Configure Broker defaults

If you have cluster administrator permissions for your Knative installation, you can modify ConfigMaps to change the global default configuration options for Brokers on the cluster.

Knative Eventing provides a config-br-defaults ConfigMap that contains the configuration settings that govern default Broker creation.

The default config-br-defaults ConfigMap is as follows:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   # Configures the default for any Broker that does not specify a spec.config or Broker class.
  8.   default-br-config: |
  9.     clusterDefault:
  10.       brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
  11.       apiVersion: v1
  12.       kind: ConfigMap
  13.       name: config-br-default-channel
  14.       namespace: knative-eventing

In this case, each new Broker created in the cluster would use by default the MTChannelBasedBroker Broker class and the config-br-default-channel ConfigMap from the knative-eventing namespace for its configuration if not other specified in the Brokers eventing.knative.dev/broker.class annotation and/or .spec.config (see Developer configuration options).

However, if you would like like for example a Kafka Channel to be used as the default Channel implementation for any Broker that is created, you can change the config-br-defaults ConfigMap to look as follows:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   # Configures the default for any Broker that does not specify a spec.config or Broker class.
  8.   default-br-config: |
  9.     clusterDefault:
  10.       brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
  11.       apiVersion: v1
  12.       kind: ConfigMap
  13.       name: kafka-channel
  14.       namespace: knative-eventing

Now every Broker created in the cluster that does not have a spec.config will be configured to use the kafka-channel ConfigMap. For more information about creating a kafka-channel ConfigMap to use with your Broker, see the Kafka Channel ConfigMap documentation.

You can also modify the default Broker configuration for one or more dedicated namespaces, by defining it in the namespaceDefaults section. For example, if you want to use the config-br-default-channel ConfigMap for all Brokers by default, but want to use kafka-channel ConfigMap for namespace-1 and namespace-2, you would use the following ConfigMap:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   default-br-config: |
  8.     clusterDefault:
  9.       brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
  10.       apiVersion: v1
  11.       kind: ConfigMap
  12.       name: config-br-default-channel
  13.       namespace: knative-eventing
  14.     namespaceDefaults:
  15.       namespace-1:
  16.         apiVersion: v1
  17.         kind: ConfigMap
  18.         name: kafka-channel
  19.         namespace: knative-eventing
  20.       namespace-2:
  21.         apiVersion: v1
  22.         kind: ConfigMap
  23.         name: kafka-channel
  24.         namespace: knative-eventing

Configuring the Broker class

Besides configuring the Broker class for each broker individually, it is possible to define the default Broker class cluster wide or on a per namespace basis:

Configuring the default Broker class for the cluster

You can configure the clusterDefault Broker class so that any Broker created in the cluster that does not have a eventing.knative.dev/broker.class annotation uses this default Broker class:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   # Configures the default for any Broker that does not specify a spec.config or Broker class.
  8.   default-br-config: |
  9.     clusterDefault:
  10.       brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker

Configuring the default Broker class for namespaces

You can modify the default Broker class for one or more namespaces.

For example, if you want to use a KafkaBroker Broker class for all other Brokers created on the cluster, but you want to use the MTChannelBasedBroker Broker class for Brokers created in namespace-1 and namespace-2, you would use the following ConfigMap settings:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   # Configures the default for any Broker that does not specify a spec.config or Broker class.
  8.   default-br-config: |
  9.     clusterDefault:
  10.       brokerClass: KafkaBroker
  11.     namespaceDefaults:
  12.       namespace1:
  13.         brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
  14.       namespace2:
  15.         brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker

Note

Be aware that different Broker classes usually require different configuration ConfigMaps. See the configuration options of the different Broker implementations on how their referenced ConfigMaps have to look like (e.g. for MTChannelBasedBroker or Knative Broker for Apache Kafka).

Configuring delivery spec defaults

You can configure default event delivery parameters for Brokers that are applied in cases where an event fails to be delivered:

  1. apiVersion: v1
  2. kind: ConfigMap
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: config-br-defaults
  5.   namespace: knative-eventing
  6. data:
  7.   # Configures the default for any Broker that does not specify a spec.config or Broker class.
  8.   default-br-config: |
  9.     clusterDefault:
  10.       brokerClass: MTChannelBasedBroker
  11.       apiVersion: v1
  12.       kind: ConfigMap
  13.       name: kafka-channel
  14.       namespace: knative-eventing
  15.       delivery:
  16.         retry: 10
  17.         backoffDelay: PT0.2S
  18.         backoffPolicy: exponential
  19.     namespaceDefaults:
  20.       namespace-1:
  21.         apiVersion: v1
  22.         kind: ConfigMap
  23.         name: config-br-default-channel
  24.         namespace: knative-eventing
  25.         delivery:
  26.           deadLetterSink:
  27.             ref:
  28.               kind: Service
  29.               namespace: example-namespace
  30.               name: example-service
  31.               apiVersion: v1
  32.             uri: example-uri
  33.           retry: 10
  34.           backoffPolicy: exponential
  35.           backoffDelay: "PT0.2S"

Dead letter sink

You can configure the deadLetterSink delivery parameter so that if an event fails to be delivered it is sent to the specified event sink.

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.

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 the time interval specified between retries. When using the exponential backoff policy, the back off delay is equal to backoffDelay*2^<numberOfRetries>.

Integrating Istio with Knative Brokers

Protect a Knative Broker by using JSON Web Token (JWT) and Istio

Prerequisites

  • You have installed Knative Eventing.
  • You have installed Istio.

Procedure

  1. Label the knative-eventing namespace, so that Istio can handle JWT-based user authentication, by running the command:

    1. kubectl label namespace knative-eventing istio-injection=enabled

  2. Restart the broker ingress pod, so that the istio-proxy container can be injected as a sidecar, by running the command:

    1. kubectl delete pod <broker-ingress-pod-name> -n knative-eventing

    Where <broker-ingress-pod-name> is the name of your Broker ingress pod.

    The pod now has two containers:

    1. knative-eventing     <broker-ingress-pod-name>           2/2     Running   1              175m

  3. Create a broker, then use get the URL of your Broker by running the command:

    1. kubectl get broker <broker-name>

    Where <broker-name> is the name of your Broker.

    Example output:

    1. NAMESPACE   NAME        URL                                                                          AGE   READY   REASON
    2. default     my-broker   http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/default/my-broker   6s    True

  4. Start a curl pod by running the following command:

    1. kubectl -n default run curl --image=radial/busyboxplus:curl -i --tty

  5. Send a CloudEvent with an HTTP POST against the Broker URL by running the following command:

    1. curl -X POST -v \
    2. -H "content-type: application/json"  \
    3. -H "ce-specversion: 1.0"  \
    4. -H "ce-source: my/curl/command"  \
    5. -H "ce-type: my.demo.event"  \
    6. -H "ce-id: 0815"  \
    7. -d '{"value":"Hello Knative"}' \
    8. <broker-URL>

    Where <broker-URL> is the URL of your Broker. For example:

    1. curl -X POST -v \
    2. -H "content-type: application/json"  \
    3. -H "ce-specversion: 1.0"  \
    4. -H "ce-source: my/curl/command"  \
    5. -H "ce-type: my.demo.event"  \
    6. -H "ce-id: 0815"  \
    7. -d '{"value":"Hello Knative"}' \
    8. http://broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local/default/my-broker

  6. You will receive a 202 HTTP response code, that the broker did accept the request:

    1. ...
    2. * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    3. < HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
    4. < allow: POST, OPTIONS
    5. < date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 13:37:57 GMT
    6. < content-length: 0
    7. < x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 79
    8. < server: istio-envoy
    9. < x-envoy-decorator-operation: broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local:80/*

  7. Apply a AuthorizationPolicy object in the knative-eventing namespace to describe that the path to the Broker is restricted to a given user:

    1. apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
    2. kind: AuthorizationPolicy
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: require-jwt
    5.   namespace: knative-eventing
    6. spec:
    7.   action: ALLOW
    8.   rules:
    9.   - from:
    10.     - source:
    11.        requestPrincipals: ["testing@secure.istio.io/testing@secure.istio.io"]
    12.     to:
    13.     - operation:
    14.         methods: ["POST"]
    15.         paths: ["/default/my-broker"]

  8. Create a RequestAuthentication object for the user requestPrincipal in the istio-system namespace:

    1. apiVersion: security.istio.io/v1beta1
    2. kind: RequestAuthentication
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: "jwt-example"
    5.   namespace: istio-system
    6. spec:
    7.   jwtRules:
    8.   - issuer: "testing@secure.istio.io"
    9.     jwksUri: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.13/security/tools/jwt/samples/jwks.json"

  9. Now retrying the curl command results in a 403 - Forbidden response code from the server:

    1. ...
    2. * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    3. < HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
    4. < content-length: 19
    5. < content-type: text/plain
    6. < date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 13:47:53 GMT
    7. < server: istio-envoy
    8. < connection: close
    9. < x-envoy-decorator-operation: broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local:80/*

  10. To access the Broker, add the Bearer JSON Web Token as part of the request:

    1. TOKEN=$(curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/istio/istio/release-1.13/security/tools/jwt/samples/demo.jwt -s)
    3. curl -X POST -v \
    4. -H "content-type: application/json"  \
    5. -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}"  \
    6. -H "ce-specversion: 1.0"  \
    7. -H "ce-source: my/curl/command"  \
    8. -H "ce-type: my.demo.event"  \
    9. -H "ce-id: 0815"  \
    10. -d '{"value":"Hello Knative"}' \
    11. <broker-URL>

    The server now responds with a 202 response code, indicating that it has accepted the HTTP request:

    1. * Mark bundle as not supporting multiuse
    2. < HTTP/1.1 202 Accepted
    3. < allow: POST, OPTIONS
    4. < date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 14:05:09 GMT
    5. < content-length: 0
    6. < x-envoy-upstream-service-time: 40
    7. < server: istio-envoy
    8. < x-envoy-decorator-operation: broker-ingress.knative-eventing.svc.cluster.local:80/*