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docs/use-cases: add nfacctd original use-case
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# Multi-flow affinity in Kubernetes: deploying pmacct in K8s | ||
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This is the use-case that led to `sfunnel` [[1](https://cilium.slack.com/archives/C1MATJ5U5/p1723579808788789)]. | ||
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## Context | ||
### pmacct and datahangar projects | ||
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[pmacct](https://github.com/pmacct/pmacct) is probably _the_ most widely | ||
used Open Source project for passive monitoring of networks. `nfacctd` or | ||
Network Flow ACCounting Daemon, collects flowlogs ([IPFIX](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_Flow_Information_Export)/ | ||
[Netflow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetFlow)/[Sflow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SFlow)) | ||
and enriches them, normalizes values etc. to later export it (e.g. to a DB or | ||
a message bus). | ||
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One of the main features of `nfacctd` is to enrich flowlogs with [BGP](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_Gateway_Protocol) | ||
information, e.g. `AS_PATH`, `DST_AS`. | ||
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For doing so, `nfacctd` acts as both a flowlogs collector _and_ a BGP passive | ||
peer for one or more network routers: | ||
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![A network router connecting to nfacctd](single_router_nfacctd.svg) | ||
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[datahangar](https://github.com/datahangar/) was initially created as an | ||
end-to-end(E2E) testing framework for pmacct, focusing on its containerization | ||
and deployment in Kubernetes. | ||
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While it still fulfills [this role](https://github.com/pmacct/pmacct/blob/master/.github/workflows/e2e_dh.yaml), | ||
datahangar is evolving towards establishing a reference architecture for a | ||
complete network data pipeline using readily available open-source components in | ||
Kubernetes. | ||
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### Connectivity requirements | ||
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BGP and flowlogs traffic must: | ||
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* Preserve source IP address, which is used to deduce the router identity. | ||
* End up in the same Pod (replica). | ||
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![Proper multi-flow affinity working](lb_traffic_affinity_ok.svg) | ||
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### Typical deployment scenarios | ||
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Given the connectivity requirements, most `nfacctd` instances are deployed outside | ||
Kubernetes today. The goal has been to ensure that `nfacctd` can be effectively | ||
deployed an scaled within a Kubernetes environment. | ||
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#### Public cloud | ||
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BPG and flowlogs traffic are typically tunneled via a VPN or a Direct Connect | ||
to the VPC. `nfacctd`'s are either deployed on-prem or in the VPC, manually | ||
managed outside of K8s. | ||
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![Typical deployment on public clouds](deployment_vpc.svg) | ||
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### On-prem | ||
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Similarly: | ||
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![Typical deployment setup on-prem](deployment_onprem.svg) | ||
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## First attempt: `sessionAffinity: ClientIP` and `externalTrafficPolicy: Local` | ||
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The initial attempt was to define a `LoadBalancer` service: | ||
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``` | ||
kind: Service | ||
apiVersion: v1 | ||
metadata: | ||
name: nfacctd | ||
spec: | ||
selector: | ||
app: nfacctd | ||
ports: | ||
- name: netflow | ||
protocol: UDP | ||
port: 2055 | ||
targetPort: 2055 | ||
- name: bgp | ||
protocol: TCP | ||
port: 179 | ||
targetPort: 179 | ||
type: LoadBalancer | ||
sessionAffinity: ClientIP | ||
externalTrafficPolicy: Local #Do not SNAT to the service! | ||
``` | ||
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The mockup test quickly shown that IP preservation worked in any of the cases, | ||
but that affinity didn't work wth multiple replicas or multiple worker nodes... | ||
:disappointed:. Flows were hitting different Pods, or even different worker | ||
nodes. | ||
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![BPG and Flowlogs traffic end up in different pods](lb_traffic_no_affinity.svg) | ||
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Implementing a new feature across every Kubernetes instance, NLB, and CNI on the | ||
planet? Yeah, that’s not exactly a weekend project :sweat_smile:. It quickly | ||
became clear that we'd need to whip up a clever workaround to avoid spending | ||
the rest of our lives on this! | ||
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## :bulb: What if... | ||
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What if could modify the traffic _before_ hitting the Network Load Balancer (NLB), | ||
and disguise it as BGP (`TCP/179`), so that `sessionAffinity: ClientIP` would | ||
do its job, and then "undo" this modification in the Pod, just before the traffic | ||
is delivered to `nfacctd`? Humm, that _might_ work. | ||
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Time to go back to the drawing board... | ||
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## :honeybee: eBPF to the rescue! | ||
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### Funneling traffic through a single protocol and port | ||
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[eBPF](https://ebpf.io) is extremely powerful tool for this sort of applications. | ||
The idea was to create an eBPF program `tc_funnel` that pushes a new TCP header, | ||
and sets: | ||
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* `tcp.sport` to `179` (BGP) | ||
* `tcp.sport` to `X` where X is a well-known port but unused port (to avoid | ||
colliding with tcp ephemeral ports, as some routers don't allow tweaking this). | ||
One example is `540` (`UUCP`). | ||
* `tcp.flags`, `ack`, `seq` and `urg` to fixed values. | ||
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_Note: I used the term [funneling](../funneling.md) to not confuse it with a real tunnel_. | ||
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On the Pod side, we would load another eBPF program that reverses the operation; | ||
it matches `tcp and dport 179 and sport 540`, and pops the funneling header. The | ||
diagram below shows the interception points for the VPC deployment type: | ||
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![VPC deployment with sfunnel](deployment_ebpf_sfunnel_vpc.svg) | ||
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### XDP vs TC | ||
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The decision | ||
The decision to use TC insead of XDP (more performant) had to do with the fa | ||
While | ||
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### Show me the code! :honeybee: | ||
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The original prototype is [here](https://github.com/datahangar/sfunnel/tree/984813f57ea3248c8c64192663b3ab4aed84bb46/src); | ||
[funnel.c](https://github.com/datahangar/sfunnel/blob/984813f57ea3248c8c64192663b3ab4aed84bb46/src/funnel.c) and | ||
[unfunnel.c](https://github.com/datahangar/sfunnel/blob/984813f57ea3248c8c64192663b3ab4aed84bb46/src/unfunnel.c). | ||
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The code is fairly simple, and doesn't require much explanation. Perhaps the | ||
only interesting bit is that L3 and L4 checksum calculations use [`bpf_csum_diff()`](https://ebpf-docs.dylanreimerink.nl/linux/helper-function/bpf_csum_diff/) | ||
to reuse the original [IP](https://github.com/datahangar/sfunnel/blob/984813f57ea3248c8c64192663b3ab4aed84bb46/src/funnel.c#L38) | ||
and [UDP checksum](https://github.com/datahangar/sfunnel/blob/984813f57ea3248c8c64192663b3ab4aed84bb46/src/funnel.c#L75) | ||
calculation, saving some cycles. Unfunneling doesn't require L4 checksum | ||
recalculation. | ||
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#### Using an initContainer() | ||
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`sfunnel` container was originally packaged with the two binaries, unfunneling | ||
by default. It was and still is designed to run and attach the BPF program at | ||
startup, and then end its execution. | ||
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The K8s deployment (or statefulset etc.), needed to be extended: | ||
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```diff | ||
spec: | ||
containers: | ||
+ - name: sfunnel-init | ||
+ image: sfunnel | ||
+ securityContext: | ||
+ privileged: true | ||
+ capabilities: | ||
+ add: [BPF, NET_ADMIN] | ||
+ volumeMounts: | ||
+ - name: bpffs | ||
+ mountPath: /sys/fs/bpf | ||
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+ volumes: | ||
+ - name: bpffs | ||
+ hostPath: | ||
+ path: /sys/fs/bpf`` | ||
``` | ||
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The funneled ports could be removed from the serivce definition (e.g. UDP 4739). | ||
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#### Loading funneler (`tc_funnel`) | ||
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Loading the funneling code in the host namespace of a Linux GW was easy: | ||
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```shell | ||
docker run --network=host --privileged sfunnel funnel | ||
``` | ||
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#### MTU considerations | ||
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`funneling` suffers from the same [MTU](../funneling.md#mtu) considerations as | ||
any encapsulation. | ||
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For flowlogs, this is easily solved by adjusting the template (JUNOS) to | ||
MTU-20 (TCP header size): | ||
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``` | ||
set services ipfix template template-name mtu 1480 | ||
``` | ||
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## Conclusion and limitations | ||
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In short, it works :tada:! | ||
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Considerations: | ||
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* You need sufficient permissions to run `sfunnel` initContainer as a privileged | ||
container. This is not possible in some managed K8s services. | ||
* Need for "funnelers"; flowlogs traffic needs to be modified before reaching | ||
the NLB. This can be done in the VPC GW or before it reaches the public cloud. | ||
It can also be done by pointing routers to an intermediate "flowlogs proxy". | ||
* MTU considerations apply, but they are easily solved by adjusting the router | ||
configuration for IPFIX/NetFlow/sFlow. | ||
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## Acknowledgments | ||
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Thank you to Martynas Pumputis, Chance Zibolski and Daniel Borkmann for their | ||
support in the Cilium community. |
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