Enhancing Netflix Clone Deployment with Pixie Observability

Introduction

In this follow-up guide, we will explore the integration of Pixie observability into our existing Netflix clone deployment on Kubernetes. Pixie provides powerful observability capabilities that allow you to monitor, debug, and understand your application’s behavior in real-time. By the end of this article, you will have a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage Pixie to gain deeper insights into your application’s performance and troubleshoot issues efficiently.

In my previous blog, I detailed how to successfully deploy a Netflix clone on Kubernetes, incorporating various security and monitoring tools such as SonarQube, Trivy, Jenkins, Prometheus, Grafana, and Argo CD.

For the complete configuration and step-by-step guide, please follow this link:

https://medium.com/@subhampradhan966/end-to-end-netflix-clone-deployment-with-kubernetes-sonarqube-trivy-jenkins-prometheus-and-3aac2d4a9533

Completion Steps:

Phase 1: Introduction to Pixie

What is Pixie?

Pixie is an observability platform for Kubernetes applications that provides real-time, automated insights into your application’s performance, resource usage, and health without requiring manual instrumentation.

Setting Up the Pixie Server:

Phase 2: Setting Up Pixie on Kubernetes

Step 1: Install AWS CLI To manage your Kubernetes cluster on AWS, you’ll need the AWS CLI. Here’s how to install and configure it on your machine:

sudo su
cd
apt update

# Install AWS CLI
sudo apt install -y unzip curl
curl "https://awscli.amazonaws.com/awscli-exe-linux-x86_64.zip" -o "awscliv2.zip"
unzip awscliv2.zip
sudo ./aws/install
aws --version

# Configure AWS CLI
aws configure

# Verify the installation :
aws sts get-caller-identity

# To configure your local kubectl to interact with your EKS cluster, use the following command:
aws eks update-kubeconfig --region us-east-1 --name MyEKS_cluster_For_Netflix

Add IAM user with Access policies to Access the EKS cluster

Step 2: Install kubectl on Ubuntu

kubectl is a command-line tool for interacting with your Kubernetes cluster. Here’s how to install it:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg

curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.30/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg

sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg

echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.30/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list

sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

# Verify the installation
kubectl get nodes

Step 3: Install Pixie CLI and Deploy Pixie

To install Pixie and deploy it to your Kubernetes cluster, follow these steps:

# Install Pixie CLI
bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://withpixie.ai/install.sh)"

# Authenticate Pixie
px auth login

copy the url and hit

Click on SIGN UP

Sign-Up With Google

Just verify your Gmail account

Give your organization name and click on create

Copy the Install Pixie commands and paste in terminal

# Follow the link provided to get the URI and token, then use the token to complete authentication
# Example: px auth login (and provide the token when prompted)

# Deploy Pixie to your cluster
px deploy

Phase 3: Observing Netflix Clone with Pixie

Step 1: Explore Live Data Navigate through the Pixie UI to explore the live data collected from your Netflix clone deployment. Use the pre-built dashboards and visualizations to gain insights into your application’s performance.

Step 2: Custom Dashboards and Scripts Create custom dashboards and scripts to monitor specific aspects of your application. Pixie’s scripting language, PxL, allows you to write custom scripts for detailed observability.

Step 3: Debugging and Troubleshooting Utilize Pixie’s real-time debugging capabilities to troubleshoot issues in your application. Use features like flame graphs, service maps, and request tracing to identify and resolve performance bottlenecks.

Phase 4: Integrating Pixie with Existing Monitoring Tools

Step 1: Combining Pixie with Prometheus and Grafana Integrate Pixie with your existing Prometheus and Grafana setup for a unified observability solution. Use Pixie’s Prometheus exporter to forward metrics to Prometheus and visualize them in Grafana.

Step 2: Configuring Prometheus Exporter Set up the Pixie Prometheus exporter in your Kubernetes cluster:

px deploy prom-metrics

Update your Prometheus configuration to scrape Pixie’s metrics endpoint.

Step 3: Creating Grafana Dashboards Create Grafana dashboards to visualize the metrics collected by Pixie. Use Pixie’s provided templates or customize your own to fit your observability needs.

Conclusion

Integrating Pixie observability into your Netflix clone deployment on Kubernetes enhances your ability to monitor, debug, and optimize your application in real-time. By following this guide, you now have the tools to leverage Pixie’s powerful observability features, combined with your existing monitoring setup, to ensure your application is performing optimally and securely.

Stay tuned for more articles on advanced Kubernetes deployments and observability techniques. Happy monitoring!