Installing Jaeger on Kubernetes: A Complete Guide

Installing Jaeger on Kubernetes: A Step-by-Step Guide

Jaeger is an open-source, end-to-end distributed tracing system that helps developers monitor and troubleshoot transactions in complex microservices environments. This guide will walk you through the process of installing Jaeger on a Kubernetes cluster, allowing you to gain visibility into the operations of your cloud-native applications.

Prerequisites

A Kubernetes cluster up and running. You can use managed services like Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Kubectl command-line tool installed and configured to interact with your cluster.
Basic knowledge of Kubernetes architecture and resource management.

Step 1: Deploying Jaeger Operator

To simplify the management of Jaeger instances on Kubernetes, we will use the Jaeger Operator. This operator helps in managing the deployment, configuration, and upgrades of Jaeger components as Kubernetes custom resources.

kubectl create namespace observability
kubectl create -f https://github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger-operator/releases/download/v1.29.0/jaeger-operator.yaml

This command deploys the Jaeger operator into a new namespace called observability.

Step 2: Deploying Jaeger

Next, you’ll need to create a Jaeger instance. Create a custom resource file named jaeger-instance.yaml:

apiVersion: jaegertracing.io/v1
kind: Jaeger
metadata:
  name: simplest
spec:
  strategy: allInOne

Apply this configuration:

kubectl apply -f jaeger-instance.yaml -n observability

This deployment uses the allInOne strategy, meaning that all Jaeger’s components are deployed in a single pod, suitable for demo purposes.

Step 3: Accessing the Jaeger UI

To access the Jaeger UI, expose it as a service using:

kubectl expose deployment simplest --type=LoadBalancer --name=jaeger-ui -n observability

Wait for the external IP address to be assigned by running kubectl get services -n observability. Once assigned, you can access the UI at http://EXTERNAL-IP:16686.

Troubleshooting

If Jaeger is not collecting traces properly, ensure that your applications are correctly instrumented to send tracing data.
Check the logs of the Jaeger operator and the deployed instance:kubectl logs deployment/simplest -n observability.

Conclusion

By following this tutorial, you have successfully installed Jaeger on your Kubernetes cluster. You can now leverage this powerful tool to monitor and trace the transactions across your microservices, providing invaluable insights into system performance and aiding in troubleshooting.