Centralizing Log Collection for webMethods IS with Grafana Loki

Introduction

Observability is now a critical component of modern industry. In this article, we will delve into a crucial aspect of observability: the aggregation of webMethods Integration Server logs into a unified logging system using Loki and visualizing them in real-time with Grafana dashboards for monitoring and analysis. We will employ Promtail for log capturing.

Architecture

In the architecture diagram below, there are three webMethods Integration Server deployments. Each deployment incorporates a Promtail instance, which serves as a log collecting agent, running as a sidecar within the same pod as the Integration Server container. These Promtail instances collect logs from their respective Integration Server deployments. Subsequently, the collected logs are then forwarded to Loki, a log aggregation system. In the Grafana dashboard, Loki is configured as a data source, enabling further analysis of the logs.

Steps to Collect Logs from webMethods Integration Servers Running in a Kubernetes Environment

We will use Helm charts to deploy all the components—Grafana Loki, Grafana, Prometheus, and webMethods Integration Server—in a Kubernetes cluster. This deployment can be accomplished in two steps:

1. Install the loki-Stack
2. Create helm chart for IS with promtail running as a sidecar

Install Loki-Stack

1. Add the helm-chart repo. The Loki-Stack Helm Chart is a package that allows you to deploy Grafana Loki, along with its dependencies, using Helm, which is a package manager for Kubernetes.

helm repo add grafana https://grafana.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update

1. By default, Grafana is disabled. To enable Grafana, edit the configuration file. You will also see configurations for Fluentd, Prometheus, and other components. Modify the file according to your requirements. An example of loki-stack-values.yaml is shown below.

helm show values grafana/loki-stack > loki-stack-values.yaml
loki:
  enabled: true
  isDefault: true
  url: http://{{(include "loki.serviceName" .)}}:{{ .Values.loki.service.port }}
  readinessProbe:
    httpGet:
      path: /ready
      port: http-metrics
    initialDelaySeconds: 45
  livenessProbe:
    httpGet:
      path: /ready
      port: http-metrics
    initialDelaySeconds: 45
  datasource:
    jsonData: "{}"
    uid: ""
promtail:
  enabled: true
  config:
    logLevel: info
    serverPort: 3101
    clients:
      - url: http://{{ .Release.Name }}:3100/loki/api/v1/push
grafana:
  enabled: true
  sidecar:
    datasources:
      label: ""
      labelValue: ""
      enabled: true
      maxLines: 1000
  image:
    tag: 10.3.3

1. Create a namespace and install the loki-stack in it.

kubectl create namespace <namespace name>
helm install loki-stack grafana/loki-stack --namespace <namespace> -f <stack-value>.yaml

1. To log in to Grafana, you need to port-forward the Grafana port to access the Grafana dashboard from your localhost and retrieve the password from the secret. Follow the steps below:

# Port forward grafana :
kubectl -n <namespace> port-forward service/loki-stack-grafana 3000:80
# Get the password from the secret to login to grafana dashboard
kubectl -n <namespace> get secret loki-stack-grafana -o yaml
echo "<replace this with base64 encoded value from the above command>" | base64 -d 

Create a Helm chart for the Integration Server (IS) with Promtail running as a sidecar.

1. Now that the loki-stack in configured, its time to create a helm-chart for Integration Server.

helm create is-chart

1. Create a deployment.yaml file with the Integration Server (IS) and Promtail running as a sidecar. Here is an example of the deployment.yaml file. In this configuration, the Integration server is pulled from the Docker registry softwareag/webmethods-microservicesruntime:10.15.0.10-slim and mounts the IS logs folder /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs, allowing Promtail to collect logs from IS. With -config.expand-env=true enabled, Promtail dynamically replaces ${POD_NAME} with the actual value of the POD_NAME, enabling dynamic configuration when there are multiple IS deployments.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: is-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: is
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: is
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: is-container
          image: softwareag/webmethods-microservicesruntime:10.15.0.10-slim
          imagePullPolicy: Always
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5555
            - containerPort: 8091
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0 # Running as root
          volumeMounts:
            - name: is-logs
              mountPath: /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs  
        # Sidecar container for Promtail
        - name: promtail
          image: grafana/promtail:2.9.3
          args:
            - -config.file=/etc/promtail/promtail-config.yaml
            - -client.url=http://loki-stack:3100/loki/api/v1/push
            - -config.expand-env=true
          env:
            - name: POD_NAME
              value: "is-one"
          volumeMounts:
            - name: is-logs
              mountPath: /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs
            - name: config-volume
              mountPath: /etc/promtail
              readOnly: true 
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0 # Running as root
      volumes:
        - name: is-logs
          emptyDir: {}
        - name: config-volume
          configMap:
            name: promtail-config

1. If you have multiple applications, you can create another deployment based on the above example. For instance, below is the second deployment YAML for the second Integration server with Promtail running as a sidecar.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: is-deployment-two
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: is-two
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: is-two
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: is-container-two
          image: softwareag/webmethods-microservicesruntime:10.15.0.10-slim
          imagePullPolicy: Always 
          ports:
            - containerPort: 5555
            - containerPort: 8091
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0 # Running as root
          volumeMounts:
            - name: is-logs-two
              mountPath: /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs   
        # Sidecar container for Promtail
        - name: promtail-two
          image: grafana/promtail:2.9.3
          args: 
            - -config.file=/etc/promtail/promtail-config.yaml
            - -client.url=http://loki-stack:3100/loki/api/v1/push
            - -config.expand-env=true
          env:
            - name: POD_NAME
              value: "is-two"
          volumeMounts:
            - name: is-logs-two
              mountPath: /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs
            - name: config-volume
              mountPath: /etc/promtail
              readOnly: true  
          securityContext:
            runAsUser: 0 # Running as root
      volumes:
        - name: is-logs-two
          emptyDir: {}
        - name: config-volume
          configMap:
            name: promtail-config  

1. Create a ConfigMap for promtail-config.yaml. In the following configuration map, we collect both server.log and WMERROR.log from the Integration Servers. If there are multiple deployments of Integration Servers, the pod: ${POD_NAME} dynamically retrieves the value of the Integration server as defined in the deployment.yaml file above.

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: promtail-config
data:
  promtail-config.yaml: |
    scrape_configs:
      - job_name: islog
        static_configs:
          - targets:
              - localhost
            labels:
              job: serverlog
              pod: ${POD_NAME}
              __path__ : /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs/server.log
          - targets:
              - localhost
            labels:
              job: errorlog
              pod: ${POD_NAME}
              __path__ : /opt/softwareag/IntegrationServer/logs/WMERROR*.log          

1. Create a helm package and install the above deployment. Additionally, verify that all pods are running healthily.

helm package .
helm install <install-name> .\is-chart-0.1.0.tgz -n <namespace>
kubectl get all -n <namespace>

1. To access the Grafana dashboard, log in and navigate to the “Explore” section. Here, you can execute queries based on the labels set in the Promtail configuration and view all your Integration Server (IS) deployment logs. You can filter logs by using the labels defined in the Promtail configuration. For instance, you can execute queries to filter logs based on “errorlog” or “serverlog” as defined in the above promtail-config.yaml file.

As we conclude, it’s crucial to recognize the significance of effective log management in troubleshooting and resolving issues within the webMethods Integration Server, particularly in complex customer environments. By using tools like Loki to organize and display logs, organizations can understand how their systems are working with webMethods Integration Servers. With a unified logging system in place, teams can promptly identify real-time events and expedite problem resolution, thereby enhancing the reliability and effectiveness of their systems.

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