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Red Hat OpenShift Serverless 1.31

Using event-driven architectures with OpenShift Serverless

Red Hat OpenShift Documentation Team

Abstract

This document provides information about Eventing features such as event sources and sinks, brokers, triggers, channels, and subscriptions.

Chapter 1. Knative Eventing

Knative Eventing on OpenShift Container Platform enables developers to use an event-driven architecture with serverless applications. An event-driven architecture is based on the concept of decoupled relationships between event producers and event consumers.

Event producers create events, and event sinks, or consumers, receive events. Knative Eventing uses standard HTTP POST requests to send and receive events between event producers and sinks. These events conform to the CloudEvents specifications, which enables creating, parsing, sending, and receiving events in any programming language.

1.1. Knative Eventing use cases:

Knative Eventing supports the following use cases:

Publish an event without creating a consumer
You can send events to a broker as an HTTP POST, and use binding to decouple the destination configuration from your application that produces events.
Consume an event without creating a publisher
You can use a trigger to consume events from a broker based on event attributes. The application receives events as an HTTP POST.

To enable delivery to multiple types of sinks, Knative Eventing defines the following generic interfaces that can be implemented by multiple Kubernetes resources:

Addressable resources
Able to receive and acknowledge an event delivered over HTTP to an address defined in the status.address.url field of the event. The Kubernetes Service resource also satisfies the addressable interface.
Callable resources
Able to receive an event delivered over HTTP and transform it, returning 0 or 1 new events in the HTTP response payload. These returned events may be further processed in the same way that events from an external event source are processed.

Chapter 2. Event sources

2.1. Event sources

A Knative event source can be any Kubernetes object that generates or imports cloud events, and relays those events to another endpoint, known as a sink. Sourcing events is critical to developing a distributed system that reacts to events.

You can create and manage Knative event sources by using the Developer perspective in the OpenShift Container Platform web console, the Knative (kn) CLI, or by applying YAML files.

Currently, OpenShift Serverless supports the following event source types:

API server source
Brings Kubernetes API server events into Knative. The API server source sends a new event each time a Kubernetes resource is created, updated or deleted.
Ping source
Produces events with a fixed payload on a specified cron schedule.
Kafka event source
Connects an Apache Kafka cluster to a sink as an event source.

You can also create a custom event source.

2.2. Event source in the Administrator perspective

Sourcing events is critical to developing a distributed system that reacts to events.

2.2.1. Creating an event source by using the Administrator perspective

A Knative event source can be any Kubernetes object that generates or imports cloud events, and relays those events to another endpoint, known as a sink.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Create list, select Event Source. You will be directed to the Event Sources page.
  3. Select the event source type that you want to create.

2.3. Creating an API server source

The API server source is an event source that can be used to connect an event sink, such as a Knative service, to the Kubernetes API server. The API server source watches for Kubernetes events and forwards them to the Knative Eventing broker.

2.3.1. Creating an API server source by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create an API server source by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create an event source.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Procedure

If you want to re-use an existing service account, you can modify your existing ServiceAccount resource to include the required permissions instead of creating a new resource.

  1. Create a service account, role, and role binding for the event source as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ServiceAccount
    metadata:
      name: events-sa
      namespace: default 1
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: Role
    metadata:
      name: event-watcher
      namespace: default 2
    rules:
      - apiGroups:
          - ""
        resources:
          - events
        verbs:
          - get
          - list
          - watch
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: RoleBinding
    metadata:
      name: k8s-ra-event-watcher
      namespace: default 3
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: Role
      name: event-watcher
    subjects:
      - kind: ServiceAccount
        name: events-sa
        namespace: default 4
    1 2 3 4
    Change this namespace to the namespace that you have selected for installing the event source.
  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddEvent Source. The Event Sources page is displayed.
  4. Optional: If you have multiple providers for your event sources, select the required provider from the Providers list to filter the available event sources from the provider.
  5. Select ApiServerSource and then click Create Event Source. The Create Event Source page is displayed.
  6. Configure the ApiServerSource settings by using the Form view or YAML view:

    Note

    You can switch between the Form view and YAML view. The data is persisted when switching between the views.

    1. Enter v1 as the APIVERSION and Event as the KIND.
    2. Select the Service Account Name for the service account that you created.
    3. In the Target section, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

      1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source.
      2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
  7. Click Create.

Verification

  • After you have created the API server source, check that it is connected to the event sink by viewing it in the Topology view.

    ApiServerSource Topology view
Note

If a URI sink is used, you can modify the URI by right-clicking on URI sinkEdit URI.

Deleting the API server source

  1. Navigate to the Topology view.
  2. Right-click the API server source and select Delete ApiServerSource.

    Delete the ApiServerSource

2.3.2. Creating an API server source by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source apiserver create command to create an API server source by using the kn CLI. Using the kn CLI to create an API server source provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
Procedure

If you want to re-use an existing service account, you can modify your existing ServiceAccount resource to include the required permissions instead of creating a new resource.

  1. Create a service account, role, and role binding for the event source as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ServiceAccount
    metadata:
      name: events-sa
      namespace: default 1
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: Role
    metadata:
      name: event-watcher
      namespace: default 2
    rules:
      - apiGroups:
          - ""
        resources:
          - events
        verbs:
          - get
          - list
          - watch
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: RoleBinding
    metadata:
      name: k8s-ra-event-watcher
      namespace: default 3
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: Role
      name: event-watcher
    subjects:
      - kind: ServiceAccount
        name: events-sa
        namespace: default 4
    1 2 3 4
    Change this namespace to the namespace that you have selected for installing the event source.
  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Create an API server source that has an event sink. In the following example, the sink is a broker:

    $ kn source apiserver create <event_source_name> --sink broker:<broker_name> --resource "event:v1" --service-account <service_account_name> --mode Resource
  4. To check that the API server source is set up correctly, create a Knative service that dumps incoming messages to its log:

    $ kn service create event-display --image quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  5. If you used a broker as an event sink, create a trigger to filter events from the default broker to the service:

    $ kn trigger create <trigger_name> --sink ksvc:event-display
  6. Create events by launching a pod in the default namespace:

    $ oc create deployment event-origin --image quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  7. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by inspecting the output generated by the following command:

    $ kn source apiserver describe <source_name>

    Example output

    Name:                mysource
    Namespace:           default
    Annotations:         sources.knative.dev/creator=developer, sources.knative.dev/lastModifier=developer
    Age:                 3m
    ServiceAccountName:  events-sa
    Mode:                Resource
    Sink:
      Name:       default
      Namespace:  default
      Kind:       Broker (eventing.knative.dev/v1)
    Resources:
      Kind:        event (v1)
      Controller:  false
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE                     AGE REASON
      ++ Ready                     3m
      ++ Deployed                  3m
      ++ SinkProvided              3m
      ++ SufficientPermissions     3m
      ++ EventTypesProvided        3m

Verification

To verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to Knative, look at the event-display logs or use web browser to see the events.

  • To view the events in a web browser, open the link returned by the following command:

    $ kn service describe event-display -o url

    Figure 2.1. Example browser page

    Example visualization of ApiServerSource event
  • Alternatively, to see the logs in the terminal, view the event-display logs for the pods by entering the following command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.apiserver.resource.update
      datacontenttype: application/json
      ...
    Data,
      {
        "apiVersion": "v1",
        "involvedObject": {
          "apiVersion": "v1",
          "fieldPath": "spec.containers{event-origin}",
          "kind": "Pod",
          "name": "event-origin",
          "namespace": "default",
           .....
        },
        "kind": "Event",
        "message": "Started container",
        "metadata": {
          "name": "event-origin.159d7608e3a3572c",
          "namespace": "default",
          ....
        },
        "reason": "Started",
        ...
      }

Deleting the API server source

  1. Delete the trigger:

    $ kn trigger delete <trigger_name>
  2. Delete the event source:

    $ kn source apiserver delete <source_name>
  3. Delete the service account, cluster role, and cluster binding:

    $ oc delete -f authentication.yaml
2.3.2.1. Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag

$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ 1
  --ce-override "sink=bound"

1
svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.

2.3.3. Creating an API server source by using YAML files

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe event sources declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create an API server source by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines an ApiServerSource object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have created the default broker in the same namespace as the one defined in the API server source YAML file.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Procedure

If you want to re-use an existing service account, you can modify your existing ServiceAccount resource to include the required permissions instead of creating a new resource.

  1. Create a service account, role, and role binding for the event source as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ServiceAccount
    metadata:
      name: events-sa
      namespace: default 1
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: Role
    metadata:
      name: event-watcher
      namespace: default 2
    rules:
      - apiGroups:
          - ""
        resources:
          - events
        verbs:
          - get
          - list
          - watch
    
    ---
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: RoleBinding
    metadata:
      name: k8s-ra-event-watcher
      namespace: default 3
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: Role
      name: event-watcher
    subjects:
      - kind: ServiceAccount
        name: events-sa
        namespace: default 4
    1 2 3 4
    Change this namespace to the namespace that you have selected for installing the event source.
  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Create an API server source as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: ApiServerSource
    metadata:
      name: testevents
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: events-sa
      mode: Resource
      resources:
        - apiVersion: v1
          kind: Event
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Broker
          name: default
  4. Apply the ApiServerSource YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  5. To check that the API server source is set up correctly, create a Knative service as a YAML file that dumps incoming messages to its log:

    apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: event-display
      namespace: default
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          containers:
            - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  6. Apply the Service YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  7. Create a Trigger object as a YAML file that filters events from the default broker to the service created in the previous step:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Trigger
    metadata:
      name: event-display-trigger
      namespace: default
    spec:
      broker: default
      subscriber:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display
  8. Apply the Trigger YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  9. Create events by launching a pod in the default namespace:

    $ oc create deployment event-origin --image=quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  10. Check that the controller is mapped correctly, by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ oc get apiserversource.sources.knative.dev testevents -o yaml

    Example output

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: ApiServerSource
    metadata:
      annotations:
      creationTimestamp: "2020-04-07T17:24:54Z"
      generation: 1
      name: testevents
      namespace: default
      resourceVersion: "62868"
      selfLink: /apis/sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1/namespaces/default/apiserversources/testevents2
      uid: 1603d863-bb06-4d1c-b371-f580b4db99fa
    spec:
      mode: Resource
      resources:
      - apiVersion: v1
        controller: false
        controllerSelector:
          apiVersion: ""
          kind: ""
          name: ""
          uid: ""
        kind: Event
        labelSelector: {}
      serviceAccountName: events-sa
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Broker
          name: default

Verification

To verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to Knative, you can look at the event-display logs or use web browser to see the events.

  • To view the events in a web browser, open the link returned by the following command:

    $ oc get ksvc event-display -o jsonpath='{.status.url}'

    Figure 2.2. Example browser page

    Example visualization of ApiServerSource event
  • To see the logs in the terminal, view the event-display logs for the pods by entering the following command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.apiserver.resource.update
      datacontenttype: application/json
      ...
    Data,
      {
        "apiVersion": "v1",
        "involvedObject": {
          "apiVersion": "v1",
          "fieldPath": "spec.containers{event-origin}",
          "kind": "Pod",
          "name": "event-origin",
          "namespace": "default",
           .....
        },
        "kind": "Event",
        "message": "Started container",
        "metadata": {
          "name": "event-origin.159d7608e3a3572c",
          "namespace": "default",
          ....
        },
        "reason": "Started",
        ...
      }

Deleting the API server source

  1. Delete the trigger:

    $ oc delete -f trigger.yaml
  2. Delete the event source:

    $ oc delete -f k8s-events.yaml
  3. Delete the service account, cluster role, and cluster binding:

    $ oc delete -f authentication.yaml

2.4. Creating a ping source

A ping source is an event source that can be used to periodically send ping events with a constant payload to an event consumer. A ping source can be used to schedule sending events, similar to a timer.

2.4.1. Creating a ping source by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a ping source by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create an event source.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. To verify that the ping source is working, create a simple Knative service that dumps incoming messages to the logs of the service.

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddYAML.
    2. Copy the example YAML:

      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      metadata:
        name: event-display
      spec:
        template:
          spec:
            containers:
              - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
    3. Click Create.
  2. Create a ping source in the same namespace as the service created in the previous step, or any other sink that you want to send events to.

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddEvent Source. The Event Sources page is displayed.
    2. Optional: If you have multiple providers for your event sources, select the required provider from the Providers list to filter the available event sources from the provider.
    3. Select Ping Source and then click Create Event Source. The Create Event Source page is displayed.

      Note

      You can configure the PingSource settings by using the Form view or YAML view and can switch between the views. The data is persisted when switching between the views.

    4. Enter a value for Schedule. In this example, the value is */2 * * * *, which creates a PingSource that sends a message every two minutes.
    5. Optional: You can enter a value for Data, which is the message payload.
    6. In the Target section, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

      1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source. In this example, the event-display service created in the previous step is used as the target Resource.
      2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
    7. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the ping source was created and is connected to the sink by viewing the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. View the ping source and sink.

    View the ping source and service in the Topology view
  3. View the event-display service in the web browser. You should see the ping source events in the web UI.

    View the ping source events in the web UI

Deleting the ping source

  1. Navigate to the Topology view.
  2. Right-click the API server source and select Delete Ping Source.

2.4.2. Creating a ping source by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source ping create command to create a ping source by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to create event sources provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • Optional: If you want to use the verification steps for this procedure, install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. To verify that the ping source is working, create a simple Knative service that dumps incoming messages to the service logs:

    $ kn service create event-display \
        --image quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  2. For each set of ping events that you want to request, create a ping source in the same namespace as the event consumer:

    $ kn source ping create test-ping-source \
        --schedule "*/2 * * * *" \
        --data '{"message": "Hello world!"}' \
        --sink ksvc:event-display
  3. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ kn source ping describe test-ping-source

    Example output

    Name:         test-ping-source
    Namespace:    default
    Annotations:  sources.knative.dev/creator=developer, sources.knative.dev/lastModifier=developer
    Age:          15s
    Schedule:     */2 * * * *
    Data:         {"message": "Hello world!"}
    
    Sink:
      Name:       event-display
      Namespace:  default
      Resource:   Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE                 AGE REASON
      ++ Ready                 8s
      ++ Deployed              8s
      ++ SinkProvided         15s
      ++ ValidSchedule        15s
      ++ EventTypeProvided    15s
      ++ ResourcesCorrect     15s

Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the logs of the sink pod.

By default, Knative services terminate their pods if no traffic is received within a 60 second period. The example shown in this guide creates a ping source that sends a message every 2 minutes, so each message should be observed in a newly created pod.

  1. Watch for new pods created:

    $ watch oc get pods
  2. Cancel watching the pods using Ctrl+C, then look at the logs of the created pod:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.sources.ping
      source: /apis/v1/namespaces/default/pingsources/test-ping-source
      id: 99e4f4f6-08ff-4bff-acf1-47f61ded68c9
      time: 2020-04-07T16:16:00.000601161Z
      datacontenttype: application/json
    Data,
      {
        "message": "Hello world!"
      }

Deleting the ping source

  • Delete the ping source:

    $ kn delete pingsources.sources.knative.dev <ping_source_name>
2.4.2.1. Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag

$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ 1
  --ce-override "sink=bound"

1
svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.

2.4.3. Creating a ping source by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe event sources declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a serverless ping source by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a PingSource object, then apply it by using oc apply.

Example PingSource object

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: PingSource
metadata:
  name: test-ping-source
spec:
  schedule: "*/2 * * * *" 1
  data: '{"message": "Hello world!"}' 2
  sink: 3
    ref:
      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      name: event-display

1
The schedule of the event specified using CRON expression.
2
The event message body expressed as a JSON encoded data string.
3
These are the details of the event consumer. In this example, we are using a Knative service named event-display.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. To verify that the ping source is working, create a simple Knative service that dumps incoming messages to the service’s logs.

    1. Create a service YAML file:

      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      metadata:
        name: event-display
      spec:
        template:
          spec:
            containers:
              - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
    2. Create the service:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  2. For each set of ping events that you want to request, create a ping source in the same namespace as the event consumer.

    1. Create a YAML file for the ping source:

      apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
      kind: PingSource
      metadata:
        name: test-ping-source
      spec:
        schedule: "*/2 * * * *"
        data: '{"message": "Hello world!"}'
        sink:
          ref:
            apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
            kind: Service
            name: event-display
    2. Create the ping source:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command:

    $ oc get pingsource.sources.knative.dev <ping_source_name> -oyaml

    Example output

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
    kind: PingSource
    metadata:
      annotations:
        sources.knative.dev/creator: developer
        sources.knative.dev/lastModifier: developer
      creationTimestamp: "2020-04-07T16:11:14Z"
      generation: 1
      name: test-ping-source
      namespace: default
      resourceVersion: "55257"
      selfLink: /apis/sources.knative.dev/v1/namespaces/default/pingsources/test-ping-source
      uid: 3d80d50b-f8c7-4c1b-99f7-3ec00e0a8164
    spec:
      data: '{ value: "hello" }'
      schedule: '*/2 * * * *'
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display
          namespace: default

Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the sink pod’s logs.

By default, Knative services terminate their pods if no traffic is received within a 60 second period. The example shown in this guide creates a PingSource that sends a message every 2 minutes, so each message should be observed in a newly created pod.

  1. Watch for new pods created:

    $ watch oc get pods
  2. Cancel watching the pods using Ctrl+C, then look at the logs of the created pod:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.sources.ping
      source: /apis/v1/namespaces/default/pingsources/test-ping-source
      id: 042ff529-240e-45ee-b40c-3a908129853e
      time: 2020-04-07T16:22:00.000791674Z
      datacontenttype: application/json
    Data,
      {
        "message": "Hello world!"
      }

Deleting the ping source

  • Delete the ping source:

    $ oc delete -f <filename>

    Example command

    $ oc delete -f ping-source.yaml

2.5. Source for Apache Kafka

You can create an Apache Kafka source that reads events from an Apache Kafka cluster and passes these events to a sink. You can create a Kafka source by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, the Knative (kn) CLI, or by creating a KafkaSource object directly as a YAML file and using the OpenShift CLI (oc) to apply it.

Note

See the documentation for Installing Knative broker for Apache Kafka.

2.5.1. Creating an Apache Kafka event source by using the web console

After the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka is installed on your cluster, you can create an Apache Kafka source by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a Kafka source.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console.
  • You have access to a Red Hat AMQ Streams (Kafka) cluster that produces the Kafka messages you want to import.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the +Add page and select Event Source.
  2. In the Event Sources page, select Kafka Source in the Type section.
  3. Configure the Kafka Source settings:

    1. Add a comma-separated list of Bootstrap Servers.
    2. Add a comma-separated list of Topics.
    3. Add a Consumer Group.
    4. Select the Service Account Name for the service account that you created.
    5. In the Target section, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

      1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source.
      2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
    6. Enter a Name for the Kafka event source.
  4. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the Kafka event source was created and is connected to the sink by viewing the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. View the Kafka event source and sink.

    View the Kafka source and service in the Topology view

2.5.2. Creating an Apache Kafka event source by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source kafka create command to create a Kafka source by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to create event sources provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, Knative Serving, and the KnativeKafka custom resource (CR) are installed on your cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have access to a Red Hat AMQ Streams (Kafka) cluster that produces the Kafka messages you want to import.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • Optional: You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc) if you want to use the verification steps in this procedure.

Procedure

  1. To verify that the Kafka event source is working, create a Knative service that dumps incoming events into the service logs:

    $ kn service create event-display \
        --image quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  2. Create a KafkaSource CR:

    $ kn source kafka create <kafka_source_name> \
        --servers <cluster_kafka_bootstrap>.kafka.svc:9092 \
        --topics <topic_name> --consumergroup my-consumer-group \
        --sink event-display
    Note

    Replace the placeholder values in this command with values for your source name, bootstrap servers, and topics.

    The --servers, --topics, and --consumergroup options specify the connection parameters to the Kafka cluster. The --consumergroup option is optional.

  3. Optional: View details about the KafkaSource CR you created:

    $ kn source kafka describe <kafka_source_name>

    Example output

    Name:              example-kafka-source
    Namespace:         kafka
    Age:               1h
    BootstrapServers:  example-cluster-kafka-bootstrap.kafka.svc:9092
    Topics:            example-topic
    ConsumerGroup:     example-consumer-group
    
    Sink:
      Name:       event-display
      Namespace:  default
      Resource:   Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE            AGE REASON
      ++ Ready            1h
      ++ Deployed         1h
      ++ SinkProvided     1h

Verification steps

  1. Trigger the Kafka instance to send a message to the topic:

    $ oc -n kafka run kafka-producer \
        -ti --image=quay.io/strimzi/kafka:latest-kafka-2.7.0 --rm=true \
        --restart=Never -- bin/kafka-console-producer.sh \
        --broker-list <cluster_kafka_bootstrap>:9092 --topic my-topic

    Enter the message in the prompt. This command assumes that:

    • The Kafka cluster is installed in the kafka namespace.
    • The KafkaSource object has been configured to use the my-topic topic.
  2. Verify that the message arrived by viewing the logs:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.kafka.event
      source: /apis/v1/namespaces/default/kafkasources/example-kafka-source#example-topic
      subject: partition:46#0
      id: partition:46/offset:0
      time: 2021-03-10T11:21:49.4Z
    Extensions,
      traceparent: 00-161ff3815727d8755848ec01c866d1cd-7ff3916c44334678-00
    Data,
      Hello!

2.5.2.1. Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag

$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ 1
  --ce-override "sink=bound"

1
svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.

2.5.3. Creating an Apache Kafka event source by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe applications declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a Kafka source by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a KafkaSource object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have access to a Red Hat AMQ Streams (Kafka) cluster that produces the Kafka messages you want to import.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create a KafkaSource object as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KafkaSource
    metadata:
      name: <source_name>
    spec:
      consumerGroup: <group_name> 1
      bootstrapServers:
      - <list_of_bootstrap_servers>
      topics:
      - <list_of_topics> 2
      sink:
      - <list_of_sinks> 3
    1
    A consumer group is a group of consumers that use the same group ID, and consume data from a topic.
    2
    A topic provides a destination for the storage of data. Each topic is split into one or more partitions.
    3
    A sink specifies where events are sent to from a source.
    Important

    Only the v1beta1 version of the API for KafkaSource objects on OpenShift Serverless is supported. Do not use the v1alpha1 version of this API, as this version is now deprecated.

    Example KafkaSource object

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KafkaSource
    metadata:
      name: kafka-source
    spec:
      consumerGroup: knative-group
      bootstrapServers:
      - my-cluster-kafka-bootstrap.kafka:9092
      topics:
      - knative-demo-topic
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display

  2. Apply the KafkaSource YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Verification

  • Verify that the Kafka event source was created by entering the following command:

    $ oc get pods

    Example output

    NAME                                    READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    kafkasource-kafka-source-5ca0248f-...   1/1       Running   0          13m

2.5.4. Configuring SASL authentication for Apache Kafka sources

Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) is used by Apache Kafka for authentication. If you use SASL authentication on your cluster, users must provide credentials to Knative for communicating with the Kafka cluster; otherwise events cannot be produced or consumed.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka CR are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a username and password for a Kafka cluster.
  • You have chosen the SASL mechanism to use, for example, PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, or SCRAM-SHA-512.
  • If TLS is enabled, you also need the ca.crt certificate file for the Kafka cluster.
  • You have installed the OpenShift (oc) CLI.

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as secrets in your chosen namespace:

    $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <kafka_auth_secret> \
      --from-file=ca.crt=caroot.pem \
      --from-literal=password="SecretPassword" \
      --from-literal=saslType="SCRAM-SHA-512" \ 1
      --from-literal=user="my-sasl-user"
    1
    The SASL type can be PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, or SCRAM-SHA-512.
  2. Create or modify your Kafka source so that it contains the following spec configuration:

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KafkaSource
    metadata:
      name: example-source
    spec:
    ...
      net:
        sasl:
          enable: true
          user:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: <kafka_auth_secret>
              key: user
          password:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: <kafka_auth_secret>
              key: password
          type:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: <kafka_auth_secret>
              key: saslType
        tls:
          enable: true
          caCert: 1
            secretKeyRef:
              name: <kafka_auth_secret>
              key: ca.crt
    ...
    1
    The caCert spec is not required if you are using a public cloud Kafka service.

2.6. Custom event sources

If you need to ingress events from an event producer that is not included in Knative, or from a producer that emits events which are not in the CloudEvent format, you can do this by creating a custom event source. You can create a custom event source by using one of the following methods:

  • Use a PodSpecable object as an event source, by creating a sink binding.
  • Use a container as an event source, by creating a container source.

2.6.1. Sink binding

The SinkBinding object supports decoupling event production from delivery addressing. Sink binding is used to connect event producers to an event consumer, or sink. An event producer is a Kubernetes resource that embeds a PodSpec template and produces events. A sink is an addressable Kubernetes object that can receive events.

The SinkBinding object injects environment variables into the PodTemplateSpec of the sink, which means that the application code does not need to interact directly with the Kubernetes API to locate the event destination. These environment variables are as follows:

K_SINK
The URL of the resolved sink.
K_CE_OVERRIDES
A JSON object that specifies overrides to the outbound event.
Note

The SinkBinding object currently does not support custom revision names for services.

2.6.1.1. Creating a sink binding by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe event sources declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a sink binding by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines an SinkBinding object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. To check that sink binding is set up correctly, create a Knative event display service, or event sink, that dumps incoming messages to its log.

    1. Create a service YAML file:

      Example service YAML file

      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      metadata:
        name: event-display
      spec:
        template:
          spec:
            containers:
              - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase

    2. Create the service:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  2. Create a sink binding instance that directs events to the service.

    1. Create a sink binding YAML file:

      Example service YAML file

      apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1
      kind: SinkBinding
      metadata:
        name: bind-heartbeat
      spec:
        subject:
          apiVersion: batch/v1
          kind: Job 1
          selector:
            matchLabels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
      
        sink:
          ref:
            apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
            kind: Service
            name: event-display

      1
      In this example, any Job with the label app: heartbeat-cron will be bound to the event sink.
    2. Create the sink binding:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Create a CronJob object.

    1. Create a cron job YAML file:

      Example cron job YAML file

      apiVersion: batch/v1
      kind: CronJob
      metadata:
        name: heartbeat-cron
      spec:
        # Run every minute
        schedule: "* * * * *"
        jobTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
              bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
          spec:
            template:
              spec:
                restartPolicy: Never
                containers:
                  - name: single-heartbeat
                    image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
                    args:
                      - --period=1
                    env:
                      - name: ONE_SHOT
                        value: "true"
                      - name: POD_NAME
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.name
                      - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.namespace

      Important

      To use sink binding, you must manually add a bindings.knative.dev/include=true label to your Knative resources.

      For example, to add this label to a CronJob resource, add the following lines to the Job resource YAML definition:

        jobTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
              bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
    2. Create the cron job:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  4. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ oc get sinkbindings.sources.knative.dev bind-heartbeat -oyaml

    Example output

    spec:
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display
          namespace: default
      subject:
        apiVersion: batch/v1
        kind: Job
        namespace: default
        selector:
          matchLabels:
            app: heartbeat-cron

Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs.

  1. Enter the command:

    $ oc get pods
  2. Enter the command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

2.6.1.2. Creating a sink binding by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source binding create command to create a sink binding by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to create event sources provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • Install the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
Note

The following procedure requires you to create YAML files.

If you change the names of the YAML files from those used in the examples, you must ensure that you also update the corresponding CLI commands.

Procedure

  1. To check that sink binding is set up correctly, create a Knative event display service, or event sink, that dumps incoming messages to its log:

    $ kn service create event-display --image quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
  2. Create a sink binding instance that directs events to the service:

    $ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat --subject Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron --sink ksvc:event-display
  3. Create a CronJob object.

    1. Create a cron job YAML file:

      Example cron job YAML file

      apiVersion: batch/v1
      kind: CronJob
      metadata:
        name: heartbeat-cron
      spec:
        # Run every minute
        schedule: "* * * * *"
        jobTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
              bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
          spec:
            template:
              spec:
                restartPolicy: Never
                containers:
                  - name: single-heartbeat
                    image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
                    args:
                      - --period=1
                    env:
                      - name: ONE_SHOT
                        value: "true"
                      - name: POD_NAME
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.name
                      - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.namespace

      Important

      To use sink binding, you must manually add a bindings.knative.dev/include=true label to your Knative CRs.

      For example, to add this label to a CronJob CR, add the following lines to the Job CR YAML definition:

        jobTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
              bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
    2. Create the cron job:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>
  4. Check that the controller is mapped correctly by entering the following command and inspecting the output:

    $ kn source binding describe bind-heartbeat

    Example output

    Name:         bind-heartbeat
    Namespace:    demo-2
    Annotations:  sources.knative.dev/creator=minikube-user, sources.knative.dev/lastModifier=minikub ...
    Age:          2m
    Subject:
      Resource:   job (batch/v1)
      Selector:
        app:      heartbeat-cron
    Sink:
      Name:       event-display
      Resource:   Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE     AGE REASON
      ++ Ready     2m

Verification

You can verify that the Kubernetes events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs.

  • View the message dumper function logs by entering the following commands:

    $ oc get pods
    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

2.6.1.2.1. Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag

$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ 1
  --ce-override "sink=bound"

1
svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.
2.6.1.3. Creating a sink binding by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a sink binding by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create an event source.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Create a Knative service to use as a sink:

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddYAML.
    2. Copy the example YAML:

      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      metadata:
        name: event-display
      spec:
        template:
          spec:
            containers:
              - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
    3. Click Create.
  2. Create a CronJob resource that is used as an event source and sends an event every minute.

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddYAML.
    2. Copy the example YAML:

      apiVersion: batch/v1
      kind: CronJob
      metadata:
        name: heartbeat-cron
      spec:
        # Run every minute
        schedule: "*/1 * * * *"
        jobTemplate:
          metadata:
            labels:
              app: heartbeat-cron
              bindings.knative.dev/include: true 1
          spec:
            template:
              spec:
                restartPolicy: Never
                containers:
                  - name: single-heartbeat
                    image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats
                    args:
                    - --period=1
                    env:
                      - name: ONE_SHOT
                        value: "true"
                      - name: POD_NAME
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.name
                      - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                        valueFrom:
                          fieldRef:
                            fieldPath: metadata.namespace
      1
      Ensure that you include the bindings.knative.dev/include: true label. The default namespace selection behavior of OpenShift Serverless uses inclusion mode.
    3. Click Create.
  3. Create a sink binding in the same namespace as the service created in the previous step, or any other sink that you want to send events to.

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddEvent Source. The Event Sources page is displayed.
    2. Optional: If you have multiple providers for your event sources, select the required provider from the Providers list to filter the available event sources from the provider.
    3. Select Sink Binding and then click Create Event Source. The Create Event Source page is displayed.

      Note

      You can configure the Sink Binding settings by using the Form view or YAML view and can switch between the views. The data is persisted when switching between the views.

    4. In the apiVersion field enter batch/v1.
    5. In the Kind field enter Job.

      Note

      The CronJob kind is not supported directly by OpenShift Serverless sink binding, so the Kind field must target the Job objects created by the cron job, rather than the cron job object itself.

    6. In the Target section, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

      1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source. In this example, the event-display service created in the previous step is used as the target Resource.
      2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
    7. In the Match labels section:

      1. Enter app in the Name field.
      2. Enter heartbeat-cron in the Value field.

        Note

        The label selector is required when using cron jobs with sink binding, rather than the resource name. This is because jobs created by a cron job do not have a predictable name, and contain a randomly generated string in their name. For example, hearthbeat-cron-1cc23f.

    8. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the sink binding, sink, and cron job have been created and are working correctly by viewing the Topology page and pod logs.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. View the sink binding, sink, and heartbeats cron job.

    View the sink binding and service in the Topology view
  3. Observe that successful jobs are being registered by the cron job once the sink binding is added. This means that the sink binding is successfully reconfiguring the jobs created by the cron job.
  4. Browse the event-display service to see events produced by the heartbeats cron job.

    View the events in the web UI
2.6.1.4. Sink binding reference

You can use a PodSpecable object as an event source by creating a sink binding. You can configure multiple parameters when creating a SinkBinding object.

SinkBinding objects support the following parameters:

FieldDescriptionRequired or optional

apiVersion

Specifies the API version, for example sources.knative.dev/v1.

Required

kind

Identifies this resource object as a SinkBinding object.

Required

metadata

Specifies metadata that uniquely identifies the SinkBinding object. For example, a name.

Required

spec

Specifies the configuration information for this SinkBinding object.

Required

spec.sink

A reference to an object that resolves to a URI to use as the sink.

Required

spec.subject

References the resources for which the runtime contract is augmented by binding implementations.

Required

spec.ceOverrides

Defines overrides to control the output format and modifications to the event sent to the sink.

Optional

2.6.1.4.1. Subject parameter

The Subject parameter references the resources for which the runtime contract is augmented by binding implementations. You can configure multiple fields for a Subject definition.

The Subject definition supports the following fields:

FieldDescriptionRequired or optional

apiVersion

API version of the referent.

Required

kind

Kind of the referent.

Required

namespace

Namespace of the referent. If omitted, this defaults to the namespace of the object.

Optional

name

Name of the referent.

Do not use if you configure selector.

selector

Selector of the referents.

Do not use if you configure name.

selector.matchExpressions

A list of label selector requirements.

Only use one of either matchExpressions or matchLabels.

selector.matchExpressions.key

The label key that the selector applies to.

Required if using matchExpressions.

selector.matchExpressions.operator

Represents a key’s relationship to a set of values. Valid operators are In, NotIn, Exists and DoesNotExist.

Required if using matchExpressions.

selector.matchExpressions.values

An array of string values. If the operator parameter value is In or NotIn, the values array must be non-empty. If the operator parameter value is Exists or DoesNotExist, the values array must be empty. This array is replaced during a strategic merge patch.

Required if using matchExpressions.

selector.matchLabels

A map of key-value pairs. Each key-value pair in the matchLabels map is equivalent to an element of matchExpressions, where the key field is matchLabels.<key>, the operator is In, and the values array contains only matchLabels.<value>.

Only use one of either matchExpressions or matchLabels.

Subject parameter examples

Given the following YAML, the Deployment object named mysubject in the default namespace is selected:

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: SinkBinding
metadata:
  name: bind-heartbeat
spec:
  subject:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    namespace: default
    name: mysubject
  ...

Given the following YAML, any Job object with the label working=example in the default namespace is selected:

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: SinkBinding
metadata:
  name: bind-heartbeat
spec:
  subject:
    apiVersion: batch/v1
    kind: Job
    namespace: default
    selector:
      matchLabels:
        working: example
  ...

Given the following YAML, any Pod object with the label working=example or working=sample in the default namespace is selected:

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: SinkBinding
metadata:
  name: bind-heartbeat
spec:
  subject:
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Pod
    namespace: default
    selector:
      - matchExpression:
        key: working
        operator: In
        values:
          - example
          - sample
  ...
2.6.1.4.2. CloudEvent overrides

A ceOverrides definition provides overrides that control the CloudEvent’s output format and modifications sent to the sink. You can configure multiple fields for the ceOverrides definition.

A ceOverrides definition supports the following fields:

FieldDescriptionRequired or optional

extensions

Specifies which attributes are added or overridden on the outbound event. Each extensions key-value pair is set independently on the event as an attribute extension.

Optional

Note

Only valid CloudEvent attribute names are allowed as extensions. You cannot set the spec defined attributes from the extensions override configuration. For example, you can not modify the type attribute.

CloudEvent Overrides example

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: SinkBinding
metadata:
  name: bind-heartbeat
spec:
  ...
  ceOverrides:
    extensions:
      extra: this is an extra attribute
      additional: 42

This sets the K_CE_OVERRIDES environment variable on the subject:

Example output

{ "extensions": { "extra": "this is an extra attribute", "additional": "42" } }

2.6.1.4.3. The include label

To use a sink binding, you need to do assign the bindings.knative.dev/include: "true" label to either the resource or the namespace that the resource is included in. If the resource definition does not include the label, a cluster administrator can attach it to the namespace by running:

$ oc label namespace <namespace> bindings.knative.dev/include=true
2.6.1.5. Integrating Service Mesh with a sink binding

Prerequisites

  • You have integrated Service Mesh with OpenShift Serverless.

Procedure

  1. Create a Service in a namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.

    apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: event-display
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata:
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Injects Service Mesh sidecars into the Knative service pods.
  2. Apply the Service resource.

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Create a SinkBinding resource.

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
    kind: SinkBinding
    metadata:
      name: bind-heartbeat
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      subject:
        apiVersion: batch/v1
        kind: Job 2
        selector:
          matchLabels:
            app: heartbeat-cron
    
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display
    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    In this example, any Job with the label app: heartbeat-cron is bound to the event sink.
  4. Apply the SinkBinding resource.

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  5. Create a CronJob:

    apiVersion: batch/v1
    kind: CronJob
    metadata:
      name: heartbeat-cron
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      # Run every minute
      schedule: "* * * * *"
      jobTemplate:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app: heartbeat-cron
            bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
        spec:
          template:
            metadata:
              annotations:
                sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
                sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
            spec:
              restartPolicy: Never
              containers:
                - name: single-heartbeat
                  image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
                  args:
                    - --period=1
                  env:
                    - name: ONE_SHOT
                      value: "true"
                    - name: POD_NAME
                      valueFrom:
                        fieldRef:
                          fieldPath: metadata.name
                    - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                      valueFrom:
                        fieldRef:
                          fieldPath: metadata.namespace
    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Injects Service Mesh sidecars into the CronJob pods.
  6. Apply the CronJob resource.

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Verification

To verify that the events were sent to the Knative event sink, look at the message dumper function logs.

  1. Enter the following command:

    $ oc get pods
  2. Enter the following command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing/test/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

2.6.2. Container source

Container sources create a container image that generates events and sends events to a sink. You can use a container source to create a custom event source, by creating a container image and a ContainerSource object that uses your image URI.

2.6.2.1. Guidelines for creating a container image

Two environment variables are injected by the container source controller: K_SINK and K_CE_OVERRIDES. These variables are resolved from the sink and ceOverrides spec, respectively. Events are sent to the sink URI specified in the K_SINK environment variable. The message must be sent as a POST using the CloudEvent HTTP format.

Example container images

The following is an example of a heartbeats container image:

package main

import (
	"context"
	"encoding/json"
	"flag"
	"fmt"
	"log"
	"os"
	"strconv"
	"time"

	duckv1 "knative.dev/pkg/apis/duck/v1"

	cloudevents "github.com/cloudevents/sdk-go/v2"
	"github.com/kelseyhightower/envconfig"
)

type Heartbeat struct {
	Sequence int    `json:"id"`
	Label    string `json:"label"`
}

var (
	eventSource string
	eventType   string
	sink        string
	label       string
	periodStr   string
)

func init() {
	flag.StringVar(&eventSource, "eventSource", "", "the event-source (CloudEvents)")
	flag.StringVar(&eventType, "eventType", "dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat", "the event-type (CloudEvents)")
	flag.StringVar(&sink, "sink", "", "the host url to heartbeat to")
	flag.StringVar(&label, "label", "", "a special label")
	flag.StringVar(&periodStr, "period", "5", "the number of seconds between heartbeats")
}

type envConfig struct {
	// Sink URL where to send heartbeat cloud events
	Sink string `envconfig:"K_SINK"`

	// CEOverrides are the CloudEvents overrides to be applied to the outbound event.
	CEOverrides string `envconfig:"K_CE_OVERRIDES"`

	// Name of this pod.
	Name string `envconfig:"POD_NAME" required:"true"`

	// Namespace this pod exists in.
	Namespace string `envconfig:"POD_NAMESPACE" required:"true"`

	// Whether to run continuously or exit.
	OneShot bool `envconfig:"ONE_SHOT" default:"false"`
}

func main() {
	flag.Parse()

	var env envConfig
	if err := envconfig.Process("", &env); err != nil {
		log.Printf("[ERROR] Failed to process env var: %s", err)
		os.Exit(1)
	}

	if env.Sink != "" {
		sink = env.Sink
	}

	var ceOverrides *duckv1.CloudEventOverrides
	if len(env.CEOverrides) > 0 {
		overrides := duckv1.CloudEventOverrides{}
		err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(env.CEOverrides), &overrides)
		if err != nil {
			log.Printf("[ERROR] Unparseable CloudEvents overrides %s: %v", env.CEOverrides, err)
			os.Exit(1)
		}
		ceOverrides = &overrides
	}

	p, err := cloudevents.NewHTTP(cloudevents.WithTarget(sink))
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("failed to create http protocol: %s", err.Error())
	}

	c, err := cloudevents.NewClient(p, cloudevents.WithUUIDs(), cloudevents.WithTimeNow())
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatalf("failed to create client: %s", err.Error())
	}

	var period time.Duration
	if p, err := strconv.Atoi(periodStr); err != nil {
		period = time.Duration(5) * time.Second
	} else {
		period = time.Duration(p) * time.Second
	}

	if eventSource == "" {
		eventSource = fmt.Sprintf("https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#%s/%s", env.Namespace, env.Name)
		log.Printf("Heartbeats Source: %s", eventSource)
	}

	if len(label) > 0 && label[0] == '"' {
		label, _ = strconv.Unquote(label)
	}
	hb := &Heartbeat{
		Sequence: 0,
		Label:    label,
	}
	ticker := time.NewTicker(period)
	for {
		hb.Sequence++

		event := cloudevents.NewEvent("1.0")
		event.SetType(eventType)
		event.SetSource(eventSource)
		event.SetExtension("the", 42)
		event.SetExtension("heart", "yes")
		event.SetExtension("beats", true)

		if ceOverrides != nil && ceOverrides.Extensions != nil {
			for n, v := range ceOverrides.Extensions {
				event.SetExtension(n, v)
			}
		}

		if err := event.SetData(cloudevents.ApplicationJSON, hb); err != nil {
			log.Printf("failed to set cloudevents data: %s", err.Error())
		}

		log.Printf("sending cloudevent to %s", sink)
		if res := c.Send(context.Background(), event); !cloudevents.IsACK(res) {
			log.Printf("failed to send cloudevent: %v", res)
		}

		if env.OneShot {
			return
		}

		// Wait for next tick
		<-ticker.C
	}
}

The following is an example of a container source that references the previous heartbeats container image:

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: ContainerSource
metadata:
  name: test-heartbeats
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        # This corresponds to a heartbeats image URI that you have built and published
        - image: gcr.io/knative-releases/knative.dev/eventing/cmd/heartbeats
          name: heartbeats
          args:
            - --period=1
          env:
            - name: POD_NAME
              value: "example-pod"
            - name: POD_NAMESPACE
              value: "event-test"
  sink:
    ref:
      apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
      kind: Service
      name: showcase
...
2.6.2.2. Creating and managing container sources by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn source container commands to create and manage container sources by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to create event sources provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly.

Create a container source

$ kn source container create <container_source_name> --image <image_uri> --sink <sink>

Delete a container source

$ kn source container delete <container_source_name>

Describe a container source

$ kn source container describe <container_source_name>

List existing container sources

$ kn source container list

List existing container sources in YAML format

$ kn source container list -o yaml

Update a container source

This command updates the image URI for an existing container source:

$ kn source container update <container_source_name> --image <image_uri>
2.6.2.3. Creating a container source by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a container source by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create an event source.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddEvent Source. The Event Sources page is displayed.
  2. Select Container Source and then click Create Event Source. The Create Event Source page is displayed.
  3. Configure the Container Source settings by using the Form view or YAML view:

    Note

    You can switch between the Form view and YAML view. The data is persisted when switching between the views.

    1. In the Image field, enter the URI of the image that you want to run in the container created by the container source.
    2. In the Name field, enter the name of the image.
    3. Optional: In the Arguments field, enter any arguments to be passed to the container.
    4. Optional: In the Environment variables field, add any environment variables to set in the container.
    5. In the Target section, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

      1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source.
      2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
  4. After you have finished configuring the container source, click Create.
2.6.2.4. Container source reference

You can use a container as an event source, by creating a ContainerSource object. You can configure multiple parameters when creating a ContainerSource object.

ContainerSource objects support the following fields:

FieldDescriptionRequired or optional

apiVersion

Specifies the API version, for example sources.knative.dev/v1.

Required

kind

Identifies this resource object as a ContainerSource object.

Required

metadata

Specifies metadata that uniquely identifies the ContainerSource object. For example, a name.

Required

spec

Specifies the configuration information for this ContainerSource object.

Required

spec.sink

A reference to an object that resolves to a URI to use as the sink.

Required

spec.template

A template spec for the ContainerSource object.

Required

spec.ceOverrides

Defines overrides to control the output format and modifications to the event sent to the sink.

Optional

Template parameter example

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: ContainerSource
metadata:
  name: test-heartbeats
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
          name: heartbeats
          args:
            - --period=1
          env:
            - name: POD_NAME
              value: "mypod"
            - name: POD_NAMESPACE
              value: "event-test"
  ...

2.6.2.4.1. CloudEvent overrides

A ceOverrides definition provides overrides that control the CloudEvent’s output format and modifications sent to the sink. You can configure multiple fields for the ceOverrides definition.

A ceOverrides definition supports the following fields:

FieldDescriptionRequired or optional

extensions

Specifies which attributes are added or overridden on the outbound event. Each extensions key-value pair is set independently on the event as an attribute extension.

Optional

Note

Only valid CloudEvent attribute names are allowed as extensions. You cannot set the spec defined attributes from the extensions override configuration. For example, you can not modify the type attribute.

CloudEvent Overrides example

apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
kind: ContainerSource
metadata:
  name: test-heartbeats
spec:
  ...
  ceOverrides:
    extensions:
      extra: this is an extra attribute
      additional: 42

This sets the K_CE_OVERRIDES environment variable on the subject:

Example output

{ "extensions": { "extra": "this is an extra attribute", "additional": "42" } }

2.6.2.5. Integrating Service Mesh with ContainerSource

Prerequisites

  • You have integrated Service Mesh with OpenShift Serverless.

Procedure

  1. Create a Service in a namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.

    apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: event-display
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata:
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/showcase
    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Injects Service Mesh sidecars into the Knative service pods.
  2. Apply the Service resource.

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Create a ContainerSource object in a namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll and sink set to the event-display.

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
    kind: ContainerSource
    metadata:
      name: test-heartbeats
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata: 2
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true"
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
            - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
              name: heartbeats
              args:
                - --period=1s
              env:
                - name: POD_NAME
                  value: "example-pod"
                - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                  value: "event-test"
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display
    1
    A namespace is part of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Enables Service Mesh integration with a ContainerSource object.
  4. Apply the ContainerSource resource.

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Verification

To verify that the events were sent to the Knative event sink, look at the message dumper function logs.

  1. Enter the following command:

    $ oc get pods
  2. Enter the following command:

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing/test/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

2.7. Connecting an event source to an event sink by using the Developer perspective

When you create an event source by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, you can specify a target event sink that events are sent to from that source. The event sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

2.7.1. Connect an event source to an event sink by using the Developer perspective

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Developer perspective.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have created an event sink, such as a Knative service, channel or broker.

Procedure

  1. Create an event source of any type, by navigating to +AddEvent Source and selecting the event source type that you want to create.
  2. In the Target section of the Create Event Source form view, select your event sink. This can be either a Resource or a URI:

    1. Select Resource to use a channel, broker, or service as an event sink for the event source.
    2. Select URI to specify a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) where the events are routed to.
  3. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the event source was created and is connected to the sink by viewing the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. View the event source and click the connected event sink to see the sink details in the right panel.

Chapter 3. Event sinks

3.1. Event sinks

When you create an event source, you can specify an event sink where events are sent to from the source. An event sink is an addressable or a callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources. Knative services, channels, and brokers are all examples of event sinks. There is also a specific Apache Kafka sink type available.

Addressable objects receive and acknowledge an event delivered over HTTP to an address defined in their status.address.url field. As a special case, the core Kubernetes Service object also fulfills the addressable interface.

Callable objects are able to receive an event delivered over HTTP and transform the event, returning 0 or 1 new events in the HTTP response. These returned events may be further processed in the same way that events from an external event source are processed.

3.1.1. Knative CLI sink flag

When you create an event source by using the Knative (kn) CLI, you can specify a sink where events are sent to from that resource by using the --sink flag. The sink can be any addressable or callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources.

The following example creates a sink binding that uses a service, http://event-display.svc.cluster.local, as the sink:

Example command using the sink flag

$ kn source binding create bind-heartbeat \
  --namespace sinkbinding-example \
  --subject "Job:batch/v1:app=heartbeat-cron" \
  --sink http://event-display.svc.cluster.local \ 1
  --ce-override "sink=bound"

1
svc in http://event-display.svc.cluster.local determines that the sink is a Knative service. Other default sink prefixes include channel, and broker.
Tip

You can configure which CRs can be used with the --sink flag for Knative (kn) CLI commands by Customizing kn.

3.2. Creating event sinks

When you create an event source, you can specify an event sink where events are sent to from the source. An event sink is an addressable or a callable resource that can receive incoming events from other resources. Knative services, channels, and brokers are all examples of event sinks. There is also a specific Apache Kafka sink type available.

For information about creating resources that can be used as event sinks, see the following documentation:

3.3. Sink for Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka sinks are a type of event sink that are available if a cluster administrator has enabled Apache Kafka on your cluster. You can send events directly from an event source to a Kafka topic by using a Kafka sink.

3.3.1. Creating an Apache Kafka sink by using YAML

You can create a Kafka sink that sends events to a Kafka topic. By default, a Kafka sink uses the binary content mode, which is more efficient than the structured mode. To create a Kafka sink by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a KafkaSink object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource (CR) are installed on your cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have access to a Red Hat AMQ Streams (Kafka) cluster that produces the Kafka messages you want to import.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create a KafkaSink object definition as a YAML file:

    Kafka sink YAML

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: KafkaSink
    metadata:
      name: <sink-name>
      namespace: <namespace>
    spec:
      topic: <topic-name>
      bootstrapServers:
       - <bootstrap-server>

  2. To create the Kafka sink, apply the KafkaSink YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
  3. Configure an event source so that the sink is specified in its spec:

    Example of a Kafka sink connected to an API server source

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha2
    kind: ApiServerSource
    metadata:
      name: <source-name> 1
      namespace: <namespace> 2
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: <service-account-name> 3
      mode: Resource
      resources:
      - apiVersion: v1
        kind: Event
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1alpha1
          kind: KafkaSink
          name: <sink-name> 4

    1
    The name of the event source.
    2
    The namespace of the event source.
    3
    The service account for the event source.
    4
    The Kafka sink name.

3.3.2. Creating an event sink for Apache Kafka by using the OpenShift Container Platform web console

You can create a Kafka sink that sends events to a Kafka topic by using the Developer perspective in the OpenShift Container Platform web console. By default, a Kafka sink uses the binary content mode, which is more efficient than the structured mode.

As a developer, you can create an event sink to receive events from a particular source and send them to a Kafka topic.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the OpenShift Serverless Operator, with Knative Serving, Knative Eventing, and Knative broker for Apache Kafka APIs, from the OperatorHub.
  • You have created a Kafka topic in your Kafka environment.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the +Add view.
  2. Click Event Sink in the Eventing catalog.
  3. Search for KafkaSink in the catalog items and click it.
  4. Click Create Event Sink.
  5. In the form view, type the URL of the bootstrap server, which is a combination of host name and port.

    create event sink
  6. Type the name of the topic to send event data.
  7. Type the name of the event sink.
  8. Click Create.

Verification

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology view.
  2. Click the created event sink to view its details in the right panel.

3.3.3. Configuring security for Apache Kafka sinks

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used by Apache Kafka clients and servers to encrypt traffic between Knative and Kafka, as well as for authentication. TLS is the only supported method of traffic encryption for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka.

Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) is used by Apache Kafka for authentication. If you use SASL authentication on your cluster, users must provide credentials to Knative for communicating with the Kafka cluster; otherwise events cannot be produced or consumed.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resources (CRs) are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Kafka sink is enabled in the KnativeKafka CR.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a Kafka cluster CA certificate stored as a .pem file.
  • You have a Kafka cluster client certificate and a key stored as .pem files.
  • You have installed the OpenShift (oc) CLI.
  • You have chosen the SASL mechanism to use, for example, PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, or SCRAM-SHA-512.

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as a secret in the same namespace as your KafkaSink object:

    Important

    Certificates and keys must be in PEM format.

    • For authentication using SASL without encryption:

      $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <secret_name> \
        --from-literal=protocol=SASL_PLAINTEXT \
        --from-literal=sasl.mechanism=<sasl_mechanism> \
        --from-literal=user=<username> \
        --from-literal=password=<password>
    • For authentication using SASL and encryption using TLS:

      $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <secret_name> \
        --from-literal=protocol=SASL_SSL \
        --from-literal=sasl.mechanism=<sasl_mechanism> \
        --from-file=ca.crt=<my_caroot.pem_file_path> \ 1
        --from-literal=user=<username> \
        --from-literal=password=<password>
      1
      The ca.crt can be omitted to use the system’s root CA set if you are using a public cloud managed Kafka service.
    • For authentication and encryption using TLS:

      $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <secret_name> \
        --from-literal=protocol=SSL \
        --from-file=ca.crt=<my_caroot.pem_file_path> \ 1
        --from-file=user.crt=<my_cert.pem_file_path> \
        --from-file=user.key=<my_key.pem_file_path>
      1
      The ca.crt can be omitted to use the system’s root CA set if you are using a public cloud managed Kafka service.
  2. Create or modify a KafkaSink object and add a reference to your secret in the auth spec:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: KafkaSink
    metadata:
       name: <sink_name>
       namespace: <namespace>
    spec:
    ...
       auth:
         secret:
           ref:
             name: <secret_name>
    ...
  3. Apply the KafkaSink object:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Chapter 4. Brokers

4.1. Brokers

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. Events are sent from an event source to a broker as an HTTP POST request. After events have entered the broker, they can be filtered by CloudEvent attributes using triggers, and sent as an HTTP POST request to an event sink.

Broker event delivery overview

4.2. Broker types

Cluster administrators can set the default broker implementation for a cluster. When you create a broker, the default broker implementation is used, unless you provide set configurations in the Broker object.

4.2.1. Default broker implementation for development purposes

Knative provides a default, channel-based broker implementation. This channel-based broker can be used for development and testing purposes, but does not provide adequate event delivery guarantees for production environments. The default broker is backed by the InMemoryChannel channel implementation by default.

If you want to use Apache Kafka to reduce network hops, use the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka. Do not configure the channel-based broker to be backed by the KafkaChannel channel implementation.

4.2.2. Production-ready Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka

For production-ready Knative Eventing deployments, Red Hat recommends using the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka. The broker is an Apache Kafka native implementation of the Knative broker, which sends CloudEvents directly to the Kafka instance.

The Knative broker has a native integration with Kafka for storing and routing events. This allows better integration with Kafka for the broker and trigger model over other broker types, and reduces network hops. Other benefits of the Knative broker implementation include:

  • At-least-once delivery guarantees
  • Ordered delivery of events, based on the CloudEvents partitioning extension
  • Control plane high availability
  • A horizontally scalable data plane

The Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka stores incoming CloudEvents as Kafka records, using the binary content mode. This means that all CloudEvent attributes and extensions are mapped as headers on the Kafka record, while the data spec of the CloudEvent corresponds to the value of the Kafka record.

4.3. Creating brokers

Knative provides a default, channel-based broker implementation. This channel-based broker can be used for development and testing purposes, but does not provide adequate event delivery guarantees for production environments.

If a cluster administrator has configured your OpenShift Serverless deployment to use Apache Kafka as the default broker type, creating a broker by using the default settings creates a Knative broker for Apache Kafka.

If your OpenShift Serverless deployment is not configured to use the Knative broker for Apache Kafka as the default broker type, the channel-based broker is created when you use the default settings in the following procedures.

4.3.1. Creating a broker by using the Knative CLI

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. Using the Knative (kn) CLI to create brokers provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface over modifying YAML files directly. You can use the kn broker create command to create a broker.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a broker:

    $ kn broker create <broker_name>

Verification

  1. Use the kn command to list all existing brokers:

    $ kn broker list

    Example output

    NAME      URL                                                                     AGE   CONDITIONS   READY   REASON
    default   http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/test/default   45s   5 OK / 5     True

  2. Optional: If you are using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, you can navigate to the Topology view in the Developer perspective, and observe that the broker exists:

    View the broker in the web console Topology view

4.3.2. Creating a broker by annotating a trigger

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. You can create a broker by adding the eventing.knative.dev/injection: enabled annotation to a Trigger object.

Important

If you create a broker by using the eventing.knative.dev/injection: enabled annotation, you cannot delete this broker without cluster administrator permissions. If you delete the broker without having a cluster administrator remove this annotation first, the broker is created again after deletion.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Create a Trigger object as a YAML file that has the eventing.knative.dev/injection: enabled annotation:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Trigger
    metadata:
      annotations:
        eventing.knative.dev/injection: enabled
      name: <trigger_name>
    spec:
      broker: default
      subscriber: 1
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: <service_name>
    1
    Specify details about the event sink, or subscriber, that the trigger sends events to.
  2. Apply the Trigger YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Verification

You can verify that the broker has been created successfully by using the oc CLI, or by observing it in the Topology view in the web console.

  1. Enter the following oc command to get the broker:

    $ oc -n <namespace> get broker default

    Example output

    NAME      READY     REASON    URL                                                                     AGE
    default   True                http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/test/default   3m56s

  2. Optional: If you are using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, you can navigate to the Topology view in the Developer perspective, and observe that the broker exists:

    View the broker in the web console Topology view

4.3.3. Creating a broker by labeling a namespace

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. You can create the default broker automatically by labelling a namespace that you own or have write permissions for.

Note

Brokers created using this method are not removed if you remove the label. You must manually delete them.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions if you are using Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.

Procedure

  • Label a namespace with eventing.knative.dev/injection=enabled:

    $ oc label namespace <namespace> eventing.knative.dev/injection=enabled

Verification

You can verify that the broker has been created successfully by using the oc CLI, or by observing it in the Topology view in the web console.

  1. Use the oc command to get the broker:

    $ oc -n <namespace> get broker <broker_name>

    Example command

    $ oc -n default get broker default

    Example output

    NAME      READY     REASON    URL                                                                     AGE
    default   True                http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/test/default   3m56s

  2. Optional: If you are using the OpenShift Container Platform web console, you can navigate to the Topology view in the Developer perspective, and observe that the broker exists:

    View the broker in the web console Topology view

4.3.4. Deleting a broker that was created by injection

If you create a broker by injection and later want to delete it, you must delete it manually. Brokers created by using a namespace label or trigger annotation are not deleted permanently if you remove the label or annotation.

Prerequisites

  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Remove the eventing.knative.dev/injection=enabled label from the namespace:

    $ oc label namespace <namespace> eventing.knative.dev/injection-

    Removing the annotation prevents Knative from recreating the broker after you delete it.

  2. Delete the broker from the selected namespace:

    $ oc -n <namespace> delete broker <broker_name>

Verification

  • Use the oc command to get the broker:

    $ oc -n <namespace> get broker <broker_name>

    Example command

    $ oc -n default get broker default

    Example output

    No resources found.
    Error from server (NotFound): brokers.eventing.knative.dev "default" not found

4.3.5. Creating a broker by using the web console

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a broker by using the web console. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a broker.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddBroker. The Broker page is displayed.
  2. Optional. Update the Name of the broker. If you do not update the name, the generated broker is named default.
  3. Click Create.

Verification

You can verify that the broker was created by viewing broker components in the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. View the mt-broker-ingress, mt-broker-filter, and mt-broker-controller components.

    View the broker components in the Topology view

4.3.6. Creating a broker by using the Administrator perspective

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. Events are sent from an event source to a broker as an HTTP POST request. After events have entered the broker, they can be filtered by CloudEvent attributes using triggers, and sent as an HTTP POST request to an event sink.

Broker event delivery overview

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Create list, select Broker. You will be directed to the Create Broker page.
  3. Optional: Modify the YAML configuration for the broker.
  4. Click Create.

4.3.7. Next steps

4.3.8. Additional resources

4.4. Configuring the default broker backing channel

If you are using a channel-based broker, you can set the default backing channel type for the broker to either InMemoryChannel or KafkaChannel.

Prerequisites

  • You have administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing on your cluster.
  • You have installed the OpenShift (oc) CLI.
  • If you want to use Apache Kafka channels as the default backing channel type, you must also install the KnativeKafka CR on your cluster.

Procedure

  1. Modify the KnativeEventing custom resource (CR) to add configuration details for the config-br-default-channel config map:

    apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KnativeEventing
    metadata:
      name: knative-eventing
      namespace: knative-eventing
    spec:
      config: 1
        config-br-default-channel:
          channel-template-spec: |
            apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
            kind: KafkaChannel 2
            spec:
              numPartitions: 6 3
              replicationFactor: 3 4
    1
    In spec.config, you can specify the config maps that you want to add modified configurations for.
    2
    The default backing channel type configuration. In this example, the default channel implementation for the cluster is KafkaChannel.
    3
    The number of partitions for the Kafka channel that backs the broker.
    4
    The replication factor for the Kafka channel that backs the broker.
  2. Apply the updated KnativeEventing CR:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

4.5. Configuring the default broker class

You can use the config-br-defaults config map to specify default broker class settings for Knative Eventing. You can specify the default broker class for the entire cluster or for one or more namespaces. Currently the MTChannelBasedBroker and Kafka broker types are supported.

Prerequisites

  • You have administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing on your cluster.
  • If you want to use the Knative broker for Apache Kafka as the default broker implementation, you must also install the KnativeKafka CR on your cluster.

Procedure

  • Modify the KnativeEventing custom resource to add configuration details for the config-br-defaults config map:

    apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KnativeEventing
    metadata:
      name: knative-eventing
      namespace: knative-eventing
    spec:
      defaultBrokerClass: Kafka 1
      config: 2
        config-br-defaults: 3
          default-br-config: |
            clusterDefault: 4
              brokerClass: Kafka
              apiVersion: v1
              kind: ConfigMap
              name: kafka-broker-config 5
              namespace: knative-eventing 6
            namespaceDefaults: 7
              my-namespace:
                brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
                apiVersion: v1
                kind: ConfigMap
                name: config-br-default-channel 8
                namespace: knative-eventing 9
    ...
    1
    The default broker class for Knative Eventing.
    2
    In spec.config, you can specify the config maps that you want to add modified configurations for.
    3
    The config-br-defaults config map specifies the default settings for any broker that does not specify spec.config settings or a broker class.
    4
    The cluster-wide default broker class configuration. In this example, the default broker class implementation for the cluster is Kafka.
    5
    The kafka-broker-config config map specifies default settings for the Kafka broker. See "Configuring Knative broker for Apache Kafka settings" in the "Additional resources" section.
    6
    The namespace where the kafka-broker-config config map exists.
    7
    The namespace-scoped default broker class configuration. In this example, the default broker class implementation for the my-namespace namespace is MTChannelBasedBroker. You can specify default broker class implementations for multiple namespaces.
    8
    The config-br-default-channel config map specifies the default backing channel for the broker. See "Configuring the default broker backing channel" in the "Additional resources" section.
    9
    The namespace where the config-br-default-channel config map exists.
    Important

    Configuring a namespace-specific default overrides any cluster-wide settings.

4.6. Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka

For production-ready Knative Eventing deployments, Red Hat recommends using the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka. The broker is an Apache Kafka native implementation of the Knative broker, which sends CloudEvents directly to the Kafka instance.

The Knative broker has a native integration with Kafka for storing and routing events. This allows better integration with Kafka for the broker and trigger model over other broker types, and reduces network hops. Other benefits of the Knative broker implementation include:

  • At-least-once delivery guarantees
  • Ordered delivery of events, based on the CloudEvents partitioning extension
  • Control plane high availability
  • A horizontally scalable data plane

The Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka stores incoming CloudEvents as Kafka records, using the binary content mode. This means that all CloudEvent attributes and extensions are mapped as headers on the Kafka record, while the data spec of the CloudEvent corresponds to the value of the Kafka record.

4.6.1. Creating an Apache Kafka broker when it is not configured as the default broker type

If your OpenShift Serverless deployment is not configured to use Kafka broker as the default broker type, you can use one of the following procedures to create a Kafka-based broker.

4.6.1.1. Creating an Apache Kafka broker by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe applications declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a Kafka broker by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a Broker object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create a Kafka-based broker as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Broker
    metadata:
      annotations:
        eventing.knative.dev/broker.class: Kafka 1
      name: example-kafka-broker
    spec:
      config:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        name: kafka-broker-config 2
        namespace: knative-eventing
    1
    The broker class. If not specified, brokers use the default class as configured by cluster administrators. To use the Kafka broker, this value must be Kafka.
    2
    The default config map for Knative brokers for Apache Kafka. This config map is created when the Kafka broker functionality is enabled on the cluster by a cluster administrator.
  2. Apply the Kafka-based broker YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
4.6.1.2. Creating an Apache Kafka broker that uses an externally managed Kafka topic

If you want to use a Kafka broker without allowing it to create its own internal topic, you can use an externally managed Kafka topic instead. To do this, you must create a Kafka Broker object that uses the kafka.eventing.knative.dev/external.topic annotation.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have access to a Kafka instance such as Red Hat AMQ Streams, and have created a Kafka topic.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create a Kafka-based broker as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Broker
    metadata:
      annotations:
        eventing.knative.dev/broker.class: Kafka 1
        kafka.eventing.knative.dev/external.topic: <topic_name> 2
    ...
    1
    The broker class. If not specified, brokers use the default class as configured by cluster administrators. To use the Kafka broker, this value must be Kafka.
    2
    The name of the Kafka topic that you want to use.
  2. Apply the Kafka-based broker YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
4.6.1.3. Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka with isolated data plane
Important

The Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka with isolated data plane is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

The Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka has 2 planes:

Control plane
Consists of controllers that talk to the Kubernetes API, watch for custom objects, and manage the data plane.
Data plane
The collection of components that listen for incoming events, talk to Apache Kafka, and send events to the event sinks. The Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka data plane is where events flow. The implementation consists of kafka-broker-receiver and kafka-broker-dispatcher deployments.

When you configure a Broker class of Kafka, the Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka uses a shared data plane. This means that the kafka-broker-receiver and kafka-broker-dispatcher deployments in the knative-eventing namespace are used for all Apache Kafka Brokers in the cluster.

However, when you configure a Broker class of KafkaNamespaced, the Apache Kafka broker controller creates a new data plane for each namespace where a broker exists. This data plane is used by all KafkaNamespaced brokers in that namespace. This provides isolation between the data planes, so that the kafka-broker-receiver and kafka-broker-dispatcher deployments in the user namespace are only used for the broker in that namespace.

Important

As a consequence of having separate data planes, this security feature creates more deployments and uses more resources. Unless you have such isolation requirements, use a regular Broker with a class of Kafka.

4.6.1.4. Creating a Knative broker for Apache Kafka that uses an isolated data plane
Important

The Knative Broker implementation for Apache Kafka with isolated data plane is a Technology Preview feature only. Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs) and might not be functionally complete. Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process.

For more information about the support scope of Red Hat Technology Preview features, see Technology Preview Features Support Scope.

To create a KafkaNamespaced broker, you must set the eventing.knative.dev/broker.class annotation to KafkaNamespaced.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have access to an Apache Kafka instance, such as Red Hat AMQ Streams, and have created a Kafka topic.
  • You have created a project, or have access to a project, with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create an Apache Kafka-based broker by using a YAML file:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Broker
    metadata:
      annotations:
        eventing.knative.dev/broker.class: KafkaNamespaced 1
      name: default
      namespace: my-namespace 2
    spec:
      config:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        name: my-config 3
    ...
    1
    To use the Apache Kafka broker with isolated data planes, the broker class value must be KafkaNamespaced.
    2 3
    The referenced ConfigMap object my-config must be in the same namespace as the Broker object, in this case my-namespace.
  2. Apply the Apache Kafka-based broker YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>
Important

The ConfigMap object in spec.config must be in the same namespace as the Broker object:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: my-config
  namespace: my-namespace
data:
  ...

After the creation of the first Broker object with the KafkaNamespaced class, the kafka-broker-receiver and kafka-broker-dispatcher deployments are created in the namespace. Subsequently, all brokers with the KafkaNamespaced class in the same namespace will use the same data plane. If no brokers with the KafkaNamespaced class exist in the namespace, the data plane in the namespace is deleted.

4.6.2. Configuring Apache Kafka broker settings

You can configure the replication factor, bootstrap servers, and the number of topic partitions for a Kafka broker, by creating a config map and referencing this config map in the Kafka Broker object.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource (CR) are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project that has the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Modify the kafka-broker-config config map, or create your own config map that contains the following configuration:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: <config_map_name> 1
      namespace: <namespace> 2
    data:
      default.topic.partitions: <integer> 3
      default.topic.replication.factor: <integer> 4
      bootstrap.servers: <list_of_servers> 5
    1
    The config map name.
    2
    The namespace where the config map exists.
    3
    The number of topic partitions for the Kafka broker. This controls how quickly events can be sent to the broker. A higher number of partitions requires greater compute resources.
    4
    The replication factor of topic messages. This prevents against data loss. A higher replication factor requires greater compute resources and more storage.
    5
    A comma separated list of bootstrap servers. This can be inside or outside of the OpenShift Container Platform cluster, and is a list of Kafka clusters that the broker receives events from and sends events to.
    Important

    The default.topic.replication.factor value must be less than or equal to the number of Kafka broker instances in your cluster. For example, if you only have one Kafka broker, the default.topic.replication.factor value should not be more than "1".

    Example Kafka broker config map

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: kafka-broker-config
      namespace: knative-eventing
    data:
      default.topic.partitions: "10"
      default.topic.replication.factor: "3"
      bootstrap.servers: "my-cluster-kafka-bootstrap.kafka:9092"

  2. Apply the config map:

    $ oc apply -f <config_map_filename>
  3. Specify the config map for the Kafka Broker object:

    Example Broker object

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Broker
    metadata:
      name: <broker_name> 1
      namespace: <namespace> 2
      annotations:
        eventing.knative.dev/broker.class: Kafka 3
    spec:
      config:
        apiVersion: v1
        kind: ConfigMap
        name: <config_map_name> 4
        namespace: <namespace> 5
    ...

    1
    The broker name.
    2
    The namespace where the broker exists.
    3
    The broker class annotation. In this example, the broker is a Kafka broker that uses the class value Kafka.
    4
    The config map name.
    5
    The namespace where the config map exists.
  4. Apply the broker:

    $ oc apply -f <broker_filename>

4.6.3. Security configuration for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka

Kafka clusters are generally secured by using the TLS or SASL authentication methods. You can configure a Kafka broker or channel to work against a protected Red Hat AMQ Streams cluster by using TLS or SASL.

Note

Red Hat recommends that you enable both SASL and TLS together.

4.6.3.1. Configuring TLS authentication for Apache Kafka brokers

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used by Apache Kafka clients and servers to encrypt traffic between Knative and Kafka, as well as for authentication. TLS is the only supported method of traffic encryption for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka CR are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a Kafka cluster CA certificate stored as a .pem file.
  • You have a Kafka cluster client certificate and a key stored as .pem files.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as a secret in the knative-eventing namespace:

    $ oc create secret -n knative-eventing generic <secret_name> \
      --from-literal=protocol=SSL \
      --from-file=ca.crt=caroot.pem \
      --from-file=user.crt=certificate.pem \
      --from-file=user.key=key.pem
    Important

    Use the key names ca.crt, user.crt, and user.key. Do not change them.

  2. Edit the KnativeKafka CR and add a reference to your secret in the broker spec:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      broker:
        enabled: true
        defaultConfig:
          authSecretName: <secret_name>
    ...
4.6.3.2. Configuring SASL authentication for Apache Kafka brokers

Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) is used by Apache Kafka for authentication. If you use SASL authentication on your cluster, users must provide credentials to Knative for communicating with the Kafka cluster; otherwise events cannot be produced or consumed.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka CR are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a username and password for a Kafka cluster.
  • You have chosen the SASL mechanism to use, for example, PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, or SCRAM-SHA-512.
  • If TLS is enabled, you also need the ca.crt certificate file for the Kafka cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as a secret in the knative-eventing namespace:

    $ oc create secret -n knative-eventing generic <secret_name> \
      --from-literal=protocol=SASL_SSL \
      --from-literal=sasl.mechanism=<sasl_mechanism> \
      --from-file=ca.crt=caroot.pem \
      --from-literal=password="SecretPassword" \
      --from-literal=user="my-sasl-user"
    • Use the key names ca.crt, password, and sasl.mechanism. Do not change them.
    • If you want to use SASL with public CA certificates, you must use the tls.enabled=true flag, rather than the ca.crt argument, when creating the secret. For example:

      $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <kafka_auth_secret> \
        --from-literal=tls.enabled=true \
        --from-literal=password="SecretPassword" \
        --from-literal=saslType="SCRAM-SHA-512" \
        --from-literal=user="my-sasl-user"
  2. Edit the KnativeKafka CR and add a reference to your secret in the broker spec:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      broker:
        enabled: true
        defaultConfig:
          authSecretName: <secret_name>
    ...

4.6.4. Additional resources

4.7. Managing brokers

After you have created a broker, you can manage your broker by using Knative (kn) CLI commands, or by modifying it in the OpenShift Container Platform web console.

4.7.1. Managing brokers using the CLI

The Knative (kn) CLI provides commands that can be used to describe and list existing brokers.

4.7.1.1. Listing existing brokers by using the Knative CLI

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to list brokers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface. You can use the kn broker list command to list existing brokers in your cluster by using the Knative CLI.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  • List all existing brokers:

    $ kn broker list

    Example output

    NAME      URL                                                                     AGE   CONDITIONS   READY   REASON
    default   http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/test/default   45s   5 OK / 5     True

4.7.1.2. Describing an existing broker by using the Knative CLI

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to describe brokers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface. You can use the kn broker describe command to print information about existing brokers in your cluster by using the Knative CLI.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  • Describe an existing broker:

    $ kn broker describe <broker_name>

    Example command using default broker

    $ kn broker describe default

    Example output

    Name:         default
    Namespace:    default
    Annotations:  eventing.knative.dev/broker.class=MTChannelBasedBroker, eventing.knative.dev/creato ...
    Age:          22s
    
    Address:
      URL:    http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/default/default
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE                   AGE REASON
      ++ Ready                  22s
      ++ Addressable            22s
      ++ FilterReady            22s
      ++ IngressReady           22s
      ++ TriggerChannelReady    22s

4.7.2. Connect a broker to a sink using the Developer perspective

You can connect a broker to an event sink in the OpenShift Container Platform Developer perspective by creating a trigger.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Developer perspective.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have created a sink, such as a Knative service or channel.
  • You have created a broker.

Procedure

  1. In the Topology view, point to the broker that you have created. An arrow appears. Drag the arrow to the sink that you want to connect to the broker. This action opens the Add Trigger dialog box.
  2. In the Add Trigger dialog box, enter a name for the trigger and click Add.

Verification

You can verify that the broker is connected to the sink by viewing the Topology page.

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to Topology.
  2. Click the line that connects the broker to the sink to see details about the trigger in the Details panel.

Chapter 5. Triggers

5.1. Triggers overview

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. Events are sent from an event source to a broker as an HTTP POST request. After events have entered the broker, they can be filtered by CloudEvent attributes using triggers, and sent as an HTTP POST request to an event sink.

Broker event delivery overview

If you are using a Knative broker for Apache Kafka, you can configure the delivery order of events from triggers to event sinks. See Configuring event delivery ordering for triggers.

5.1.1. Configuring event delivery ordering for triggers

If you are using a Kafka broker, you can configure the delivery order of events from triggers to event sinks.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and Knative Kafka are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Kafka broker is enabled for use on your cluster, and you have created a Kafka broker.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift (oc) CLI.

Procedure

  1. Create or modify a Trigger object and set the kafka.eventing.knative.dev/delivery.order annotation:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Trigger
    metadata:
      name: <trigger_name>
      annotations:
         kafka.eventing.knative.dev/delivery.order: ordered
    # ...

    The supported consumer delivery guarantees are:

    unordered
    An unordered consumer is a non-blocking consumer that delivers messages unordered, while preserving proper offset management.
    ordered

    An ordered consumer is a per-partition blocking consumer that waits for a successful response from the CloudEvent subscriber before it delivers the next message of the partition.

    The default ordering guarantee is unordered.

  2. Apply the Trigger object:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

5.1.2. Next steps

5.2. Creating triggers

Brokers can be used in combination with triggers to deliver events from an event source to an event sink. Events are sent from an event source to a broker as an HTTP POST request. After events have entered the broker, they can be filtered by CloudEvent attributes using triggers, and sent as an HTTP POST request to an event sink.

Broker event delivery overview

5.2.1. Creating a trigger by using the Administrator perspective

Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a trigger. After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster and you have created a broker, you can create a trigger by using the web console.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.
  • You have created a Knative broker.
  • You have created a Knative service to use as a subscriber.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Broker tab, select the Options menu kebab for the broker that you want to add a trigger to.
  3. Click Add Trigger in the list.
  4. In the Add Trigger dialogue box, select a Subscriber for the trigger. The subscriber is the Knative service that will receive events from the broker.
  5. Click Add.

5.2.2. Creating a trigger by using the Developer perspective

Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a trigger. After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster and you have created a broker, you can create a trigger by using the web console.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have created a broker and a Knative service or other event sink to connect to the trigger.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology page.
  2. Hover over the broker that you want to create a trigger for, and drag the arrow. The Add Trigger option is displayed.
  3. Click Add Trigger.
  4. Select your sink in the Subscriber list.
  5. Click Add.

Verification

  • After the subscription has been created, you can view it in the Topology page, where it is represented as a line that connects the broker to the event sink.

Deleting a trigger

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology page.
  2. Click on the trigger that you want to delete.
  3. In the Actions context menu, select Delete Trigger.

5.2.3. Creating a trigger by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn trigger create command to create a trigger.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a trigger:

    $ kn trigger create <trigger_name> --broker <broker_name> --filter <key=value> --sink <sink_name>

    Alternatively, you can create a trigger and simultaneously create the default broker using broker injection:

    $ kn trigger create <trigger_name> --inject-broker --filter <key=value> --sink <sink_name>

    By default, triggers forward all events sent to a broker to sinks that are subscribed to that broker. Using the --filter attribute for triggers allows you to filter events from a broker, so that subscribers will only receive a subset of events based on your defined criteria.

5.3. List triggers from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to list triggers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

5.3.1. Listing triggers by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn trigger list command to list existing triggers in your cluster.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  1. Print a list of available triggers:

    $ kn trigger list

    Example output

    NAME    BROKER    SINK           AGE   CONDITIONS   READY   REASON
    email   default   ksvc:edisplay   4s    5 OK / 5     True
    ping    default   ksvc:edisplay   32s   5 OK / 5     True

  2. Optional: Print a list of triggers in JSON format:

    $ kn trigger list -o json

5.4. Describe triggers from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to describe triggers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

5.4.1. Describing a trigger by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn trigger describe command to print information about existing triggers in your cluster by using the Knative CLI.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a trigger.

Procedure

  • Enter the command:

    $ kn trigger describe <trigger_name>

    Example output

    Name:         ping
    Namespace:    default
    Labels:       eventing.knative.dev/broker=default
    Annotations:  eventing.knative.dev/creator=kube:admin, eventing.knative.dev/lastModifier=kube:admin
    Age:          2m
    Broker:       default
    Filter:
      type:       dev.knative.event
    
    Sink:
      Name:       edisplay
      Namespace:  default
      Resource:   Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE                  AGE REASON
      ++ Ready                  2m
      ++ BrokerReady            2m
      ++ DependencyReady        2m
      ++ Subscribed             2m
      ++ SubscriberResolved     2m

5.5. Connecting a trigger to a sink

You can connect a trigger to a sink, so that events from a broker are filtered before they are sent to the sink. A sink that is connected to a trigger is configured as a subscriber in the Trigger object’s resource spec.

Example of a Trigger object connected to an Apache Kafka sink

apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
kind: Trigger
metadata:
  name: <trigger_name> 1
spec:
...
  subscriber:
    ref:
      apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1alpha1
      kind: KafkaSink
      name: <kafka_sink_name> 2

1
The name of the trigger being connected to the sink.
2
The name of a KafkaSink object.

5.6. Filtering triggers from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to filter events by using triggers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface. You can use the kn trigger create command, along with the appropriate flags, to filter events by using triggers.

5.6.1. Filtering events with triggers by using the Knative CLI

In the following trigger example, only events with the attribute type: dev.knative.samples.helloworld are sent to the event sink:

$ kn trigger create <trigger_name> --broker <broker_name> --filter type=dev.knative.samples.helloworld --sink ksvc:<service_name>

You can also filter events by using multiple attributes. The following example shows how to filter events using the type, source, and extension attributes:

$ kn trigger create <trigger_name> --broker <broker_name> --sink ksvc:<service_name> \
--filter type=dev.knative.samples.helloworld \
--filter source=dev.knative.samples/helloworldsource \
--filter myextension=my-extension-value

5.7. Updating triggers from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to update triggers provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

5.7.1. Updating a trigger by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn trigger update command with certain flags to update attributes for a trigger.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Update a trigger:

    $ kn trigger update <trigger_name> --filter <key=value> --sink <sink_name> [flags]
    • You can update a trigger to filter exact event attributes that match incoming events. For example, using the type attribute:

      $ kn trigger update <trigger_name> --filter type=knative.dev.event
    • You can remove a filter attribute from a trigger. For example, you can remove the filter attribute with key type:

      $ kn trigger update <trigger_name> --filter type-
    • You can use the --sink parameter to change the event sink of a trigger:

      $ kn trigger update <trigger_name> --sink ksvc:my-event-sink

5.8. Deleting triggers from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to delete a trigger provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

5.8.1. Deleting a trigger by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn trigger delete command to delete a trigger.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Delete a trigger:

    $ kn trigger delete <trigger_name>

Verification

  1. List existing triggers:

    $ kn trigger list
  2. Verify that the trigger no longer exists:

    Example output

    No triggers found.

Chapter 6. Channels

6.1. Channels and subscriptions

Channels are custom resources that define a single event-forwarding and persistence layer. After events have been sent to a channel from an event source or producer, these events can be sent to multiple Knative services or other sinks by using a subscription.

Channel workflow overview

You can create channels by instantiating a supported Channel object, and configure re-delivery attempts by modifying the delivery spec in a Subscription object.

After you create a Channel object, a mutating admission webhook adds a set of spec.channelTemplate properties for the Channel object based on the default channel implementation. For example, for an InMemoryChannel default implementation, the Channel object looks as follows:

apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
kind: Channel
metadata:
  name: example-channel
  namespace: default
spec:
  channelTemplate:
    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
    kind: InMemoryChannel

The channel controller then creates the backing channel instance based on the spec.channelTemplate configuration.

Note

The spec.channelTemplate properties cannot be changed after creation, because they are set by the default channel mechanism rather than by the user.

When this mechanism is used with the preceding example, two objects are created: a generic backing channel and an InMemoryChannel channel. If you are using a different default channel implementation, the InMemoryChannel is replaced with one that is specific to your implementation. For example, with the Knative broker for Apache Kafka, the KafkaChannel channel is created.

The backing channel acts as a proxy that copies its subscriptions to the user-created channel object, and sets the user-created channel object status to reflect the status of the backing channel.

6.1.1. Channel implementation types

InMemoryChannel and KafkaChannel channel implementations can be used with OpenShift Serverless for development use.

The following are limitations of InMemoryChannel type channels:

  • No event persistence is available. If a pod goes down, events on that pod are lost.
  • InMemoryChannel channels do not implement event ordering, so two events that are received in the channel at the same time can be delivered to a subscriber in any order.
  • If a subscriber rejects an event, there are no re-delivery attempts by default. You can configure re-delivery attempts by modifying the delivery spec in the Subscription object.

6.2. Creating channels

Channels are custom resources that define a single event-forwarding and persistence layer. After events have been sent to a channel from an event source or producer, these events can be sent to multiple Knative services or other sinks by using a subscription.

Channel workflow overview

You can create channels by instantiating a supported Channel object, and configure re-delivery attempts by modifying the delivery spec in a Subscription object.

6.2.1. Creating a channel by using the Administrator perspective

After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a channel by using the Administrator perspective.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Create list, select Channel. You will be directed to the Channel page.
  3. Select the type of Channel object that you want to create in the Type list.

    Note

    Currently only InMemoryChannel channel objects are supported by default. Knative channels for Apache Kafka are available if you have installed the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka on OpenShift Serverless.

  4. Click Create.

6.2.2. Creating a channel by using the Developer perspective

Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a channel. After Knative Eventing is installed on your cluster, you can create a channel by using the web console.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to +AddChannel.
  2. Select the type of Channel object that you want to create in the Type list.
  3. Click Create.

Verification

  • Confirm that the channel now exists by navigating to the Topology page.

    View the channel in the Topology view

6.2.3. Creating a channel by using the Knative CLI

Using the Knative (kn) CLI to create channels provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly. You can use the kn channel create command to create a channel.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a channel:

    $ kn channel create <channel_name> --type <channel_type>

    The channel type is optional, but where specified, must be given in the format Group:Version:Kind. For example, you can create an InMemoryChannel object:

    $ kn channel create mychannel --type messaging.knative.dev:v1:InMemoryChannel

    Example output

    Channel 'mychannel' created in namespace 'default'.

Verification

  • To confirm that the channel now exists, list the existing channels and inspect the output:

    $ kn channel list

    Example output

    kn channel list
    NAME        TYPE              URL                                                     AGE   READY   REASON
    mychannel   InMemoryChannel   http://mychannel-kn-channel.default.svc.cluster.local   93s   True

Deleting a channel

  • Delete a channel:

    $ kn channel delete <channel_name>

6.2.4. Creating a default implementation channel by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe channels declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a serverless channel by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a Channel object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Create a Channel object as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Channel
    metadata:
      name: example-channel
      namespace: default
  2. Apply the YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

6.2.5. Creating a channel for Apache Kafka by using YAML

Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe channels declaratively and in a reproducible manner. You can create a Knative Eventing channel that is backed by Kafka topics by creating a Kafka channel. To create a Kafka channel by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a KafkaChannel object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka custom resource are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Create a KafkaChannel object as a YAML file:

    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KafkaChannel
    metadata:
      name: example-channel
      namespace: default
    spec:
      numPartitions: 3
      replicationFactor: 1
    Important

    Only the v1beta1 version of the API for KafkaChannel objects on OpenShift Serverless is supported. Do not use the v1alpha1 version of this API, as this version is now deprecated.

  2. Apply the KafkaChannel YAML file:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

6.2.6. Next steps

6.3. Connecting channels to sinks

Events that have been sent to a channel from an event source or producer can be forwarded to one or more sinks by using subscriptions. You can create subscriptions by configuring a Subscription object, which specifies the channel and the sink (also known as a subscriber) that consumes the events sent to that channel.

6.3.1. Creating a subscription by using the Developer perspective

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a subscription.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console.
  • You have created an event sink, such as a Knative service, and a channel.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology page.
  2. Create a subscription using one of the following methods:

    1. Hover over the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow. The Add Subscription option is displayed.

      Create a subscription for the channel
      1. Select your sink in the Subscriber list.
      2. Click Add.
    2. If the service is available in the Topology view under the same namespace or project as the channel, click on the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow directly to a service to immediately create a subscription from the channel to that service.

Verification

  • After the subscription has been created, you can see it represented as a line that connects the channel to the service in the Topology view:

    Subscription in the Topology view

6.3.2. Creating a subscription by using YAML

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe subscriptions declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a subscription by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a Subscription object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a Subscription object:

    • Create a YAML file and copy the following sample code into it:

      apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
      kind: Subscription
      metadata:
        name: my-subscription 1
        namespace: default
      spec:
        channel: 2
          apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
          kind: Channel
          name: example-channel
        delivery: 3
          deadLetterSink:
            ref:
              apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
              kind: Service
              name: error-handler
        subscriber: 4
          ref:
            apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
            kind: Service
            name: event-display
      1
      Name of the subscription.
      2
      Configuration settings for the channel that the subscription connects to.
      3
      Configuration settings for event delivery. This tells the subscription what happens to events that cannot be delivered to the subscriber. When this is configured, events that failed to be consumed are sent to the deadLetterSink. The event is dropped, no re-delivery of the event is attempted, and an error is logged in the system. The deadLetterSink value must be a Destination.
      4
      Configuration settings for the subscriber. This is the event sink that events are delivered to from the channel.
    • Apply the YAML file:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

6.3.3. Creating a subscription by using the Knative CLI

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Using the Knative (kn) CLI to create subscriptions provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly. You can use the kn subscription create command with the appropriate flags to create a subscription.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a subscription to connect a sink to a channel:

    $ kn subscription create <subscription_name> \
      --channel <group:version:kind>:<channel_name> \ 1
      --sink <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> \ 2
      --sink-dead-letter <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> 3
    1
    --channel specifies the source for cloud events that should be processed. You must provide the channel name. If you are not using the default InMemoryChannel channel that is backed by the Channel custom resource, you must prefix the channel name with the <group:version:kind> for the specified channel type. For example, this will be messaging.knative.dev:v1beta1:KafkaChannel for an Apache Kafka backed channel.
    2
    --sink specifies the target destination to which the event should be delivered. By default, the <sink_name> is interpreted as a Knative service of this name, in the same namespace as the subscription. You can specify the type of the sink by using one of the following prefixes:
    ksvc
    A Knative service.
    channel
    A channel that should be used as destination. Only default channel types can be referenced here.
    broker
    An Eventing broker.
    3
    Optional: --sink-dead-letter is an optional flag that can be used to specify a sink which events should be sent to in cases where events fail to be delivered. For more information, see the OpenShift Serverless Event delivery documentation.

    Example command

    $ kn subscription create mysubscription --channel mychannel --sink ksvc:event-display

    Example output

    Subscription 'mysubscription' created in namespace 'default'.

Verification

  • To confirm that the channel is connected to the event sink, or subscriber, by a subscription, list the existing subscriptions and inspect the output:

    $ kn subscription list

    Example output

    NAME            CHANNEL             SUBSCRIBER           REPLY   DEAD LETTER SINK   READY   REASON
    mysubscription   Channel:mychannel   ksvc:event-display                              True

Deleting a subscription

  • Delete a subscription:

    $ kn subscription delete <subscription_name>

6.3.4. Creating a subscription by using the Administrator perspective

After you have created a channel and an event sink, also known as a subscriber, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Subscriptions are created by configuring a Subscription object, which specifies the channel and the subscriber to deliver events to. You can also specify some subscriber-specific options, such as how to handle failures.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.
  • You have created a Knative channel.
  • You have created a Knative service to use as a subscriber.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Channel tab, select the Options menu kebab for the channel that you want to add a subscription to.
  3. Click Add Subscription in the list.
  4. In the Add Subscription dialogue box, select a Subscriber for the subscription. The subscriber is the Knative service that receives events from the channel.
  5. Click Add.

6.3.5. Next steps

6.4. Default channel implementation

You can use the default-ch-webhook config map to specify the default channel implementation of Knative Eventing. You can specify the default channel implementation for the entire cluster or for one or more namespaces. Currently the InMemoryChannel and KafkaChannel channel types are supported.

6.4.1. Configuring the default channel implementation

Prerequisites

  • You have administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing on your cluster.
  • If you want to use Knative channels for Apache Kafka as the default channel implementation, you must also install the KnativeKafka CR on your cluster.

Procedure

  • Modify the KnativeEventing custom resource to add configuration details for the default-ch-webhook config map:

    apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KnativeEventing
    metadata:
      name: knative-eventing
      namespace: knative-eventing
    spec:
      config: 1
        default-ch-webhook: 2
          default-ch-config: |
            clusterDefault: 3
              apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
              kind: InMemoryChannel
              spec:
                delivery:
                  backoffDelay: PT0.5S
                  backoffPolicy: exponential
                  retry: 5
            namespaceDefaults: 4
              my-namespace:
                apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
                kind: KafkaChannel
                spec:
                  numPartitions: 1
                  replicationFactor: 1
    1
    In spec.config, you can specify the config maps that you want to add modified configurations for.
    2
    The default-ch-webhook config map can be used to specify the default channel implementation for the cluster or for one or more namespaces.
    3
    The cluster-wide default channel type configuration. In this example, the default channel implementation for the cluster is InMemoryChannel.
    4
    The namespace-scoped default channel type configuration. In this example, the default channel implementation for the my-namespace namespace is KafkaChannel.
    Important

    Configuring a namespace-specific default overrides any cluster-wide settings.

6.5. Security configuration for channels

6.5.1. Configuring TLS authentication for Knative channels for Apache Kafka

Transport Layer Security (TLS) is used by Apache Kafka clients and servers to encrypt traffic between Knative and Kafka, as well as for authentication. TLS is the only supported method of traffic encryption for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka CR are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a Kafka cluster CA certificate stored as a .pem file.
  • You have a Kafka cluster client certificate and a key stored as .pem files.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as secrets in your chosen namespace:

    $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <kafka_auth_secret> \
      --from-file=ca.crt=caroot.pem \
      --from-file=user.crt=certificate.pem \
      --from-file=user.key=key.pem
    Important

    Use the key names ca.crt, user.crt, and user.key. Do not change them.

  2. Start editing the KnativeKafka custom resource:

    $ oc edit knativekafka
  3. Reference your secret and the namespace of the secret:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      channel:
        authSecretName: <kafka_auth_secret>
        authSecretNamespace: <kafka_auth_secret_namespace>
        bootstrapServers: <bootstrap_servers>
        enabled: true
      source:
        enabled: true
    Note

    Make sure to specify the matching port in the bootstrap server.

    For example:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      channel:
        authSecretName: tls-user
        authSecretNamespace: kafka
        bootstrapServers: eventing-kafka-bootstrap.kafka.svc:9094
        enabled: true
      source:
        enabled: true

6.5.2. Configuring SASL authentication for Knative channels for Apache Kafka

Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) is used by Apache Kafka for authentication. If you use SASL authentication on your cluster, users must provide credentials to Knative for communicating with the Kafka cluster; otherwise events cannot be produced or consumed.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and the KnativeKafka CR are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have a username and password for a Kafka cluster.
  • You have chosen the SASL mechanism to use, for example, PLAIN, SCRAM-SHA-256, or SCRAM-SHA-512.
  • If TLS is enabled, you also need the ca.crt certificate file for the Kafka cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).

Procedure

  1. Create the certificate files as secrets in your chosen namespace:

    $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <kafka_auth_secret> \
      --from-file=ca.crt=caroot.pem \
      --from-literal=password="SecretPassword" \
      --from-literal=saslType="SCRAM-SHA-512" \
      --from-literal=user="my-sasl-user"
    • Use the key names ca.crt, password, and sasl.mechanism. Do not change them.
    • If you want to use SASL with public CA certificates, you must use the tls.enabled=true flag, rather than the ca.crt argument, when creating the secret. For example:

      $ oc create secret -n <namespace> generic <kafka_auth_secret> \
        --from-literal=tls.enabled=true \
        --from-literal=password="SecretPassword" \
        --from-literal=saslType="SCRAM-SHA-512" \
        --from-literal=user="my-sasl-user"
  2. Start editing the KnativeKafka custom resource:

    $ oc edit knativekafka
  3. Reference your secret and the namespace of the secret:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      channel:
        authSecretName: <kafka_auth_secret>
        authSecretNamespace: <kafka_auth_secret_namespace>
        bootstrapServers: <bootstrap_servers>
        enabled: true
      source:
        enabled: true
    Note

    Make sure to specify the matching port in the bootstrap server.

    For example:

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      namespace: knative-eventing
      name: knative-kafka
    spec:
      channel:
        authSecretName: scram-user
        authSecretNamespace: kafka
        bootstrapServers: eventing-kafka-bootstrap.kafka.svc:9093
        enabled: true
      source:
        enabled: true

Chapter 7. Subscriptions

7.1. Creating subscriptions

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Subscriptions are created by configuring a Subscription object, which specifies the channel and the sink (also known as a subscriber) to deliver events to.

7.1.1. Creating a subscription by using the Administrator perspective

After you have created a channel and an event sink, also known as a subscriber, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Subscriptions are created by configuring a Subscription object, which specifies the channel and the subscriber to deliver events to. You can also specify some subscriber-specific options, such as how to handle failures.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console and are in the Administrator perspective.
  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.
  • You have created a Knative channel.
  • You have created a Knative service to use as a subscriber.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the OpenShift Container Platform web console, navigate to ServerlessEventing.
  2. In the Channel tab, select the Options menu kebab for the channel that you want to add a subscription to.
  3. Click Add Subscription in the list.
  4. In the Add Subscription dialogue box, select a Subscriber for the subscription. The subscriber is the Knative service that receives events from the channel.
  5. Click Add.

7.1.2. Creating a subscription by using the Developer perspective

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to create a subscription.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have logged in to the web console.
  • You have created an event sink, such as a Knative service, and a channel.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the Topology page.
  2. Create a subscription using one of the following methods:

    1. Hover over the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow. The Add Subscription option is displayed.

      Create a subscription for the channel
      1. Select your sink in the Subscriber list.
      2. Click Add.
    2. If the service is available in the Topology view under the same namespace or project as the channel, click on the channel that you want to create a subscription for, and drag the arrow directly to a service to immediately create a subscription from the channel to that service.

Verification

  • After the subscription has been created, you can see it represented as a line that connects the channel to the service in the Topology view:

    Subscription in the Topology view

7.1.3. Creating a subscription by using YAML

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Creating Knative resources by using YAML files uses a declarative API, which enables you to describe subscriptions declaratively and in a reproducible manner. To create a subscription by using YAML, you must create a YAML file that defines a Subscription object, then apply it by using the oc apply command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • Install the OpenShift CLI (oc).
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a Subscription object:

    • Create a YAML file and copy the following sample code into it:

      apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
      kind: Subscription
      metadata:
        name: my-subscription 1
        namespace: default
      spec:
        channel: 2
          apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1beta1
          kind: Channel
          name: example-channel
        delivery: 3
          deadLetterSink:
            ref:
              apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
              kind: Service
              name: error-handler
        subscriber: 4
          ref:
            apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
            kind: Service
            name: event-display
      1
      Name of the subscription.
      2
      Configuration settings for the channel that the subscription connects to.
      3
      Configuration settings for event delivery. This tells the subscription what happens to events that cannot be delivered to the subscriber. When this is configured, events that failed to be consumed are sent to the deadLetterSink. The event is dropped, no re-delivery of the event is attempted, and an error is logged in the system. The deadLetterSink value must be a Destination.
      4
      Configuration settings for the subscriber. This is the event sink that events are delivered to from the channel.
    • Apply the YAML file:

      $ oc apply -f <filename>

7.1.4. Creating a subscription by using the Knative CLI

After you have created a channel and an event sink, you can create a subscription to enable event delivery. Using the Knative (kn) CLI to create subscriptions provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than modifying YAML files directly. You can use the kn subscription create command with the appropriate flags to create a subscription.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  • Create a subscription to connect a sink to a channel:

    $ kn subscription create <subscription_name> \
      --channel <group:version:kind>:<channel_name> \ 1
      --sink <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> \ 2
      --sink-dead-letter <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> 3
    1
    --channel specifies the source for cloud events that should be processed. You must provide the channel name. If you are not using the default InMemoryChannel channel that is backed by the Channel custom resource, you must prefix the channel name with the <group:version:kind> for the specified channel type. For example, this will be messaging.knative.dev:v1beta1:KafkaChannel for an Apache Kafka backed channel.
    2
    --sink specifies the target destination to which the event should be delivered. By default, the <sink_name> is interpreted as a Knative service of this name, in the same namespace as the subscription. You can specify the type of the sink by using one of the following prefixes:
    ksvc
    A Knative service.
    channel
    A channel that should be used as destination. Only default channel types can be referenced here.
    broker
    An Eventing broker.
    3
    Optional: --sink-dead-letter is an optional flag that can be used to specify a sink which events should be sent to in cases where events fail to be delivered. For more information, see the OpenShift Serverless Event delivery documentation.

    Example command

    $ kn subscription create mysubscription --channel mychannel --sink ksvc:event-display

    Example output

    Subscription 'mysubscription' created in namespace 'default'.

Verification

  • To confirm that the channel is connected to the event sink, or subscriber, by a subscription, list the existing subscriptions and inspect the output:

    $ kn subscription list

    Example output

    NAME            CHANNEL             SUBSCRIBER           REPLY   DEAD LETTER SINK   READY   REASON
    mysubscription   Channel:mychannel   ksvc:event-display                              True

Deleting a subscription

  • Delete a subscription:

    $ kn subscription delete <subscription_name>

7.1.5. Next steps

7.2. Managing subscriptions

7.2.1. Describing subscriptions by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn subscription describe command to print information about a subscription in the terminal by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to describe subscriptions provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than viewing YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a subscription in your cluster.

Procedure

  • Describe a subscription:

    $ kn subscription describe <subscription_name>

    Example output

    Name:            my-subscription
    Namespace:       default
    Annotations:     messaging.knative.dev/creator=openshift-user, messaging.knative.dev/lastModifier=min ...
    Age:             43s
    Channel:         Channel:my-channel (messaging.knative.dev/v1)
    Subscriber:
      URI:           http://edisplay.default.example.com
    Reply:
      Name:          default
      Resource:      Broker (eventing.knative.dev/v1)
    DeadLetterSink:
      Name:          my-sink
      Resource:      Service (serving.knative.dev/v1)
    
    Conditions:
      OK TYPE                  AGE REASON
      ++ Ready                 43s
      ++ AddedToChannel        43s
      ++ ChannelReady          43s
      ++ ReferencesResolved    43s

7.2.2. Listing subscriptions by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn subscription list command to list existing subscriptions on your cluster by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to list subscriptions provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  • List subscriptions on your cluster:

    $ kn subscription list

    Example output

    NAME             CHANNEL             SUBSCRIBER           REPLY   DEAD LETTER SINK   READY   REASON
    mysubscription   Channel:mychannel   ksvc:event-display                              True

7.2.3. Updating subscriptions by using the Knative CLI

You can use the kn subscription update command as well as the appropriate flags to update a subscription from the terminal by using the Knative (kn) CLI. Using the Knative CLI to update subscriptions provides a more streamlined and intuitive user interface than updating YAML files directly.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.
  • You have created a subscription.

Procedure

  • Update a subscription:

    $ kn subscription update <subscription_name> \
      --sink <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> \ 1
      --sink-dead-letter <sink_prefix>:<sink_name> 2
    1
    --sink specifies the updated target destination to which the event should be delivered. You can specify the type of the sink by using one of the following prefixes:
    ksvc
    A Knative service.
    channel
    A channel that should be used as destination. Only default channel types can be referenced here.
    broker
    An Eventing broker.
    2
    Optional: --sink-dead-letter is an optional flag that can be used to specify a sink which events should be sent to in cases where events fail to be delivered. For more information, see the OpenShift Serverless Event delivery documentation.

    Example command

    $ kn subscription update mysubscription --sink ksvc:event-display

Chapter 8. Event delivery

You can configure event delivery parameters that are applied in cases where an event fails to be delivered to an event sink. Different channel and broker types have their own behavior patterns that are followed for event delivery.

Configuring event delivery parameters, including a dead letter sink, ensures that any events that fail to be delivered to an event sink are retried. Otherwise, undelivered events are dropped.

Important

If an event is successfully delivered to a channel or broker receiver for Apache Kafka, the receiver responds with a 202 status code, which means that the event has been safely stored inside a Kafka topic and is not lost. If the receiver responds with any other status code, the event is not safely stored, and steps must be taken by the user to resolve the issue.

8.1. Configurable event delivery parameters

The following parameters can be configured for event delivery:

Dead letter sink
You can configure the deadLetterSink delivery parameter so that if an event fails to be delivered, it is stored in the specified event sink. Undelivered events that are not stored in a dead letter sink are dropped. The dead letter sink be any addressable object that conforms to the Knative Eventing sink contract, such as a Knative service, a Kubernetes service, or a URI.
Retries
You can set a minimum number of times that the delivery must be retried before the event is sent to the dead letter sink, by configuring the retry delivery parameter with an integer value.
Back off delay
You can set the backoffDelay delivery parameter to specify the time delay before an event delivery retry is attempted after a failure. The duration of the backoffDelay parameter is specified using the ISO 8601 format. For example, PT1S specifies a 1 second delay.
Back off policy
The backoffPolicy delivery parameter can be used to specify the retry back off policy. The policy can be specified as either linear or exponential. When using the linear back off policy, the back off delay is equal to backoffDelay * <numberOfRetries>. When using the exponential backoff policy, the back off delay is equal to backoffDelay*2^<numberOfRetries>.

8.2. Examples of configuring event delivery parameters

You can configure event delivery parameters for Broker, Trigger, Channel, and Subscription objects. If you configure event delivery parameters for a broker or channel, these parameters are propagated to triggers or subscriptions created for those objects. You can also set event delivery parameters for triggers or subscriptions to override the settings for the broker or channel.

Example Broker object

apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
kind: Broker
metadata:
# ...
spec:
  delivery:
    deadLetterSink:
      ref:
        apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1alpha1
        kind: KafkaSink
        name: <sink_name>
    backoffDelay: <duration>
    backoffPolicy: <policy_type>
    retry: <integer>
# ...

Example Trigger object

apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
kind: Trigger
metadata:
# ...
spec:
  broker: <broker_name>
  delivery:
    deadLetterSink:
      ref:
        apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
        kind: Service
        name: <sink_name>
    backoffDelay: <duration>
    backoffPolicy: <policy_type>
    retry: <integer>
# ...

Example Channel object

apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
kind: Channel
metadata:
# ...
spec:
  delivery:
    deadLetterSink:
      ref:
        apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
        kind: Service
        name: <sink_name>
    backoffDelay: <duration>
    backoffPolicy: <policy_type>
    retry: <integer>
# ...

Example Subscription object

apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
kind: Subscription
metadata:
# ...
spec:
  channel:
    apiVersion: messaging.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Channel
    name: <channel_name>
  delivery:
    deadLetterSink:
      ref:
        apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
        kind: Service
        name: <sink_name>
    backoffDelay: <duration>
    backoffPolicy: <policy_type>
    retry: <integer>
# ...

8.3. Configuring event delivery ordering for triggers

If you are using a Kafka broker, you can configure the delivery order of events from triggers to event sinks.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Eventing, and Knative Kafka are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • Kafka broker is enabled for use on your cluster, and you have created a Kafka broker.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have installed the OpenShift (oc) CLI.

Procedure

  1. Create or modify a Trigger object and set the kafka.eventing.knative.dev/delivery.order annotation:

    apiVersion: eventing.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Trigger
    metadata:
      name: <trigger_name>
      annotations:
         kafka.eventing.knative.dev/delivery.order: ordered
    # ...

    The supported consumer delivery guarantees are:

    unordered
    An unordered consumer is a non-blocking consumer that delivers messages unordered, while preserving proper offset management.
    ordered

    An ordered consumer is a per-partition blocking consumer that waits for a successful response from the CloudEvent subscriber before it delivers the next message of the partition.

    The default ordering guarantee is unordered.

  2. Apply the Trigger object:

    $ oc apply -f <filename>

Chapter 9. Event discovery

9.1. Listing event sources and event source types

It is possible to view a list of all event sources or event source types that exist or are available for use on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster. You can use the Knative (kn) CLI or the Developer perspective in the OpenShift Container Platform web console to list available event sources or event source types.

9.2. Listing event source types from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to view available event source types on your cluster.

9.2.1. Listing available event source types by using the Knative CLI

You can list event source types that can be created and used on your cluster by using the kn source list-types CLI command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  1. List the available event source types in the terminal:

    $ kn source list-types

    Example output

    TYPE              NAME                                            DESCRIPTION
    ApiServerSource   apiserversources.sources.knative.dev            Watch and send Kubernetes API events to a sink
    PingSource        pingsources.sources.knative.dev                 Periodically send ping events to a sink
    SinkBinding       sinkbindings.sources.knative.dev                Binding for connecting a PodSpecable to a sink

  2. Optional: On OpenShift Container Platform, you can also list the available event source types in YAML format:

    $ kn source list-types -o yaml

9.3. Listing event source types from the Developer perspective

It is possible to view a list of all available event source types on your cluster. Using the OpenShift Container Platform web console provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to view available event source types.

9.3.1. Viewing available event source types within the Developer perspective

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
  • You have created a project or have access to a project with the appropriate roles and permissions to create applications and other workloads in OpenShift Container Platform.

Procedure

  1. Access the Developer perspective.
  2. Click +Add.
  3. Click Event Source.
  4. View the available event source types.

9.4. Listing event sources from the command line

Using the Knative (kn) CLI provides a streamlined and intuitive user interface to view existing event sources on your cluster.

9.4.1. Listing available event sources by using the Knative CLI

You can list existing event sources by using the kn source list command.

Prerequisites

  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on the cluster.
  • You have installed the Knative (kn) CLI.

Procedure

  1. List the existing event sources in the terminal:

    $ kn source list

    Example output

    NAME   TYPE              RESOURCE                               SINK         READY
    a1     ApiServerSource   apiserversources.sources.knative.dev   ksvc:eshow2   True
    b1     SinkBinding       sinkbindings.sources.knative.dev       ksvc:eshow3   False
    p1     PingSource        pingsources.sources.knative.dev        ksvc:eshow1   True

  2. Optional: You can list event sources of a specific type only, by using the --type flag:

    $ kn source list --type <event_source_type>

    Example command

    $ kn source list --type PingSource

    Example output

    NAME   TYPE              RESOURCE                               SINK         READY
    p1     PingSource        pingsources.sources.knative.dev        ksvc:eshow1   True

Chapter 10. Tuning eventing configuration

10.1. Overriding Knative Eventing system deployment configurations

You can override the default configurations for some specific deployments by modifying the deployments spec in the KnativeEventing custom resource (CR). Currently, overriding default configuration settings is supported for the eventing-controller, eventing-webhook, and imc-controller fields, as well as for the readiness and liveness fields for probes.

Important

The replicas spec cannot override the number of replicas for deployments that use the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), and does not work for the eventing-webhook deployment.

Note

You can only override probes that are defined in the deployment by default.

All Knative Serving deployments define a readiness and a liveness probe by default, with these exceptions:

  • net-kourier-controller and 3scale-kourier-gateway only define a readiness probe.
  • net-istio-controller and net-istio-webhook define no probes.

10.1.1. Overriding deployment configurations

Currently, overriding default configuration settings is supported for the eventing-controller, eventing-webhook, and imc-controller fields, as well as for the readiness and liveness fields for probes.

Important

The replicas spec cannot override the number of replicas for deployments that use the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), and does not work for the eventing-webhook deployment.

In the following example, a KnativeEventing CR overrides the eventing-controller deployment so that:

  • The readiness probe timeout eventing-controller is set to be 10 seconds.
  • The deployment has specified CPU and memory resource limits.
  • The deployment has 3 replicas.
  • The example-label: label label is added.
  • The example-annotation: annotation annotation is added.
  • The nodeSelector field is set to select nodes with the disktype: hdd label.

KnativeEventing CR example

apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
kind: KnativeEventing
metadata:
  name: knative-eventing
  namespace: knative-eventing
spec:
  deployments:
  - name: eventing-controller
    readinessProbes: 1
      - container: controller
        timeoutSeconds: 10
    resources:
    - container: eventing-controller
      requests:
        cpu: 300m
        memory: 100Mi
      limits:
        cpu: 1000m
        memory: 250Mi
    replicas: 3
    labels:
      example-label: label
    annotations:
      example-annotation: annotation
    nodeSelector:
      disktype: hdd

1
You can use the readiness and liveness probe overrides to override all fields of a probe in a container of a deployment as specified in the Kubernetes API except for the fields related to the probe handler: exec, grpc, httpGet, and tcpSocket.
Note

The KnativeEventing CR label and annotation settings override the deployment’s labels and annotations for both the deployment itself and the resulting pods.

10.2. High availability

High availability (HA) is a standard feature of Kubernetes APIs that helps to ensure that APIs stay operational if a disruption occurs. In an HA deployment, if an active controller crashes or is deleted, another controller is readily available. This controller takes over processing of the APIs that were being serviced by the controller that is now unavailable.

HA in OpenShift Serverless is available through leader election, which is enabled by default after the Knative Serving or Eventing control plane is installed. When using a leader election HA pattern, instances of controllers are already scheduled and running inside the cluster before they are required. These controller instances compete to use a shared resource, known as the leader election lock. The instance of the controller that has access to the leader election lock resource at any given time is called the leader.

HA in OpenShift Serverless is available through leader election, which is enabled by default after the Knative Serving or Eventing control plane is installed. When using a leader election HA pattern, instances of controllers are already scheduled and running inside the cluster before they are required. These controller instances compete to use a shared resource, known as the leader election lock. The instance of the controller that has access to the leader election lock resource at any given time is called the leader.

10.2.1. Configuring high availability replicas for Knative Eventing

High availability (HA) is available by default for the Knative Eventing eventing-controller, eventing-webhook, imc-controller, imc-dispatcher, and mt-broker-controller components, which are configured to have two replicas each by default. You can change the number of replicas for these components by modifying the spec.high-availability.replicas value in the KnativeEventing custom resource (CR).

Note

For Knative Eventing, the mt-broker-filter and mt-broker-ingress deployments are not scaled by HA. If multiple deployments are needed, scale these components manually.

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative Eventing are installed on your cluster.

Procedure

  1. In the OpenShift Container Platform web console Administrator perspective, navigate to OperatorHubInstalled Operators.
  2. Select the knative-eventing namespace.
  3. Click Knative Eventing in the list of Provided APIs for the OpenShift Serverless Operator to go to the Knative Eventing tab.
  4. Click knative-eventing, then go to the YAML tab in the knative-eventing page.

    Knative Eventing YAML
  5. Modify the number of replicas in the KnativeEventing CR:

    Example YAML

    apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
    kind: KnativeEventing
    metadata:
      name: knative-eventing
      namespace: knative-eventing
    spec:
      high-availability:
        replicas: 3

10.2.2. Configuring high availability replicas for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka

High availability (HA) is available by default for the Knative broker implementation for Apache Kafka components kafka-controller and kafka-webhook-eventing, which are configured to have two each replicas by default. You can change the number of replicas for these components by modifying the spec.high-availability.replicas value in the KnativeKafka custom resource (CR).

Prerequisites

  • You have cluster administrator permissions on OpenShift Container Platform, or you have cluster or dedicated administrator permissions on Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS or OpenShift Dedicated.
  • The OpenShift Serverless Operator and Knative broker for Apache Kafka are installed on your cluster.

Procedure

  1. In the OpenShift Container Platform web console Administrator perspective, navigate to OperatorHubInstalled Operators.
  2. Select the knative-eventing namespace.
  3. Click Knative Kafka in the list of Provided APIs for the OpenShift Serverless Operator to go to the Knative Kafka tab.
  4. Click knative-kafka, then go to the YAML tab in the knative-kafka page.

    Knative Kafka YAML
  5. Modify the number of replicas in the KnativeKafka CR:

    Example YAML

    apiVersion: operator.serverless.openshift.io/v1alpha1
    kind: KnativeKafka
    metadata:
      name: knative-kafka
      namespace: knative-eventing
    spec:
      high-availability:
        replicas: 3

Chapter 11. Configuring kube-rbac-proxy for Eventing

The kube-rbac-proxy component provides internal authentication and authorization capabilities for Knative Eventing.

11.1. Configuring kube-rbac-proxy resources for Eventing

You can globally override resource allocation for the kube-rbac-proxy container by using the OpenShift Serverless Operator CR.

You can also override resource allocation for a specific deployment.

The following configuration sets Knative Eventing kube-rbac-proxy minimum and maximum CPU and memory allocation:

KnativeEventing CR example

apiVersion: operator.knative.dev/v1beta1
kind: KnativeEventing
metadata:
  name: knative-eventing
  namespace: knative-eventing
spec:
  config:
    deployment:
      "kube-rbac-proxy-cpu-request": "10m" 1
      "kube-rbac-proxy-memory-request": "20Mi" 2
      "kube-rbac-proxy-cpu-limit": "100m" 3
      "kube-rbac-proxy-memory-limit": "100Mi" 4

1
Sets minimum CPU allocation.
2
Sets minimum RAM allocation.
3
Sets maximum CPU allocation.
4
Sets maximum RAM allocation.

Chapter 12. Using ContainerSource with Service Mesh

You can use container source with Service Mesh.

12.1. Configuring ContainerSource with Service Mesh

This procedure describes how to configure container source with Service Mesh.

Prerequisites

  • You have set up integration of Service Mesh and Serverless.

Procedure

  1. Create a Service in a namespace that is member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll:

    Example event-display-service.yaml configuration file

    apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: event-display
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata:
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/knative-eventing-sources-event-display:latest

    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    This annotation injects Service Mesh sidecars into the Knative service pods.
  2. Apply the Service resource:

    $ oc apply -f event-display-service.yaml
  3. Create a ContainerSource object in a namespace that is member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll and sink set to the event-display:

    Example test-heartbeats-containersource.yaml configuration file

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1
    kind: ContainerSource
    metadata:
      name: test-heartbeats
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata: 2
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject": "true"
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
            # This corresponds to a heartbeats image URI that you have built and published
            - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats
              name: heartbeats
              args:
                - --period=1s
              env:
                - name: POD_NAME
                  value: "example-pod"
                - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                  value: "event-test"
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display-service

    1
    A namespace that is part of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    These annotations enable Service Mesh integration with the ContainerSource object.
  4. Apply the ContainerSource resource:

    $ oc apply -f test-heartbeats-containersource.yaml
  5. Optional: Verify that the events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs:

    Example command

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

Chapter 13. Using a sink binding with Service Mesh

You can use a sink binding with Service Mesh.

13.1. Configuring a sink binding with Service Mesh

This procedure describes how to configure a sink binding with Service Mesh.

Prerequisites

  • You have set up integration of Service Mesh and Serverless.

Procedure

  1. Create a Service object in a namespace that is member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll:

    Example event-display-service.yaml configuration file

    apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
    kind: Service
    metadata:
      name: event-display
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      template:
        metadata:
          annotations:
            sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
            sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
        spec:
          containers:
          - image: quay.io/openshift-knative/knative-eventing-sources-event-display:latest

    1
    A namespace that is a member of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    This annotation injects Service Mesh sidecars into the Knative service pods.
  2. Apply the Service object:

    $ oc apply -f event-display-service.yaml
  3. Create a SinkBinding object:

    Example heartbeat-sinkbinding.yaml configuration file

    apiVersion: sources.knative.dev/v1alpha1
    kind: SinkBinding
    metadata:
      name: bind-heartbeat
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      subject:
        apiVersion: batch/v1
        kind: Job 2
        selector:
          matchLabels:
            app: heartbeat-cron
    
      sink:
        ref:
          apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1
          kind: Service
          name: event-display

    1
    A namespace that is part of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Bind any Job with the label app: heartbeat-cron to the event sink.
  4. Apply the SinkBinding object:

    $ oc apply -f heartbeat-sinkbinding.yaml
  5. Create a CronJob object:

    Example heartbeat-cronjob.yaml configuration file

    apiVersion: batch/v1
    kind: CronJob
    metadata:
      name: heartbeat-cron
      namespace: <namespace> 1
    spec:
      # Run every minute
      schedule: "* * * * *"
      jobTemplate:
        metadata:
          labels:
            app: heartbeat-cron
            bindings.knative.dev/include: "true"
        spec:
          template:
            metadata:
              annotations:
                sidecar.istio.io/inject: "true" 2
                sidecar.istio.io/rewriteAppHTTPProbers: "true"
            spec:
              restartPolicy: Never
              containers:
                - name: single-heartbeat
                  image: quay.io/openshift-knative/heartbeats:latest
                  args:
                    - --period=1
                  env:
                    - name: ONE_SHOT
                      value: "true"
                    - name: POD_NAME
                      valueFrom:
                        fieldRef:
                          fieldPath: metadata.name
                    - name: POD_NAMESPACE
                      valueFrom:
                        fieldRef:
                          fieldPath: metadata.namespace

    1
    A namespace that is part of the ServiceMeshMemberRoll.
    2
    Inject Service Mesh sidecars into the CronJob pods.
  6. Apply the CronJob object:

    $ oc apply -f heartbeat-cronjob.yaml
  7. Optional: Verify that the events were sent to the Knative event sink by looking at the message dumper function logs:

    Example command

    $ oc logs $(oc get pod -o name | grep event-display) -c user-container

    Example output

    ☁️  cloudevents.Event
    Validation: valid
    Context Attributes,
      specversion: 1.0
      type: dev.knative.eventing.samples.heartbeat
      source: https://knative.dev/eventing-contrib/cmd/heartbeats/#event-test/mypod
      id: 2b72d7bf-c38f-4a98-a433-608fbcdd2596
      time: 2019-10-18T15:23:20.809775386Z
      contenttype: application/json
    Extensions,
      beats: true
      heart: yes
      the: 42
    Data,
      {
        "id": 1,
        "label": ""
      }

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