Apache SkyWalking Kubernetes Helm

SkyWalking Kubernetes Helm repository provides ways to install and configure SkyWalking in a Kubernetes cluster. The scripts are written in Helm 3.

Chart Detailed Configuration

Chart detailed configuration can be found at Chart Readme

There are required values that you must set explicitly when deploying SkyWalking.

name	description	example
oap.image.tag	the OAP docker image tag	10.0.1
oap.storageType	the storage type of the OAP	elasticsearch, postgresql, banyandb, etc.
ui.image.tag	the UI docker image tag	10.0.1

You can set these required values via command line (e.g. --set oap.image.tag=10.0.1 --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch), or edit them in a separate file(e.g. values.yaml, values-my-es.yaml) and use -f <filename> or --values=<filename> to set them.

Install

Let's set some variables for convenient use later.

export SKYWALKING_RELEASE_VERSION=4.6.0  # change the release version according to your need
export SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME=skywalking  # change the release name according to your scenario
export SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE=default  # change the namespace to where you want to install SkyWalking

Install released version using Docker Helm repository (>= 4.3.0)

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" \
  oci://registry-1.docker.io/apache/skywalking-helm \
  --version "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_VERSION}" \
  -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  --set oap.image.tag=10.0.1 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=10.0.1

To use BanyanDB as storage solution, you can try

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" \
  oci://registry-1.docker.io/apache/skywalking-helm \
  --version "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_VERSION}" \
  -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  --set oap.image.tag=10.0.1 \
  --set oap.storageType=banyandb \
  --set ui.image.tag=10.0.1 \
  --set elasticsearch.enabled=false \
  --set banyandb.enabled=true \
  --set banyandb.image.tag=0.6.1

BanyanDB can be configured through various parameters. A comprehensive list of these parameters can be found in the configuration section of BanyanDB Helm repository. These parameters allow you to customize aspects such as replication, resource allocation, persistence, and more to suit your specific deployment needs. Remember to prepend 'banyandb.' to all parameter names when applying the settings. For example, banyandb.image.tag can be used to specify the version of BanyanDB.

Install released version using Apache Jfrog Helm repository (<= 4.3.0)

export REPO=skywalking
helm repo add ${REPO} https://apache.jfrog.io/artifactory/skywalking-helm

Install development version of SkyWalking using master branch

This is needed only when you want to install SkyWalking from master branch.

export REPO=chart
git clone https://github.com/apache/skywalking-helm
cd skywalking-helm
helm repo add elastic https://helm.elastic.co
helm dep up ${REPO}/skywalking

Install development version of SWCK Adapter using master branch

This is needed only when you want to install SWCK Adapter from master branch.

SWCK Adapter chart detailed configuration can be found at Adapter Chart Readme.

You can install the Adapter with the default configuration as follows.

export REPO=chart
git clone https://github.com/apache/skywalking-helm
cd skywalking-helm
helm -n skywalking-custom-metrics-system install adapter ${REPO}/adapter --create-namespace

Install development version of SWCK Operator using master branch

This is needed only when you want to install SWCK Operator from master branch.

Before installing Operator, you have to install cert-manager at first.

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.9.1/cert-manager.yaml

SWCK Operator chart detailed configuration can be found at Operator Chart Readme.

You can install the Operator with the default configuration as follows.

export REPO=chart
git clone https://github.com/apache/skywalking-helm
cd skywalking-helm
helm -n skywalking-swck-system install operator ${REPO}/operator

Install a specific version of SkyWalking

In theory, you can deploy all versions of SkyWalking that are >= 6.0.0-GA, by specifying the desired oap.image.tag/ui.image.tag.

Please note that some configurations that are added in the later versions of SkyWalking may not work in earlier versions, and thus if you specify those configurations, they may take no effect.

here are some examples.

• Deploy SkyWalking 10.0.1

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" ${REPO}/skywalking -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  --set oap.image.tag=10.0.1 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=10.0.1

Because ElasticSearch recommends to use the corresponding Helm Chart version of the ElasticSearch version, if you want to use a specific version of ElasticSearch, you have to change the ElasticSearch Helm Chart version in dependencies section in Chart.yaml file, which requires you to install from the source codes. Or you should deploy the desired ElasticSearch version first by yourself, and then deploy SkyWalking to use the existing ElasticSearch by setting the following section:

elasticsearch:
  enabled: true
  config:               # For users of an existing elasticsearch cluster,takes effect when `elasticsearch.enabled` is false
    port:
      http: 9200
    host: elasticsearch # es service on kubernetes or host
    user: "xxx"         # [optional]
    password: "xxx"     # [optional]

The same goes for PostgreSQL and BanyanDB.

Install development version using ghcr.io Helm repository

If you are willing to help testing the latest codes that are not released yet, we provided a snapshot Helm repository on ghcr.io for convenient use, replace the full commit hash in the version option to deploy the revision that you want to test.

helm -n istio-system install skywalking \
  oci://ghcr.io/apache/skywalking-helm/skywalking-helm \
  --version "0.0.0-b670c41d94a82ddefcf466d54bab5c492d88d772" \
  -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  --set oap.image.tag=10.0.1 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=10.0.1

Install development version using source codes

This is needed only when you want to install source codes.

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" ${REPO}/skywalking -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" 

Install a specific version of SkyWalking with an existing database

If you want to use a specific version of ElasticSearch as storage solution, for instance, modify the connection information to the existing ElasticSearch cluster in file values-my-es.yaml.

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" ${REPO}/skywalking -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  -f ./skywalking/values-my-es.yaml

Install SkyWalking with Satellite

Enable the satellite as gateway, and set the satellite image tag.

helm install "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME}" ${REPO}/skywalking -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" \
  --set satellite.enabled=true \
  --set satellite.image.tag=v0.4.0

After satellite have been installed, you should replace the oap address to the satellite address, the address from agent or istio, such as skywalking-satellite.istio-system:11800.

Customization

• Override configuration files

You can override the configuration files for OAP or Satellite by adding configuration section oap.config and satellite.config, check the examples, search keyword config: {}.

• Pass environment variables to OAP

The SkyWalking OAP exposes many configurations that can be specified by environment variables, as listed in the main repo. You can set those environment variables by --set oap.env.<ENV_NAME>=<ENV_VALUE>, such as --set oap.env.SW_ENVOY_METRIC_ALS_HTTP_ANALYSIS=k8s-mesh.

The environment variables take priority over the overrode configuration files.

Rerun OAP init job

Kubernetes Job cannot be rerun by default, if you want to rerun the OAP init job, you need to delete the Job and recreate it.

# Make sure to export the Job manifest to a file before deleting it.
kubectl get job -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" -l release=$SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME -o yaml > oap-init.job.yaml
# Trim the Job manifest to keep only the Job part, you can either download yq from https://github.com/mikefarah/yq or
# manually remove the fields that are not needed.
yq 'del(.items[0].metadata.creationTimestamp,.items[0].metadata.resourceVersion,.items[0].metadata.uid,.items[0].status,.items[0].spec.template.metadata.labels."batch.kubernetes.io/controller-uid",.items[0].spec.template.metadata.labels."controller-uid",.items[0].spec.selector.matchLabels."batch.kubernetes.io/controller-uid")' oap-init.job.yaml > oap-init.job.trimmed.yaml
# Check the file oap-init.job.trimmed.yaml to make sure it has correct content
# Delete the Job
kubectl delete job -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" -l release=$SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAME
# Create the Job
kubectl -n "${SKYWALKING_RELEASE_NAMESPACE}" apply -f oap-init.job.trimmed.yaml

Contact Us

• Submit an issue
• Mail list: dev@skywalking.apache.org. Mail to dev-subscribe@skywalking.apache.org, follow the reply to subscribe the mail list.
• Send Request to join SkyWalking slack mail to the mail list(dev@skywalking.apache.org), we will invite you in.
• For Chinese speaker, send [CN] Request to join SkyWalking slack mail to the mail list(dev@skywalking.apache.org), we will invite you in.
• Twitter, ASFSkyWalking
• bilibili B站 视频

LICENSE

Apache 2.0