Install Logtail

Install Logtail on a Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) cluster

1. Log on to the Container Service for Kubernetes (ACK) console.
2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Cluster > Cluster to open the Clusters page.
3. Find the cluster and click Manage in the Actions column to open the Basic Information page.
4. In the left-side navigation pane, click Add-ons. In the Logs and Monitoring section, find the logtail-ds component.
5. Click Install on the logtail-ds card.
   

Install Logtail on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster

1. Log on to the Log Service console.
2. Create a project whose name starts with k8s-log-custom-. For more information, see Create a project.
3. Log on to your Kubernetes cluster.
4. Run the following command to install alibaba-log-controller Helm.
   Note Before you install alibaba-log-controller Helm, make sure that you have installed Helm commands in the Kubernetes cluster.

   wget http://logtail-release-cn-hangzhou.oss-cn-hangzhou.aliyuncs.com/kubernetes/alicloud-log-k8s-custom-install.sh; chmod 744 ./alicloud-log-k8s-custom-install.sh; sh ./alicloud-log-k8s-custom-install.sh {your-project-suffix} {region-id} {aliuid} {access-key-id} {access-key-secret}

   The following table describes the related parameters in the command. Replace the parameters with the actual values.

   Parameter	Description
   {your-project-suffix}	The part of the project name that follows k8s-log-custom-. For example, if the project name is k8s-log-custom-xxxx, you must replace the parameter with xxxx.
   {regionId}	The ID of the region where your project resides. For more information, see Endpoints. For example, the region ID of the China (Hangzhou) region is cn-hangzhou.
   {aliuid}	The unique ID of your Alibaba Cloud account. For more information, see Obtain the account ID.
   {access-key-id}	The AccessKey ID of your Alibaba Cloud account. We recommend that you use an AccessKey pair of a RAM user and attach the AliyunLogFullAccess permission policy to the RAM user. For more information, see Overview.
   {access-key-secret}	The AccessKey secret of your Alibaba Cloud account. We recommend that you use an AccessKey pair of a RAM user and attach the AliyunLogFullAccess permission policy to the RAM user. For more information, see Overview.

   After you install Logtail, a server group named k8s-group-${your_k8s_cluster_id} and a Logstore named config-operation-log are automatically created for the project.

   Note

   • You cannot delete the config-operation-log Logstore.
   • If you install Logtail on a self-managed Kubernetes cluster, Logtail is granted the privileged permissions by default. This avoids the container text file busy error if other pods are deleted. For more information, see Bug 1468249, Bug 1441737, and Issue 34538.

FAQ

• How can I create one project in Log Service for multiple Kubernetes clusters?

  You can set the {your-project-suffix} parameter to the same value when you run the command to install Log Service components for these Kubernetes clusters.

  Note However, this method does not apply to the logs from multiple Kubernetes clusters that reside in different regions.
• How can I view the logs of a Logtail container?
  Logtail log files named ilogtail.LOG and logtail_plugin.LOG are stored in the /usr/local/ilogtail/ directory of a Logtail container. In this case, the container standard output is not required. Ignore the following standard output:

  start umount useless mount points, /shm$|/merged$|/mqueue$
  umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/3fd0043af174cb0273c3c7869500fbe2bdb95d13b1e110172ef57fe840c82155/merged: must be superuser to unmount
  umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/d5b10aa19399992755de1f85d25009528daa749c1bf8c16edff44beab6e69718/merged: must be superuser to unmount
  umount: /logtail_host/var/lib/docker/overlay2/5c3125daddacedec29df72ad0c52fac800cd56c6e880dc4e8a640b1e16c22dbe/merged: must be superuser to unmount
  ......
  xargs: umount: exited with status 255; aborting
  umount done
  start logtail
  ilogtail is running
  logtail status:
  ilogtail is running

• How can I view the status of Log Service components in Kubernetes clusters?

  helm status alibaba-log-controller

• What can I do if I cannot start alibaba-log-controller?
  Check whether the command that is used to install alibaba-log-controller is valid:

  • The command is run on the master node of the Kubernetes cluster.
  • The cluster ID specified in the command is the ID of your Kubernetes cluster.

  If alibaba-log-controller fails to be installed because one of the preceding requirements is not met, run the helm del --purge alibaba-log-controller command to delete alibaba-log-controller. Then, you can run the command to install alibaba-log-controller again.

• How can I view the status of Logtail DaemonSets in a Kubernetes cluster?
  Run the kubectl get ds -n kube-system command to view the status of Logtail in the cluster.

  Note The default namespace of Logtail is kube-system.
• How can I view the version number, IP address, and startup time of Logtail?
  Example:

  [root@iZbp1dsu6v77zfb40qfbiaZ ~]# kubectl get po -n kube-system | grep logtail
  NAME            READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
  logtail-ds-gb92k   1/1       Running   0          2h
  logtail-ds-wm7lw   1/1       Running   0          4d
  [root@iZbp1dsu6v77zfb40qfbiaZ ~]# kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system cat /usr/local/ilogtail/app_info.json
  {
     "UUID" : "",
     "hostname" : "logtail-ds-gb92k",
     "instance_id" : "0EBB2B0E-0A3B-11E8-B0CE-0A58AC140402_172.20.4.2_1517810940",
     "ip" : "172.20.4.2",
     "logtail_version" : "0.16.2",
     "os" : "Linux; 3.10.0-693.2.2.el7.x86_64; #1 SMP Tue Sep 12 22:26:13 UTC 2017; x86_64",
     "update_time" : "2018-02-05 06:09:01"
  }

• How can I view the operational logs of Logtail?

  The operational logs of Logtail are stored in the ilogtail.LOG file in the /usr/local/ilogtail/ directory. If the log file is rotated, it is compressed and stored as ilogtail.LOG.x.gz.

  Example:

  [root@iZbp1dsu6v77zfb40qfbiaZ ~]# kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system tail /usr/local/ilogtail/ilogtail.LOG
  [2018-02-05 06:09:02.168693] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/LogtailPlugin.cpp:104] logtail plugin Resume:start
  [2018-02-05 06:09:02.168807] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/LogtailPlugin.cpp:106] logtail plugin Resume:success
  [2018-02-05 06:09:02.168822] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/EventDispatcher.cpp:369] start add existed check point events, size:0
  [2018-02-05 06:09:02.168827] [INFO] [9] [build/release64/sls/ilogtail/EventDispatcher.cpp:511] add existed check point events, size:0 cache size:0 event size:0 success count:0

• How can I restart Logtail that is installed on a pod?
  Example:

  [root@iZbp1dsu6v77zfb40qfbiaZ ~]# kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system /etc/init.d/ilogtaild stop
  kill process Name: ilogtail pid: 7
  kill process Name: ilogtail pid: 9
  stop success
  [root@iZbp1dsu6v77zfb40qfbiaZ ~]# kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system /etc/init.d/ilogtaild start
  ilogtail is running