Deploying Apica Ascent PaaS on Kubernetes

This page describes the Apica Ascent deployment on Kubernetes cluster using HELM 3 charts.

1 - Prerequisites

• Kubernetes 1.18, 1.19 or 1.20

• Helm 3.2.0+

• Dynamic PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure

• ReadWriteMany volumes for deployment scaling

Apica Ascent K8S components are made available as helm charts.

1.1 Add Apica Ascent helm repository

1.1.0 Adding Apica Ascent's helm repository to your HELM repositories

helm repo add apica-repo https://logiqai.github.io/helm-charts

The HELM repository will be named apica-repo. For installing charts from this repository please make sure to use the repository name as the prefix e.g.

helm install <deployment_name> apica-repo/<chart_name>

You can now run helm search repo apica-repo to see the available helm charts

$ helm search repo apica-repo
NAME                CHART VERSION     APP VERSION              DESCRIPTION
apica-repo/apica-ascent      v3.0.9           v3.5.9.1        Apica Ascent Observability HELM chart for Kubernetes

1.1.1 Update your HELM chart

If you already added Apica Ascent's HELM repository in the past, you can get updated software releases using helm repo update

$ helm repo update
$ helm search repo apica-repo
NAME                CHART VERSION    APP VERSION          DESCRIPTION
apica-repo/apica-ascent       v3.0.9         v3.5.9.1    Apica Ascent Observability HELM chart for Kubernetes

1.2 Create namespace where Apica Ascent will be deployed

NOTE: Namespace name cannot be more than 15 characters in length

kubectl create namespace apica-ascent

This will create a namespace apica-ascent where we will deploy the Apica Ascent Log Insights stack.

If you choose a different name for the namespace, please remember to use the same namespace for the remainder of the steps

1.3 Prepare your Values YAML file

Sample YAML files for small, medium, large cluster configurations can be downloaded at the following links.

values.small.yaml

6KB

values.small.yaml

values.medium.yaml

6KB

values.medium.yaml

values.large.yaml

7KB

values.large.yaml

These YAML files can be used for deployment with -f parameter as shown below in the description.

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent -f values.small.yaml

Please refer to Section 3.10 for sizing your Apica Ascent cluster as specified in these YAML file Latest image tags.

2. Install Apica Ascent

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

This will install Apica Ascent and expose the Apica Ascent services and UI on the ingress IP. If you plan to use an AWS S3 bucket, please refer to section 3.2 before running this step. Please refer to Section 3.4 for details about storage class. Service ports are described in the Port details section. You should now be able to go to http://ingress-ip/

The default login and password to use is [e-mail] and flash-password. You can change these in the UI once logged in. HELM chart can override the default admin settings as well. See section 3.7 on customizing the admin settings

Apica Ascent server provides Ingest, log tailing, data indexing, query, and search capabilities. Besides the web-based UI, Apica Ascent also offers apicactl, Apica CLI for accessing the above features.

3 Customizing the deployment

3.1 Enabling https for the UI

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.domain=ascent.my-domain.com \
--set ingress.tlsEnabled=true \
--set kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.enabled=true \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

You should now be able to login to Apica Ascent UI at your domain using https://ascent.my-domain.com that you set in the ingress after you have updated your DNS server to point to the Ingress controller service IP

The default login and password to use is [e-mail] and flash-password. You can change these in the UI once logged in.

The ascent.my-domain.com also fronts all the Apica Ascent service ports as described in the port details section.

HELM Option	Description	Defaults
global.domain	DNS domain where the Apica Ascent service will be running. This is required for HTTPS	No default
ingress.tlsEnabled	Enable the ingress controller to front HTTPS for services	false
kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.enabled	Specify if a default certificate is enabled for the ingress gateway	false
kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.secret	Specify the name of a TLS Secret for the ingress gateway. If this is not specified, a secret is automatically generated of option kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.enabled above is enabled.

3.1.1 Passing an ingress secret

If you want to pass your own ingress secret, you can do so when installing the HELM chart

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.domain=ascent.my-domain.com \
--set ingress.tlsEnabled=true \
--set kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.enabled=true \
--set kubernetes-ingress.controller.defaultTLSSecret.secret=<secret_name> \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

3.2 Using an AWS S3 bucket

Depending on your requirements, you may want to host your storage in your own K8S cluster or create a bucket in a cloud provider like AWS.

Please note that cloud providers may charge data transfer costs between regions. It is important that the Apica Ascent cluster be deployed in the same region where the S3 bucket is hosted

3.2.1 Create an access/secret key pair for creating and managing your bucket

Go to AWS IAM console and create an access key and secret key that can be used to create your bucket and manage access to the bucket for writing and reading your log files

3.2.2 Deploy the Apica Ascent helm in gateway mode

Make sure to pass your AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY and give a bucket name. The S3 gateway acts as a caching gateway and helps reduce API costs. Create a bucket in AWS s3 with a unique bucket name in the region where you plan to host the deployment.

You will need to create the S3 bucket manually along with access and secret keys to access the bucket. Check to make sure the access and secret key work with the newly created bucket.

Once the bucket is created and access/secret is verified, provide the bucket name and access credentials in the step below.

Additionally, provide a valid amazon service endpoint for s3 else the config wll default to https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent --set global.domain=ascent.my-domain.com \
--set global.environment.s3_bucket=<bucket_name> \
--set global.environment.awsServiceEndpoint=https://s3.<region>.amazonaws.com \
--set global.environment.s3_region=<region> \
--set global.environment.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=<access_key> \
--set global.environment.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=<secret_key> \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Defaults
global.cloudProvider	This helm option specifies the supported cloudProvider that is hosting the S3 compatible bucket. Right now only aws is supported.	aws
global.environment.s3_bucket	Name of the S3 bucket in AWS	logiq
global.environment.awsServiceEndpoint	S3 Service endpoint : https://s3.**<region>**.amazonaws.com	https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
global.environment.AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID	AWS Access key for accessing the bucket	No default
global.environment.AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY	AWS Secret key for accessing the bucket	No default
global.environment.s3_region	AWS Region where the bucket is hosted	us-east-1

S3 providers may have restrictions on bucket names for e.g. AWS S3 bucket names are globally unique.

3.3 Install Apica Ascent server certificates and Client CA [OPTIONAL]

Apica Ascent supports TLS for all ingest. We also enable non-TLS ports by default. It is however recommended that non-TLS ports not be used unless running in a secure VPC or cluster. The certificates can be provided to the cluster using K8S secrets. Replace the template sections below with your Base64 encoded secret files.

If you skip this step, the Apica Ascent server automatically generates a ca and a pair of client and server certificates for you to use. you can get them from the ingest server pods under the folder /flash/certs

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: logiq-certs
type: Opaque
data:
  ca.crt: {{ .Files.Get "certs/ca.crt.b64" }}
  syslog.crt: {{ .Files.Get "certs/syslog.crt.b64" }}
  syslog.key: {{ .Files.Get "certs/syslog.key.b64" }}

Save the secret file e.g. logiq-certs.yaml. Proceed to install the secret in the same namespace where you want to deploy Apica Ascent

The secret can now be passed into the Apica Ascent deployment

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent --set global.domain=ascent.my-domain.com \
--set logiq-flash.secrets_name=logiq-certs \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Defaults
logiq-flash.secrets_name	TLS certificate key pair and CA cert for TLS transport	No default

3.4 Changing the storage class

If you are planning on using a specific storage class for your volumes, you can customize it for the Apica Ascent deployment. By default, Apica Ascent uses the standard storage class

It is quite possible that your environment may use a different storage class name for the provisioner. In that case please use the appropriate storage class name. E.g. if a user creates a storage class ebs-volume for the EBS provisioner for their cluster, you can use ebs-volume instead of gp2 as suggested below

Cloud Provider	K8S StorageClassName	Default Provisioner
AWS	gp3	EBS
Azure	UltraSSD_LRS	Azure Ultra disk
GCP	standard	pd-standard
Digital Ocean	do-block-storage	Block Storage Volume
Oracle	oci	Block Volume
Microk8s	microk8s-hostpath

helm upgrade --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> \
apica-ascent apica-repo/apica-ascent

• Provisioning GP3 CSI Driver on AWS EKS - https://docs.logiq.ai/deploying-logiq/logiq-paas-deployment/deploying-logiq-eks-on-aws-using-cloudformation#5.3-enable-gp3-storage-class-for-eks

3.5 Using external AWS RDS Postgres database instance

To use external AWS RDS Postgres database for your Apica Ascent deployment, execute the following command.

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.chart.postgres=false \
--set global.environment.postgres_host=<postgres-host-ip/dns> \
--set global.environment.postgres_user=<username> \
--set global.environment.postgres_password=<password> \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Default
global.chart.postgres	Deploy Postgres which is needed for Apica Ascent metadata. Set this to false if an external Postgres cluster is being used	true
global.environment.postgres_host	Host IP/DNS for external Postgres	postgres
global.environment.postgres_user	Postgres admin user	postgres
global.environment.postgres_password	Postgres admin user password	postgres
global.environment.postgres_port	Host Port for external Postgres	5432

While configuring RDS, create a new parameter group that sets autoVaccum to true or the value "1", associate this parameter group to your RDS instance.

Auto vacuum automates the execution of VACUUM and ANALYZE (to gather statistics) commands. Auto vacuum checks for bloated tables in the database and reclaims the space for reuse.

3.6 Upload Apica Ascent professional license

The deployment described above offers 30 days trial license. Send an e-mail to [e-mail] to obtain a professional license. After obtaining the license, use the apicactl tool to apply the license to the deployment. Please refer to apicactl details at https://github.com/ApicaSystem/apicactl. You will need API-token from Apica Ascent UI as shown below

Apica Ascent Insights Login Api-token

Setup your Apica Ascent Cluster endpoint
- apicactl config set-cluster ascent.my-domain.com

Sets a Apica Ascent UI api token
- apicactl config set-token api_token

Upload your Apica Ascent deployment license
- apicactl license set -f=license.jws

View License information
 - apicactl license get

3.7 Customize Admin account

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.environment.admin_name="Ascent Administrator" \
--set global.environment.admin_password="admin_password" \
--set global.environment.admin_email="[e-mail]" \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Default
global.environment.admin_name	Apica Ascent Administrator name	[e-mail]
global.environment.admin_password	Apica Ascent Administrator password	flash-password
global.environment.admin_email	Apica Ascent Administrator e-mail	[e-mail]

3.8 Using external Redis instance

To use external Redis for your Apica Ascent deployment, execute the following command.

NOTE: At this time Apica Ascent only supports connecting to a Redis cluster in a local VPC without authentication. If you are using an AWS Elasticache instance, do not turn on encryption-in-transit or cluster mode.

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.chart.redis=false \
--set global.environment.redis_host=<redis-host-ip/dns> \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Default
global.chart.redis	Deploy Redis which is needed for log tailing. Set this to false if an external Redis cluster is being used	true
global.environment.redis_host	Host IP/DNS of the external Redis cluster	redis-master
global.environment.redis_port	Host Port where external Redis service is exposed	6379

3.9 Configuring cluster id

When deploying Apica Ascent, configure the cluster id to monitor your own Apica Ascent deployment. For details about the cluster_id refer to section Managing multiple K8S clusters

helm install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.environment.cluster_id=<cluster id> \
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

HELM Option	Description	Default
global.environment.cluster_id	Cluster Id being used for the K8S cluster running Apica Ascent. See Section on Managing multiple K8S clusters for more details.	Apica AscentQ

3.10 Sizing your Apica Ascent cluster

When deploying Apica Ascent, size your infrastructure to provide appropriate VCPU and memory requirements. We recommend the following minimum size for small. medium and large cluster specification from Section 1.3 values yaml files.

Apica Ascent Cluster	vCPU	Memory	NodeCount
small	24	32 gb	3
medium	40	64 gb	5
large	64	128 gb	8

3.11 NodePort/ClusterIP/LoadBalancer

The service type configurations are exposed in values.yaml as below

flash-coffee:
  service:
    type: ClusterIP
logiq-flash:
  service:
    type: NodePort
kubernetes-ingress:
  controller:
    service:
      type: LoadBalancer

For e.g. if you are running on bare-metal and want an external LB to front Apica Ascent, configure all services as NodePort

helm install apica-ascent -n apica-ascent -f values.yaml \
--set flash-coffee.service.type=NodePort \
--set logiq-flash.service.type=NodePort \
--set kubernetes-ingress.controller.service.type=NodePort \
apica-repo/apica-ascent

3.12 Using Node Selectors

The Apica Ascent stack deployment can be optimized using node labels and node selectors to place various components of the stack optimally

logiq.ai/node=ingest

The node label logiq.ai/node above can be used to control the placement of ingest pods for log data into ingest optimized nodes. This allows for managing cost and instance sizing effectively.

The various nodeSelectors are defined in the globals section of the values.yaml file

globals:
  nodeSelectors:
    enabled: true
    ingest: ingest
    infra: common
    other: common
    db: db
    cache: cache
    ingest_sync: sync

In the example above, there are different node pools being used - ingest , common , db, cache and sync

Node selectors are enabled by setting enabled to true for globals.nodeSelectors

3.13 Installing Grafana

The Apica Ascent stack includes Grafana as part of the deployment as an optional component. To enable Grafana in your cluster, follow the steps below

helm upgrade --install apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent \
--set global.chart.grafana=true \ 
--set global.persistence.storageClass=<storage class name> apica-repo/apica-ascent

The Grafana instance is exposed at port 3000 on the ingress controller. The deployed Grafana instance uses the same credentials as the Apica Ascent UI

3.14 Configuring ALB Ingress on EKS

Apica Ascent creates an Ingress resource in the namespace it is deployed.

• Creating an OIDC provider for your EKS cluster - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/enable-iam-roles-for-service-accounts.htm

• Please refer to the EKS configuration on how to automatically provision an ALB here - https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/alb-ingress.html

4 Teardown

If and when you want to decommission the installation using the following commands

helm delete apica-ascent --namespace apica-ascent
helm repo remove apica-repo
kubectl delete namespace apica-ascent

If you followed the installation steps in section 3.1 - Using an AWS S3 bucket, you may want to delete the s3 bucket that was specified at deployment time.