Install Istio

Istio install with profiles istioctl install (with profile default) istioctl install --set profile=demo Special for ALB as ingress istioctl install --set profile=demo
--set values.gateways.istio-ingressgateway.type=NodePort

Enable Side car Injection kubectl label namespace ai-assistant istio-injection=enabled

Install Related resources

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/addons/kiali.yaml (opens in a new tab) kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/addons/prometheus.yaml (opens in a new tab) kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/addons/jaeger.yaml (opens in a new tab) kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/addons/grafana.yaml (opens in a new tab)

Access the dashboard

kubectl port-forward svc/kiali 20001:20001 -n istio-system
istioctl dashboard kiali
kubectl port-forward -n istio-system svc/jaeger-query 16686:16686
istioctl dashboard jaeger

`DEMO`

📘 Distributed Tracing with Jaeger on Minikube (Istio)

This guide outlines how to enable distributed tracing in your Minikube cluster using Istio and Jaeger, and deploy demo applications to visualize traces.

🚀 Prerequisites

Minikube cluster with Istio and Kiali installed
Istio is running in the istio-system namespace
kubectl and istioctl are configured

🛠️ Step-by-Step Guide to Install Jaeger and Enable Tracing

1. Deploy ISTIO in Your Cluster

istioctl install --set profile=demo -y
kubectl get pods -n istio-system

2. Verify Jaeger Deployment

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/addons/jaeger.yaml
kubectl get pods -n istio-system | grep jaeger

You should see a pod named jaeger in the Running state.

3. Configure Istio to Use Jaeger

Create a Telemetry resource:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: telemetry.istio.io/v1
kind: Telemetry
metadata:
  name: mesh-default
  namespace: istio-system
spec:
  tracing:
  - providers:
    - name: jaeger
EOF

cat <<EOF | istioctl install -y -f -
apiVersion: install.istio.io/v1alpha1
kind: IstioOperator
spec:
  meshConfig:
    enableTracing: true
    defaultConfig:
      tracing:
        sampling: 100
    extensionProviders:
    - name: otel-tracing
      opentelemetry:
        port: 4317
        service: opentelemetry-collector.observability.svc.cluster.local
        resource_detectors:
          environment: {}
    - name: jaeger
      opentelemetry:
        port: 4317
        service: jaeger-collector.istio-system.svc.cluster.local
EOF

4. Enable Sidecar Injection in Default Namespace

kubectl label namespace default istio-injection=enabled --overwrite

📦 Deploy Demo Applications

Deploy `httpbin` & `sleep`

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/httpbin/httpbin.yaml
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.26/samples/sleep/sleep.yaml

Verify Pods

kubectl get pods -n default

Expected output:

NAME                      READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
httpbin-xxxxxxx-xxxxx     2/2     Running   0          1m
sleep-xxxxxxx-xxxxx       2/2     Running   0          1m

🔁 Generate Traffic to Produce Traces

Use the sleep pod to call httpbin:

kubectl exec -it $(kubectl get pod -l app=sleep -n default -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}') -n default -- curl http://httpbin.default.svc.cluster.local:8000/get

Repeat several times to generate trace data.

📈 View Traces in Jaeger UI

Port-Forward Jaeger UI

kubectl port-forward -n istio-system svc/jaeger-query 16686:16686
istioctl dashboard jaeger

Access UI

Open your browser:

http://localhost:16686

Select httpbin.default.svc.cluster.local from the service dropdown
Click "Find Traces" to view trace data

✅ Conclusion

You now have Jaeger integrated with Istio in Minikube and are successfully generating and viewing trace data from demo applications.

Falco Kafka