Installing Anthos Service Mesh on GKE

This page explains how to do a clean installation of Anthos Service Mesh version 1.6.14 on a GKE cluster. If you have a previous version of Anthos Service Mesh installed, refer to Upgrading Anthos Service Mesh on GKE.

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Before you begin

Before you install Anthos Service Mesh, make sure that you have:

• Set up your environment to install the tools that you need.
• Set up your project to enable the required APIs and set permissions.
• Set up your cluster to enable the required cluster options.

Setting credentials and permissions

1. Initialize your project to ready it for installation. Among other things, this command creates a service account to let control plane components, such as the sidecar proxy, securely access your project's data and resources:

   curl --request POST \
     --header "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
     --data '' \
     "https://meshconfig.googleapis.com/v1alpha1/projects/${PROJECT_ID}:initialize"

   The command responds with empty curly braces: {}

2. Get authentication credentials to interact with the cluster:

   gcloud container clusters get-credentials ${CLUSTER_NAME} \
       --project=${PROJECT_ID}
   

   Note: Unless you've set a default zone or region, you need to supply the region (--region=REGION) or zone (--zone=ZONE) in the command.

3. Grant cluster admin permissions to the current user. You need these permissions to create the necessary role based access control (RBAC) rules for Anthos Service Mesh:

   kubectl create clusterrolebinding cluster-admin-binding \
     --clusterrole=cluster-admin \
     --user="$(gcloud config get-value core/account)"

If you see the "cluster-admin-binding" already exists error, you can safely ignore it and continue with the existing cluster-admin-binding.

Downloading the installation file

Linux

Download the Anthos Service Mesh installation file to your current working directory:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Download the signature file and use openssl to verify the signature:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz.1.sig
openssl dgst -verify /dev/stdin -signature istio-1.6.14-asm.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz.1.sig istio-1.6.14-asm.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz <<'EOF'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEWZrGCUaJJr1H8a36sG4UUoXvlXvZ
wQfk16sxprI2gOJ2vFFggdq3ixF2h4qNBt0kI7ciDhgpwS8t+/960IsIgw==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
EOF

The expected output is: Verified OK

Extract the contents of the file to any location on your file system. For example, to extract the contents to the current working directory:

tar xzf istio-1.6.14-asm.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz

The command creates an installation directory in your current working directory named istio-1.6.14-asm.2 that contains:

• Sample applications in the samples directory.
• The istioctl command-line tool that you use to install Anthos Service Mesh is in the bin directory.
• The Anthos Service Mesh configuration profiles are in the manifests/profiles directory.

Mac OS

Download the Anthos Service Mesh installation file to your current working directory:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-osx.tar.gz

Download the signature file and use openssl to verify the signature:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-osx.tar.gz.1.sig
openssl dgst -sha256 -verify /dev/stdin -signature istio-1.6.14-asm.2-osx.tar.gz.1.sig istio-1.6.14-asm.2-osx.tar.gz <<'EOF'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEWZrGCUaJJr1H8a36sG4UUoXvlXvZ
wQfk16sxprI2gOJ2vFFggdq3ixF2h4qNBt0kI7ciDhgpwS8t+/960IsIgw==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
EOF

The expected output is: Verified OK

Extract the contents of the file to any location on your file system. For example, to extract the contents to the current working directory:

tar xzf istio-1.6.14-asm.2-osx.tar.gz

The command creates an installation directory in your current working directory named istio-1.6.14-asm.2 that contains:

• Sample applications in the samples directory.
• The istioctl command-line tool that you use to install Anthos Service Mesh is in the bin directory.
• The Anthos Service Mesh configuration profiles are in the manifests/profiles directory.

Windows

Download the Anthos Service Mesh installation file to your current working directory:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-win.zip

Download the signature file and use openssl to verify the signature:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/gke-release/asm/istio-1.6.14-asm.2-win.zip.1.sig
openssl dgst -verify - -signature istio-1.6.14-asm.2-win.zip.1.sig istio-1.6.14-asm.2-win.zip <<'EOF'
-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----
MFkwEwYHKoZIzj0CAQYIKoZIzj0DAQcDQgAEWZrGCUaJJr1H8a36sG4UUoXvlXvZ
wQfk16sxprI2gOJ2vFFggdq3ixF2h4qNBt0kI7ciDhgpwS8t+/960IsIgw==
-----END PUBLIC KEY-----
EOF

The expected output is: Verified OK

Extract the contents of the file to any location on your file system. For example, to extract the contents to the current working directory:

tar xzf istio-1.6.14-asm.2-win.zip

The command creates an installation directory in your current working directory named istio-1.6.14-asm.2 that contains:

• Sample applications in the samples directory.
• The istioctl command-line tool that you use to install Anthos Service Mesh is in the bin directory.
• The Anthos Service Mesh configuration profiles are in the manifests/profiles directory.

1. Ensure that you're in the Anthos Service Mesh installation's root directory.

   cd istio-1.6.14-asm.2

2. For convenience, add the tools in the /bin directory to your PATH:

   export PATH=$PWD/bin:$PATH

Preparing resource configuration files

When you run the istioctl install command, you specify -f istio-operator.yaml on the command line. This file contains information about your project and cluster that Anthos Service Mesh requires. You need to download a package that contains istio-operator.yaml and other resource configuration files so that you can set the project and cluster information.

To get started, choose a package to download based on the certificate authority (CA) that you want to use:

• asm: This package enables Mesh CA, which we recommend for new installations.

• asm-citadel: Optionally, you can enable Citadel as the CA. Before choosing this package, refer to Choosing a certificate authority for more information.

To prepare the resource configuration files:

1. Create a new directory for the Anthos Service Mesh package resource configuration files. We recommend that you use the cluster name as the directory name.

2. Change to the directory where you want to download the Anthos Service Mesh package.

3. Download the package you want to use, based on the CA

   Mesh CA

   Download the asm package, which enables Mesh CA:

   kpt pkg get \
   https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/anthos-service-mesh-packages.git/asm@release-1.6-asm asm
   

   Citadel

   Download the asm-citadel package, which enables Citadel as the CA:

   kpt pkg get \
   https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/anthos-service-mesh-packages.git/asm-citadel@release-1.6-asm asm
   

4. Set the project ID for the project that the cluster was created in:

   kpt cfg set asm gcloud.core.project ${PROJECT_ID}
   

5. Set the project number for the fleet host project:

   kpt cfg set asm gcloud.project.environProjectNumber ${FLEET_PROJECT_NUMBER}
   

6. Set the cluster name:

   kpt cfg set asm gcloud.container.cluster ${CLUSTER_NAME}
   

7. Set the default zone or region:

   kpt cfg set asm gcloud.compute.location ${CLUSTER_LOCATION}
   

8. Set the validating webhook to use a revision label:

   kpt cfg set asm anthos.servicemesh.rev asm-1614-2
   

   When you install Anthos Service Mesh, you set a revision label on istiod. You need to set the same revision on the validating webhook.

9. Set the configuration profile that you plan to use:

   • If all of your clusters are in the same project, set the asm-gcp profile:

     kpt cfg set asm anthos.servicemesh.profile asm-gcp
     

   • If your service mesh contains or will contain multiple clusters that are in different projects, set the asm-gcp-multiproject profile (beta):

     kpt cfg set asm anthos.servicemesh.profile asm-gcp-multiproject
     

10. If you set the asm-gcp-multiproject profile and downloaded the asm package, which enables Mesh CA, you need to configure the trust domain aliases for the other projects that will form the multi-cluster/multi-project service mesh. Otherwise, skip this step.

    1. Get the project ID of all clusters that will be in the multi-cluster/multi-project mesh.

    2. For each cluster's project ID, set the trust domain aliases. For example, if you have clusters in 3 projects, run the following command and replace PROJECT_ID_1, PROJECT_ID_2, and PROJECT_ID_3 with each cluster's project ID.

       kpt cfg set asm anthos.servicemesh.trustDomainAliases PROJECT_ID_1.svc.id.goog PROJECT_ID_2.svc.id.goog PROJECT_ID_3.svc.id.goog

       As you configure the clusters in the other projects, you can use the same command.

       The trust domain aliases enables Mesh CA to authenticate workloads on clusters in other projects. In addition to setting the trust domain aliases, after installing Anthos Service Mesh, you have to enable cross-cluster load balancing.

11. Output the values of the kpt setters:

      kpt cfg list-setters asm
    

    In the output from the command verify that the values for the following setters are correct:

    • anthos.servicemesh.rev
    • gcloud.compute.location
    • gcloud.container.cluster
    • gcloud.core.project
    • gcloud.project.environProjectNumber

Caution: Be sure to make a note of the configuration profile and the package that you are using. You need to use the same profile and package when you setup additional clusters and when you upgrade.

Installing Anthos Service Mesh

1. Verify that the current kubeconfig context is pointing to the cluster that you want to install Anthos Service Mesh on:

     kubectl config current-context
   

   The output is in the following format:

     gke_PROJECT_ID_CLUSTER_LOCATION_CLUSTER_NAME

   The kubeconfig context and the values of the kpt setters must match. If needed, run the gcloud container clusters get-credentials command to set the current kubeconfig context.

2. If you are using Citadel as the certificate authority, and you want to use a custom CA, run the following commands. Otherwise, skip to the next step.

   kubectl create namespace istio-system

   kubectl create secret generic cacerts  \
     -n istio-system \
     --from-file=ca-cert.pem \
     --from-file=ca-key.pem \
     --from-file=root-cert.pem \
     --from-file=cert-chain.pem

   For more information, see Plugging in existing CA Certificates.

3. Run the following command to install Anthos Service Mesh using the configuration profile that you set in the istio-operator.yaml file. If you want to enable a supported optional feature, include -f and the YAML filename on the following command line. See Enabling optional features for more information.

   istioctl install \
     -f asm/cluster/istio-operator.yaml \
     --set revision=asm-1614-2

   The --set revision argument adds a revision label in the format istio.io/rev=asm-1614-2 to istiod. The revision label is used by the automatic sidecar injector webhook to associate injected sidecars with a particular istiod revision. To enable sidecar auto-injection for a namespace, you must label it with a revision that matches the label on istiod.

4. Configure the validating webhook so that it can locate the istiod service with the revision label:

   kubectl apply -f asm/istiod-service.yaml

   This command creates a service entry that lets the validating webhook automatically check configurations before they are applied.

5. If you used the asm-gcp profile, run the following command to deploy the Canonical Service controller:

   kubectl apply -f asm/canonical-service/controller.yaml

   The command deploys the Canonical Service controller to your cluster. The Canonical Service controller groups workloads belonging to the same logical service, and it is required to unlock extra functionality in the Services dashboard in the Google Cloud console. For more information, refer to Enabling and disabling the Canonical Service controller.

   If you used the asm-gcp-multiproject profile, currently telemetry data isn't displayed in the Anthos Service Mesh dashboards in Google Cloud console. However, you can still view logs in Cloud Logging and metrics in Cloud Monitoring for each project.

Auto mutual TLS (auto mTLS) is enabled by default. With auto mTLS, a client sidecar proxy automatically detects if the server has a sidecar. The client sidecar sends mTLS to workloads with sidecars and sends plain text traffic to workloads without sidecars.

Caution: To secure your service mesh, we recommend that you migrate your services to mTLS STRICT mode, as described in Mutual TLS Migration.

Check the control plane components

Check that the control plane pods in istio-system are up:

kubectl get pod -n istio-system

Expected output is similar to the following:

NAME                                   READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
istio-ingressgateway-cff9f5c7d-qg4ls   1/1     Running   0          7m5s
istio-ingressgateway-cff9f5c7d-vlkzb   1/1     Running   0          7m20s
istiod-66b587859c-886gx                1/1     Running   0          7m33s
istiod-66b587859c-dfs2j                1/1     Running   0          7m33s

Injecting sidecar proxies

Anthos Service Mesh uses sidecar proxies to enhance network security, reliability, and observability. With Anthos Service Mesh, these functions are abstracted away from the application's primary container and implemented in a common out-of-process proxy delivered as a separate container in the same Pod.

Before you deploy workloads, make sure to configure sidecar proxy injection so that Anthos Service Mesh can monitor and secure traffic.

Any workloads that were running on your cluster before you installed Anthos Service Mesh need to have the sidecar proxy injected or updated so they have the current Anthos Service Mesh version. Before you deploy new workloads, make sure to configure sidecar proxy injection so that Anthos Service Mesh can monitor and secure traffic.

To enable sidecar auto-injection, you label your namespaces with the same revision that you set on istiod. Run the following command to show the labels on istiod:

kubectl -n istio-system get pods -l app=istiod --show-labels

Confirm that the revision label, istio.io/rev=asm-1614-2, is in the output. This is the label that you use to enable auto-injection. You can enable auto-injection with one command, for example:

kubectl label namespace NAMESPACE istio-injection-istio.io/rev=asm-1614-2 --overwrite

where NAMESPACE is the name of the namespace for your application's services or default if you didn't explicitly create a namespace.

For more information, see Injecting sidecar proxies.

Viewing the Anthos Service Mesh dashboards

This section is applicable only if you installed Anthos Service Mesh with the asm-gcp configuration profile. If you used the asm-gcp-multiproject profile to install Anthos Service Mesh, telemetry data won't be available on the Anthos Service Mesh dashboards in the Google Cloud console.

After you have workloads deployed on your cluster with the sidecar proxies injected, you can explore the Anthos Service Mesh pages in the Google Cloud console to see all of the observability features that Anthos Service Mesh offers. Note that it takes about one or two minutes for telemetry data to be displayed in the Google Cloud console after you deploy workloads.

Access to Anthos Service Mesh in the Google Cloud console is controlled by Identity and Access Management (IAM). To access the Anthos Service Mesh pages, a Project Owner must grant users the Project Editor or Viewer role, or the more restrictive roles described in Controlling access to Anthos Service Mesh in the Google Cloud console.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to Anthos Service Mesh.

   Go to Anthos Service Mesh

2. Select the Google Cloud project from the drop-down list on the menu bar.

3. If you have more than one service mesh, select the mesh from the Service Mesh drop-down list.

To learn more, see Exploring Anthos Service Mesh in the Google Cloud console.

In addition to the Anthos Service Mesh pages, metrics related to your services (such as the number of requests received by a particular service) are sent to Cloud Monitoring, where they appear in the Metrics Explorer.

To view metrics:

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Monitoring page:

   Go to Monitoring

2. Select Resources > Metrics Explorer.

For a full list of metrics, see Istio metrics in the Cloud Monitoring documentation.

Registering your cluster

You must register your cluster with the project's fleet to gain access to the unified user interface in the Google Cloud console. A fleet provides a unified way to view and manage the clusters and their workloads, including clusters outside Google Cloud.

See Registering clusters to the fleet for information on registering your cluster.

What's next

• Deploy the Online Boutique sample application
• Add clusters to Anthos Service Mesh

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