Explore your cluster

lab

This procedure is part of a lab that teaches you how to monitor your Kubernetes cluster with Pixie.

Each procedure in the lab builds upon the last, so make sure you've completed the last procedure, Set up your TinyHat environment, before starting this one.

Your website, TinyHat.me, runs in Kubernetes. While Pixie helps you monitor your cluster and find the source of problems that arise within it, it's helpful to know about your cluster's structure and the components that make it up before learning how to use Pixie.

Step 1 of 4

View your pods:

bash

$kubectl get pods
NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
add-service-5487c78c86-rsx2n            1/1     Running   0          10m
admin-service-7cdcb754c9-blwpf          1/1     Running   0          10m
fetch-service-68d9876b8b-2tb45          1/1     Running   5          10m
frontend-service-649f75984b-xdgtg       1/1     Running   0          10m
gateway-service-6bcb8bc8d5-hwxcl        1/1     Running   0          10m
manipulation-service-75c4454b5d-687tf   1/1     Running   0          10m
moderate-service-55985878d-td2tl        1/1     Running   0          10m
mysql-576f9d87d9-45cc4                  1/1     Running   0          10m
simulator-554c8577-5nn52                1/1     Running   0          10m
upload-service-7f68c55ddc-d5kd5         1/1     Running   0          10m

Important

Every pod should be running by now, but if one isn't, give it few more minutes.

Here, you see nine containerized services and one simulator, each with their own pod. Instead of going into detail about the services now, you'll learn about them in context as you walk through this lab's scenarios. The simulator generates load to your website so you don't have to.

Step 2 of 4

View your services next:

bash

$kubectl get services
NAME                   TYPE           CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP      PORT(S)        AGE
add-service            ClusterIP      10.108.136.0     <none>           80/TCP         13m
admin-service          ClusterIP      10.108.79.227    <none>           80/TCP         13m
fetch-service          ClusterIP      10.97.60.129     <none>           80/TCP         13m
frontend-service       LoadBalancer   10.106.184.90    10.106.184.90    80:32327/TCP   13m
gateway-service        LoadBalancer   10.108.122.133   10.108.122.133   80:30691/TCP   13m
kubernetes             ClusterIP      10.96.0.1        <none>           443/TCP        15m
manipulation-service   ClusterIP      10.102.93.91     <none>           80/TCP         13m
moderate-service       ClusterIP      10.107.191.29    <none>           80/TCP         13m
mysql                  ClusterIP      10.96.37.225     <none>           3306/TCP       13m
upload-service         ClusterIP      10.96.216.177    <none>           80/TCP         13m

Here, you see your Kubernetes services. Notice that most of your app services have a corresponding Kubernetes service. One of these services is particularly important: frontend-service. This is a LoadBalancer that you connect to when you view your site.

Step 3 of 4

Speaking of viewing your site, do that now by opening the EXTERNAL-IP that you see for frontend-service in your browser:

TinyHat.me

Important

If the frontend service's External-IP is pending, you probably forgot to minikube tunnel -p minikube-pixie-lab in another window.

Step 4 of 4

Select a number of hats to display and a hat type. Then, select Hat Me:

TinyHat.me showing a picture of Bob Ross with cat ears

Now Bob Ross is wearing the hat(s) that you selected. Cool, right?

With a better understanding of your cluster's resources and your website, you're better prepared to install Pixie and use it to monitor and debug your application when problems arise.

lab

This procedure is part of a course that teaches you how to monitor your Kubernetes cluster with Pixie. Now that you've explored your cluster, instrument it with Pixie.