Linkerd Patterns
Production patterns for Linkerd service mesh - the lightweight, security-first service mesh for Kubernetes.
When to Use This Skill
- Setting up a lightweight service mesh
- Implementing automatic mTLS
- Configuring traffic splits for canary deployments
- Setting up service profiles for per-route metrics
- Implementing retries and timeouts
- Multi-cluster service mesh
Core Concepts
1. Linkerd Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Control Plane │ │ ┌─────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────────┐ │ │ │ destiny │ │ identity │ │ proxy-inject │ │ │ └─────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Data Plane │ │ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ ┌─────┐ │ │ │proxy│────│proxy│────│proxy│ │ │ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──┴──┐ ┌──┴──┐ ┌──┴──┐ │ │ │ app │ │ app │ │ app │ │ │ └─────┘ └─────┘ └─────┘ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘
2. Key Resources
| Resource | Purpose |
|---|---|
| ServiceProfile | Per-route metrics, retries, timeouts |
| TrafficSplit | Canary deployments, A/B testing |
| Server | Define server-side policies |
| ServerAuthorization | Access control policies |
Templates
Template 1: Mesh Installation
bash# Install CLI curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSfL https://run.linkerd.io/install | sh # Validate cluster linkerd check --pre # Install CRDs linkerd install --crds | kubectl apply -f - # Install control plane linkerd install | kubectl apply -f - # Verify installation linkerd check # Install viz extension (optional) linkerd viz install | kubectl apply -f -
Template 2: Inject Namespace
yaml# Automatic injection for namespace apiVersion: v1 kind: Namespace metadata: name: my-app annotations: linkerd.io/inject: enabled --- # Or inject specific deployment apiVersion: apps/v1 kind: Deployment metadata: name: my-app annotations: linkerd.io/inject: enabled spec: template: metadata: annotations: linkerd.io/inject: enabled
Template 3: Service Profile with Retries
yamlapiVersion: linkerd.io/v1alpha2 kind: ServiceProfile metadata: name: my-service.my-namespace.svc.cluster.local namespace: my-namespace spec: routes: - name: GET /api/users condition: method: GET pathRegex: /api/users responseClasses: - condition: status: min: 500 max: 599 isFailure: true isRetryable: true - name: POST /api/users condition: method: POST pathRegex: /api/users # POST not retryable by default isRetryable: false - name: GET /api/users/{id} condition: method: GET pathRegex: /api/users/[^/]+ timeout: 5s isRetryable: true retryBudget: retryRatio: 0.2 minRetriesPerSecond: 10 ttl: 10s
Template 4: Traffic Split (Canary)
yamlapiVersion: split.smi-spec.io/v1alpha1 kind: TrafficSplit metadata: name: my-service-canary namespace: my-namespace spec: service: my-service backends: - service: my-service-stable weight: 900m # 90% - service: my-service-canary weight: 100m # 10%
Template 5: Server Authorization Policy
yaml# Define the server apiVersion: policy.linkerd.io/v1beta1 kind: Server metadata: name: my-service-http namespace: my-namespace spec: podSelector: matchLabels: app: my-service port: http proxyProtocol: HTTP/1 --- # Allow traffic from specific clients apiVersion: policy.linkerd.io/v1beta1 kind: ServerAuthorization metadata: name: allow-frontend namespace: my-namespace spec: server: name: my-service-http client: meshTLS: serviceAccounts: - name: frontend namespace: my-namespace --- # Allow unauthenticated traffic (e.g., from ingress) apiVersion: policy.linkerd.io/v1beta1 kind: ServerAuthorization metadata: name: allow-ingress namespace: my-namespace spec: server: name: my-service-http client: unauthenticated: true networks: - cidr: 10.0.0.0/8
Template 6: HTTPRoute for Advanced Routing
yamlapiVersion: policy.linkerd.io/v1beta2 kind: HTTPRoute metadata: name: my-route namespace: my-namespace spec: parentRefs: - name: my-service kind: Service group: core port: 8080 rules: - matches: - path: type: PathPrefix value: /api/v2 - headers: - name: x-api-version value: v2 backendRefs: - name: my-service-v2 port: 8080 - matches: - path: type: PathPrefix value: /api backendRefs: - name: my-service-v1 port: 8080
Template 7: Multi-cluster Setup
bash# On each cluster, install with cluster credentials linkerd multicluster install | kubectl apply -f - # Link clusters linkerd multicluster link --cluster-name west \ --api-server-address https://west.example.com:6443 \ | kubectl apply -f - # Export a service to other clusters kubectl label svc/my-service mirror.linkerd.io/exported=true # Verify cross-cluster connectivity linkerd multicluster check linkerd multicluster gateways
Monitoring Commands
bash# Live traffic view linkerd viz top deploy/my-app # Per-route metrics linkerd viz routes deploy/my-app # Check proxy status linkerd viz stat deploy -n my-namespace # View service dependencies linkerd viz edges deploy -n my-namespace # Dashboard linkerd viz dashboard
Debugging
bash# Check injection status linkerd check --proxy -n my-namespace # View proxy logs kubectl logs deploy/my-app -c linkerd-proxy # Debug identity/TLS linkerd identity -n my-namespace # Tap traffic (live) linkerd viz tap deploy/my-app --to deploy/my-backend
Best Practices
Do's
- Enable mTLS everywhere - It's automatic with Linkerd
- Use ServiceProfiles - Get per-route metrics and retries
- Set retry budgets - Prevent retry storms
- Monitor golden metrics - Success rate, latency, throughput
Don'ts
- Don't skip check - Always run
linkerd checkafter changes - Don't over-configure - Linkerd defaults are sensible
- Don't ignore ServiceProfiles - They unlock advanced features
- Don't forget timeouts - Set appropriate values per route
