Trace kubectl with OpenTelemetry

kubectl plugin to generate OpenTelemetry traces for kubectl commands.

kubectl otel <Your Existing Command>

For example:

kubectl otel apply -f deployment.yaml

This can be aliased to make it more automated:

alias ko='kubectl otel'
ko apply -f deployment.yaml

Prerequisites

• Currently only supports Linux and MacOS
• You must have a standalone binary of tracepusher in your path (ie. you are able to run tracepusher from the command line and see output)
• You must have an OpenTelemetry collector somewhere so the spans can be sent there

Installation

krew listing - coming soon

For now:

• Download kubectl-otel
• Make it executable: chmod +x kubectl-otel
• Move it to anywhere in your path (eg. /usr/local/bin): sudo mv kubectl-otel /usr/local/bin
• Try it out: kubectl otel version should execute kubectl version and trace the time (expected to be quick eg. 0 seconds)

Defaults and Configuration

The plugin assumes the following:

• The OTEL collector URL defaults to http://localhost:4318
• The span service name defaults to kubectl

Use environment variable: KP_OTELCOL_ENDPOINT to specify your collector endpoint

Use environment variable: KP_SERVICE_NAME to specify a different service name

export KP_OTEL_ENDPOINT=http://otelcol.somewhere.com:4318
export KP_OTEL_ENDPOINT=kubectl-dev
kubectl otel apply -f deployment.yaml