☸️ Deploying the Helios OpenTelemetry SDK in a Kubernetes (K8s) cluster

In order to install Helios in your K8s cluster, you need to perform the following steps:

Install the OpenTelemetry K8s operator
Install the Helios instrumentation resource
Add instrumentation annotations to your Deployments

Install the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes operator

Start by deploying the OpenTelemetry Kubernetes operator in your cluster by calling:

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-operator/releases/latest/download/opentelemetry-operator.yaml

Install the Helios instrumentation resource

Install the Helios instrumentation resource in your cluster by calling:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: opentelemetry.io/v1alpha1
kind: Instrumentation
metadata:
  name: helios-instrumentation
spec:
  nodejs:
    image: gethelios/helios-nodejs-autoinstrumentation
  python:
    image: gethelios/helios-python-autoinstrumentation
EOF

📘
Helios instrumentation resource supports currently Node.js and python services

Add instrumentation annotations to your Deployments

Now, edit the Deployments you wish to instrument by adding annotations under spec/template/metadata:

annotations:
        instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-nodejs: "true"
        instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-python: "true"

Alternatively you can use the kubectl command to add the annotation to a Deployment:

kubectl patch deployment DEPLOYMENT_NAME -p '{"spec": {"template":{"metadata":{"annotations":{"instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-nodejs": "true", instrumentation.opentelemetry.io/inject-python: "true"}}}} }'

Configure environment variables

Finally, add the following environment variables to your Deployments config:

env:
  - name: HS_TOKEN
    value: your helios token (get this after signing up to Helios)
  - name: HS_SERVICE_NAME
    value: your service name
  - name: HS_ENVIRONMENT 
    value: your environment name

If you wish to add the environment variables to all Deployments in the cluster use:

kubectl set env deployment --all HS_TOKEN=<YOUR_HELIOS_TOKEN> HS_ENVIRONMENT=<YOUR_ENV_NAME>

👍
Redeploy your Deployments and you should be all set to get instrumented data from Helios.