3"
    - pattern : kafka.network<type=(Processor), name=(IdlePercent), networkProcessor=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_network_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        network_processor: $3
    - pattern : kafka.network<type=(RequestMetrics), name=(.+), request=([^,]+).*><>(Count|OneMinuteRate|Mean)
      name: kafka_network_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        request: $3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+), name=(.+), topic=(.+)><>(Count|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$4
      labels:
        topic: $3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(DelayedOperationPurgatory), name=(.+), delayedOperation=(.+)><>(Value)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2_$3_$4
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+), name=(.+)><>(Count|Value|OneMinuteRate)
      name: kafka_server_$1_total_$2_$3
    - pattern: kafka.server<type=(.+)><>(queue-size)
      name: kafka_server_$1_$2
    - pattern: java.lang<type=(.+), name=(.+)><(.+)>(\w+)
      name: java_lang_$1_$4_$3_$2
    - pattern: java.lang<type=(.+), name=(.+)><>(\w+)
      name: java_lang_$1_$3_$2
    - pattern : java.lang<type=(.*)>
    - pattern: kafka.log<type=(.+), name=(.+), topic=(.+), partition=(.+)><>Value
      name: kafka_log_$1_$2
      labels:
        topic: $3
        partition: $4

Kafka Service YAML

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  labels:
    snappyflow/appname: <application_name>
    snappyflow/plugin: kafka-jmx
    snappyflow/projectname: <project_name>
  name: kafka-prom-service
  ports:
  - name: broker
    port: 9092
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 9092
  - name: jmx-exporter
    port: 5555
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 5556
  - name: kafka-exporter
    port: 9308
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 9308
  type: ClusterIP

Kafka Pod YAML

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  labels:   
    snappyflow/appname: <application_name>
    snappyflow/component: kafka
    snappyflow/projectname: <project_name>    
  name: kafka-prom-pod
spec:
  containers:
  - command:
    - java
    - -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions
    - -XX:+UseCGroupMemoryLimitForHeap
    - -XX:MaxRAMFraction=1
    - -XshowSettings:vm
    - -jar
    - jmx_prometheus_httpserver.jar
    - "5556"
    - /etc/jmx-kafka/jmx-kafka-prometheus.yml
    image: solsson/kafka-prometheus-jmx-exporter@sha256:a23062396cd5af1acdf76512632c20ea6be76885dfc20cd9ff40fb23846557e8
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    name: metrics
    ports:
    - containerPort: 5556
      protocol: TCP
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /etc/jmx-kafka
      name: jmx-config
      readOnly: true

  - command:
    - sh
    - -exc
    - |
      export KAFKA_BROKER_ID=${HOSTNAME##*-} && \
      export KAFKA_ADVERTISED_LISTENERS=PLAINTEXT://${POD_NAME}.kafka-prom-kafka-headless.${POD_NAMESPACE}:9092,EXTERNAL://${HOST_IP}:$((31090 + ${KAFKA_BROKER_ID})) && \
      exec /etc/confluent/docker/run
    env:
    - name: JMX_PORT
      value: "5555"
    - name: KAFKA_JMX_OPTS
      value: -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote=true -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.authenticate=false  -Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote.ssl=false
    image: mahendra0939/kafka-auditable:latest
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    livenessProbe:
      exec:
        command:
        - sh
        - -ec
        - /usr/bin/jps | /bin/grep -q SupportedKafka
    name: kafka-broker
    ports:
    - containerPort: 9092
      name: kafka
      protocol: TCP
    - containerPort: 8778
      name: jolokia
      protocol: TCP
    - containerPort: 5555
      name: jmx
      protocol: TCP
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /opt/kafka/data
      name: datadir
    - mountPath: /var/log/kafka
      name: varlog
    - mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
      name: kafka-prom-token-s8fmp
      readOnly: true

  - args:
    - --kafka.server=kafka-prom-service:9092
    - --web.listen-address=:9308
    image: danielqsj/kafka-exporter:v1.0.1
    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
    name: kafka-exporter
    ports:
    - containerPort: 9308
      protocol: TCP
    volumeMounts:
    - mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
      name: default-token-lv29f
      readOnly: true  

  volumes:
  - name: datadir
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: datadir-kafka-prom-kafka-0
  - emptyDir: {}
    name: varlog
  - configMap:
      defaultMode: 420
      name: kafka-prom-configmap
    name: jmx-config
  - name: default-token-lv29f
    secret:
      defaultMode: 420
      secretName: default-token-lv29f

Viewing data and dashboards​

  • Data generated by plugin can be viewed in browse data page inside the respective application under plugin= kube-prom-kafka and documentType= consumerStats . JMX Data can be found in metrics section with plugin= kube-prom-kafka-jmx and documentType= jmxStats , kafkaStats, partitionStats , topicStats.
  • Dashboard for this data can be instantiated by Importing dashboard template Kafka_Kube_Prom to the application dashboard

For help with plugins, please reach out to support@snappyflow.io.