Author: Jaspreet Singh

INTRODUCTION

The Elastic Stack is the next evolution of the EFK Stack.

To achieve this, we will be using the EFK stack version 7.4.0 composed of Elastisearch, Fluentd, Kibana, Metricbeat, Hearbeat, APM-Server, and ElastAlert on a Kubernetes environment. This article series will walk-through a standard Kubernetes deployment, which, in my opinion, gives a overall better understanding of each step of installation and configuration.

Step 1 – Creating a Namespace

Before we start deployment, we will create the namespace. Kubernetes lets you separate objects running in your cluster using a “virtual cluster” abstraction called Namespaces. In this guide, we’ll create a logging namespace into which we’ll install the EFK stack & it’s components.
To create the logging Namespace, use the below yaml file.

#logging-namespace.yaml
kind: Namespace
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: logging

Step 2 – Elasticsearch StatefulSet Cluster

To setup a monitoring stack first we will deploy the elasticsearch, this will act as Database to store all the data (metrics, logs and traces). The database will be composed of three scalable nodes connected together into a Cluster as recommended for production.

Here we will enable the x-pack authentication to make the stack more secure from potential attackers.

Also, we will be using the custom docker image which has elasticsearch-s3-repository-plugin installed and required certs. This will be required in future for Snapshot Lifecycle Management (SLM).

Note: Same Plugin can be used to take snapshots to AWS S3 and Alibaba OSS.

1. Build the docker image from below Docker file

FROM docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:7.4.0
USER root
ARG OSS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
ARG OSS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
RUN elasticsearch-plugin install --batch repository-s3
RUN elasticsearch-keystore create
RUN echo $OSS_ACCESS_KEY_ID | /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin s3.client.default.access_key
RUN echo $OSS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY | /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-keystore add --stdin s3.client.default.secret_key
RUN elasticsearch-certutil cert -out config/elastic-certificates.p12 -pass ""
RUN chown -R elasticsearch:root config/

Now let’s build the image and push to your private container registry.

docker build -t elasticsearch-s3oss:7.4.0 --build-arg OSS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<key> --build-arg OSS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<ID> .

docker push <registerypath>/elasticsearch-s3oss:7.4.0

2. Setup the ElasticSearch master node:

The first node of the cluster we’re going to setup is the master which is responsible of controlling the cluster.

The first k8s object, we’ll create a headless Kubernetes service called elasticsearch-master-svc.yaml that will define a DNS domain for the 3 Pods. A headless service does not perform load balancing or have a static IP.

#elasticsearch-master-svc.yaml
apiVersion: v1
 kind: Service
 metadata:
   namespace: logging 
   name: elasticsearch-master
   labels:
     app: elasticsearch
     role: master
 spec:
   clusterIP: None
   selector:
     app: elasticsearch
     role: master
   ports:
     - port: 9200
       name: http
     - port: 9300
       name: node-to-node

Next, part is a StatefulSet Deployment for master node ( elasticsearch-master.yaml ) which describes the running service (docker image, number of replicas, environment variables and volumes).

#elasticsearch-master.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  namespace: logging
  name: elasticsearch-master
  labels:
    app: elasticsearch
    role: master
spec:
  serviceName: elasticsearch-master
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: elasticsearch
      role: master
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: elasticsearch
        role: master
    spec:
      affinity:
        # Try to put each ES master node on a different node in the K8s cluster
        podAntiAffinity:
          preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
            - weight: 100
              podAffinityTerm:
                labelSelector:
                  matchExpressions:
                  - key: app
                    operator: In
                    values:
                      - elasticsearch
                  - key: role
                    operator: In
                    values:
                      - master
                topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
      # spec.template.spec.initContainers
      initContainers:
        # Fix the permissions on the volume.
        - name: fix-the-volume-permission
          image: busybox
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'chown -R 1000:1000 /usr/share/elasticsearch/data']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true
          volumeMounts:
            - name: data
              mountPath: /usr/share/elasticsearch/data
        # Increase the default vm.max_map_count to 262144
        - name: increase-the-vm-max-map-count
          image: busybox
          command: ['sysctl', '-w', 'vm.max_map_count=262144']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true
        # Increase the ulimit
        - name: increase-the-ulimit
          image: busybox
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'ulimit -n 65536']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true

      # spec.template.spec.containers
      containers:
        - name: elasticsearch
          image: <registery-path>/elasticsearch-s3oss:7.4.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 9200
              name: http
            - containerPort: 9300
              name: transport
          resources:
            requests:
              cpu: 0.25
            limits:
              cpu: 1
              memory: 1Gi
          # spec.template.spec.containers[elasticsearch].env
          env:
            - name: network.host
              value: "0.0.0.0"
            - name: discovery.seed_hosts
              value: "elasticsearch-master.logging.svc.cluster.local"
            - name: cluster.initial_master_nodes
              value: "elasticsearch-master-0,elasticsearch-master-1,elasticsearch-master-2"
            - name: ES_JAVA_OPTS
              value: -Xms512m -Xmx512m
            - name: node.master
              value: "true"
            - name: node.ingest
              value: "false"
            - name: node.data
              value: "false"
            - name: search.remote.connect
              value: "false"           
            - name: cluster.name
              value: prod
            - name: node.name
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: metadata.name
         # parameters to enable x-pack security.
            - name: xpack.security.enabled
              value: "true"
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled
              value: "true"
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode
              value: "certificate"
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path
              value: elastic-certificates.p12
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path
              value: elastic-certificates.p12
          # spec.template.spec.containers[elasticsearch].volumeMounts
          volumeMounts:
            - name: data
              mountPath: /usr/share/elasticsearch/data

      # use the secret if pulling image from private repository
      imagePullSecrets:
        - name: prod-repo-sec
  # Here we are using the cloud storage class to store the data, make sure u have created the storage-class as pre-requisite.
  volumeClaimTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: data
    spec:
      accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
      storageClassName: elastic-cloud-disk
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 20Gi

Now, apply the these files to K8s cluster to deploy elasticsearch master nodes.

$ kubectl apply -f elasticsearch-master.yaml \
                   elasticsearch-master-svc.yaml

3. Setup the ElasticSearch data node:

The second node of the cluster we’re going to setup is the data which is responsible of hosting the data and executing the queries (CRUD, search, aggregation).

Here also, we’ll create a headless Kubernetes service called elasticsearch-data-svc.yaml that will define a DNS domain for the 3 Pods.

#elasticsearch-data-svc.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  namespace: logging 
  name: elasticsearch
  labels:
    app: elasticsearch
    role: data
spec:
  clusterIP: None
  selector:
    app: elasticsearch
    role: data
  ports:
    - port: 9200
      name: http
    - port: 9300
      name: node-to-node

Next, part is a StatefulSet Deployment for data node elasticsearch-data.yaml , which describes the running service (docker image, number of replicas, environment variables and volumes).

#elasticsearch-data.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  namespace: logging 
  name: elasticsearch-data
  labels:
    app: elasticsearch
    role: data
spec:
  serviceName: elasticsearch-data
  # This is number of nodes that we want to run
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: elasticsearch
      role: data
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: elasticsearch
        role: data
    spec:
      affinity:
        # Try to put each ES data node on a different node in the K8s cluster
        podAntiAffinity:
          preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
            - weight: 100
              podAffinityTerm:
                labelSelector:
                  matchExpressions:
                  - key: app
                    operator: In
                    values:
                      - elasticsearch
                  - key: role
                    operator: In
                    values:
                      - data
                topologyKey: kubernetes.io/hostname
      terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 300
      # spec.template.spec.initContainers
      initContainers:
        # Fix the permissions on the volume.
        - name: fix-the-volume-permission
          image: busybox
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'chown -R 1000:1000 /usr/share/elasticsearch/data']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true
          volumeMounts:
            - name: data
              mountPath: /usr/share/elasticsearch/data
        # Increase the default vm.max_map_count to 262144
        - name: increase-the-vm-max-map-count
          image: busybox
          command: ['sysctl', '-w', 'vm.max_map_count=262144']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true
        # Increase the ulimit
        - name: increase-the-ulimit
          image: busybox
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'ulimit -n 65536']
          securityContext:
            privileged: true
      # spec.template.spec.containers
      containers:
        - name: elasticsearch
          image: <registery-path>/elasticsearch-s3oss:7.4.0
          imagePullPolicy: Always
          ports:
            - containerPort: 9200
              name: http
            - containerPort: 9300
              name: transport
          resources:
            limits:
              memory: 4Gi
          # spec.template.spec.containers[elasticsearch].env
          env:
            - name: discovery.seed_hosts
              value: "elasticsearch-master.logging.svc.cluster.local"
            - name: ES_JAVA_OPTS
              value: -Xms3g -Xmx3g
            - name: node.master
              value: "false"
            - name: node.ingest
              value: "true"
            - name: node.data
              value: "true"
            - name: cluster.remote.connect
              value: "true"
            - name: cluster.name
              value: prod
            - name: node.name
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: metadata.name
            - name: xpack.security.enabled
              value: "true"
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.enabled
              value: "true"  
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.verification_mode
              value: "certificate"
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.keystore.path
              value: elastic-certificates.p12
            - name: xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.path
              value: elastic-certificates.p12 
          # spec.template.spec.containers[elasticsearch].volumeMounts
          volumeMounts:
            - name: data
              mountPath: /usr/share/elasticsearch/data

      # use the secret if pulling image from private repository
      imagePullSecrets:
        - name: prod-repo-sec

# Here we are using the cloud storage class to store the data, make sure u have created the storage-class as pre-requisite.
  volumeClaimTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: data
    spec:
      accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
      storageClassName: elastic-cloud-disk
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 50Gi

Now, apply these files to K8s Cluster to deploy elasticsearch data nodes.

$ kubectl apply -f elasticsearch-data.yaml \
                   elasticsearch-data-svc.yaml

4. Generate a X-Pack password and store in a k8s secret:

We enabled the x-pack security module above to secure our cluster, so we need to initialize the passwords. Execute the following command which runs the program bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords within the data node container (any node would work) to generate default users and passwords.

$ kubectl exec $(kubectl get pods -n logging | grep elasticsearch-data | sed -n 1p | awk '{print $1}') \
    -n monitoring \
    -- bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords auto -b

Changed password for user apm_system
PASSWORD apm_system = uF8k2KVwNokmHUomemBG

Changed password for user kibana
PASSWORD kibana = DBptcLh8hu26230mIYc3

Changed password for user logstash_system
PASSWORD logstash_system = SJFKuXncpNrkuSmVCaVS

Changed password for user beats_system
PASSWORD beats_system = FGgIkQ1ki7mPPB3d7ns7

Changed password for user remote_monitoring_user
PASSWORD remote_monitoring_user = EgFB3FOsORqOx2EuZNLZ

Changed password for user elastic
PASSWORD elastic = 3JW4tPdspoUHzQsfQyAI

Note the elastic user password and we will add into a k8s secret (efk-pw-elastic) which will be used by another stack components to connect elasticsearch data nodes for data ingestion.

$ kubectl create secret generic efk-pw-elastic \
    -n logging \
    --from-literal password=3JW4tPdspoUHzQsfQyAI

Step 3 – Kibana Setup

To launch Kibana on Kubernetes, we’ll create a configMap kibana-configmap,to provide a config file to our deployment with all the required properties, Service called kibana, and a Deployment consisting of one Pod replica. You can scale the number of replicas depending on your production needs, and Ingress which helps to routes outside traffic to Service inside the cluster. You need an Ingress controller for this step.

#kibana-configmap.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: kibana-configmap
  namespace: logging
data:
  kibana.yml: |
    server.name: kibana
    server.host: "0"
    # Optionally can define dashboard id which will launch on main Kibana Page.
    kibana.defaultAppId: "dashboard/781b10c0-09e2-11ea-98eb-c318232a6317"
    elasticsearch.hosts: ['${ELASTICSEARCH_HOST:elasticsearch}:${ELASTICSEARCH_PORT:9200}']
    elasticsearch.username: ${ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME}
    elasticsearch.password: ${ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD}
---
#kibana-service.yaml 
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  namespace: logging
  name: kibana
  labels:
    app: kibana
spec:
  selector:
    app: kibana
  ports:
    - port: 5601
      name: http
---
#kibana-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  namespace: logging 
  name: kibana
  labels:
    app: kibana
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: kibana
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: kibana
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: kibana
          image: docker.elastic.co/kibana/kibana:7.4.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5601
          env:
            - name: SERVER_NAME
              valueFrom:
                fieldRef:
                  fieldPath: metadata.name
            - name: SERVER_HOST
              value: "0.0.0.0"
            - name: ELASTICSEARCH_HOSTS
              value: http://elasticsearch.logging.svc.cluster.local:9200
            - name: ELASTICSEARCH_USERNAME
              value: kibana
            - name: ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: elasticsearch-pw-elastic
                  key: password
            - name: XPACK_MONITORING_ELASTICSEARCH_USEARNAME
              value: elastic
            - name: XPACK_MONITORING_ELASTICSEARCH_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: efk-pw-elastic
                  key: password
          volumeMounts:
          - name: kibana-configmap
            mountPath: /usr/share/kibana/config
      volumes:
      - name: kibana-configmap
        configMap:
          name: kibana-configmap
---
#kibana-ingress.yaml
apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: kibana
  namespace: logging
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "nginx"
spec:
  # Specify the tls secret.
  tls:
  - secretName: prod-secret
    hosts:
    - kibana.example.com
   
  rules:
  - host: kibana.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        backend:
          serviceName: kibana
          servicePort: 5601

Now, let’s apply these files to deploy Kibana to K8s cluster.

$ kubectl apply  -f kibana-configmap.yaml \
                 -f kibana-service.yaml \
                 -f kibana-deployment.yaml \
                 -f kibana-ingress.yaml

Now, Open the Kibana with the domain name  https://kibana.example.com in your browser, which we have defined in our Ingress or user can expose the kiban service on Node Port and access the dashboard.

Now, login with username elastic and the password generated before and stored in a secret (efk-pw-elastic) and you will be redirected to the index page:

Last, create the separate admin user to access the kibana dashboard with role superuser.

Finally, we are ready to use the ElasticSearch + Kibana stack which will serve us to store and visualize our infrastructure and application data (metrics, logs and traces).

Next steps

In the following article [Collect Logs with Fluentd in K8s. (Part-2)], we will learn how to install and configure fluentd to collect the logs.