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, click Clusters.
3. On the Clusters page, click the cluster that you want to manage.
4. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Operations > Add-ons.
5. In the Logs and Monitoring section, find the logtail-ds component and click Install.

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 Helm commands are installed 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 set the parameter to xxxx.
   {region-id}	The ID of the region where your project resides. For more information, see Endpoints. For example, the ID of the China (Hangzhou) region is cn-hangzhou.
   {aliuid}	The 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 the AccessKey pair of a Resource Access Management (RAM) user and attach the AliyunLogFullAccess permission policy to the RAM user. For more information, see Assign a RAM role to an Alibaba Cloud account.
   {access-key-secret}	The AccessKey secret of your Alibaba Cloud account. We recommend that you use the AccessKey pair of a RAM user and attach the AliyunLogFullAccess permission policy to the RAM user. For more information, see Assign a RAM role to an Alibaba Cloud account.

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

   Note

   • Do not 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 prevents the container text file busy error if other pods are deleted. For more information, see Bug 1468249, Bug 1441737, and Issue 34538.

FAQ

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

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

  Note However, this method cannot be used if the Kubernetes clusters do not reside in the same region.
• How do 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 standard output of the container is irrelevant. 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 do 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 do 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 do I view the version number, IP address, startup time, and status of Logtail?
  • Run the following command to view the status of Logtail:

    kubectl get po -n kube-system | grep logtail

    The following output is returned:

    NAME            READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    logtail-ds-gb92k   1/1       Running   0          2h
    logtail-ds-wm7lw   1/1       Running   0          4d

  • Run the following command to view the version number and IP address of Logtail:

    kubectl exec logtail-ds-gb92k -n kube-system cat /usr/local/ilogtail/app_info.json

    The following output is returned:

    {
       "UUID" : "",
       "hostname" : "logtail-ds-gb92k",
       "instance_id" : "0EBB2B0E-0A3B-11E8-B0CE-0A58AC140402_172.20.4.2_1517810940",
       "ip" : "192.0.2.0",
       "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" : "2021-02-05 06:09:01"
    }

• How do 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 do 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