Microsoft Application Insights for Kubernetes

This repository has code for Application Insights for Kubernetes, which works on .NET Core/.NET 6 applications within the containers, managed by Kubernetes, on Azure Container Service.

Note: Microsoft Application Insights for Kubernetes (this library) is an enhancement to the Microsoft Application Insights. You can choose to run Application Insights without this library in a Kubernetes cluster. However, when using Microsoft Application Insights for Kubernetes, you will see Kubernetes-related properties like Pod-Name, Deployment ... on all your telemetry entries. Proper values will also be set to make use of the rich features like enabling the Application Map to show the multiple microservices on the same map.

Continuous Integration Status

Rolling Build	Nightly Build

Get Started

This is a quick guide for ASP.NET Core project.

• For Worker Services in .NET, refer to the Application Insights Kubernetes worker example.
• For ASP.NET Core WebAPI or ASP.NET Minimal Web API, refer to the Application Insights for Kubernetes on WebAPI example.

Prerequisite

• Application Insights for ASP.NET Core

• Docker Containers

• Kubernetes

• For RBAC-enabled Kubernetes, make sure permissions are configured.

Instrument an ASP.NET Core application

These are the basic steps to instrument an ASP.NET Core application to enable Application Insights for Kubernetes. You will need to run the application in containers managed by Kubernetes to see the change.

1. Add references to Application Insights SDK and Application Insights for Kubernetes:

   dotnet add package Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.AspNetCore
   dotnet add package Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.Kubernetes
   

2. Enable Application Insights and Application Insights for Kubernetes Enricher in Startup.cs:

   public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services)
   {
       ...
       services.AddApplicationInsightsTelemetry("----Your Application Insights Instrumentation Key ----");
       services.AddApplicationInsightsKubernetesEnricher();
       services.AddMvc();
       ...
   }
   

3. Build the application in containers, then deploy the container with Kubernetes.

Notes: Those steps are not considered the best practice to set the instrumentation key for application insights. Refer to Enable Application Insights server-side telemetry for various options. Also, consider deploying Kubernetes Secrets to secure it. Refer to Deploy the application in Kubernetes for an example.

Walk-through

Both ASP.NET Core and .NET Core applications are supported.

• For ASP.NET Core Application: Refer to Getting Started for a simple walk-through.

• For .NET Core Application: Refer to Getting Started for a simple walk-through.

• Follow this example for Role-based access control (RBAC) enabled Kubernetes clusters.

Configuration Details

Customize configurations are supported starting with version 1.0.2 of the ApplicationInsights.Kubernetes package. There are several ways to customize the settings. For example:

1. Using code:

   services.AddApplicationInsightsKubernetesEnricher(option=> {
       option.InitializationTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(15);
   });
   

2. Using appsettings.json:

   {
       "Logging": {
           // ...
       },
       // Adding the following section to set the timeout to 15 seconds
       "AppInsightsForKubernetes": {
           "InitializationTimeout": "00:00:15"
       }
   }
   

3. Using environment variables:

   AppInsightsForKubernetes__InitializationTimeout=3.1:12:15.34
   

   All the related configurations have to be put in a section named AppInsightsForKubernetes. The supported keys/values are listed below:

   Key	Value/Types	Default Value	Description
   InitializationTimeout	TimeSpan	00:02:00	Maximum time to wait for spinning up the container. Accepted format: [d.]hh:mm:ss[.fffffff].
   DisablePerformanceCounters	Boolean	false	Sets to true to avoid adding performance counter telemetry initializer.

The configuration uses the ASP.NET Core conventions. Refer to Configuration in ASP.NET Core for more information.

Verify the cluster configuration (Linux Container only)

Use the troubleshooting image to verify the cluster is properly configured.

Learn more

• To build a container for Kubernetes that have Application Insights baked in for the existing applications, please refer to the example of Zero Code light up.
• To enable diagnostic logs when Application Insights for Kubernetes doesn't work as expected, reference How to enable self diagnostics for ApplicationInsights.Kubernetes.
• Still want more? Read the Wikis.

Next step

Profile your application for performance improvement using Application Insights Profiler for Linux.

Contributing

Report issues

Please file bug, discussion or any other interesting topics in issues on GitHub.

Troubleshooting

Read the FAQ for common issues. When Microsoft.ApplicationInsights.Kubernetes doesn't work properly, you can turn on self-diagnostics to see the traces in Kubernetes' logs. Refer to How to enable self diagnostics for ApplicationInsights.Kubernetes for instructions.

Developing

Please refer the Develop Guide.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct. For more information see the Code of Conduct FAQ or contact [email protected] with any additional questions or comments.