Kubernetes Observability: Sprkl and Okteto integration

Integrating Sprkl with Okteto can help you gain visibility into your Kubernetes cluster to significantly improve your efficiency and save time and effort in understanding what happens while releasing your code.

In this blog post, we’ll demonstrate how Sprkl and Okteto work together to streamline the process of iterating and developing applications on a Kubernetes cluster while observing the implications of your code-changes.

What is Sprkl 

Sprkl is a Personal Observability Platform that provides personalized feedback on your code changes. With Sprkl, you can see the impact of your code execution on the entire app. Simply run a single command to get personalized OpenTelemetry-based tracing for your Kubernetes or local dev environment.

What is Okteto 

Okteto is a tool that allows developers to work on their applications directly in a Kubernetes cluster. It provides a local development environment that is fully synchronized with the cluster, allowing developers to see their changes in real-time. This streamlines the development process and saves time by eliminating the need to set up a new service, save changes, and push them.

The benefits of integrating Sprkl & Okteto 

With the Sprkl integration for Okteto, you can do all your development on your Kubernetes cluster and see the live changes in development mode as you work. The Sprkl operator ensures that all your code is properly instrumented, and the integration allows you to see the traces in real time based on your code changes. The Sprkl operator ensures that all your code is properly instrumented. The integration allows you to see the traces in real time based on your code changes, making it easier and more efficient to develop on your cluster and see the changes as they happen.

Let’s jump into the demonstration: 

For the demonstration, I used a sample eCommerce store with a few running services; I ran the services on a local Kubernetes cluster with Okteto installed. 

Watch the video of Sprkl on a local Kubernetes cluster using Okteto: 

Sprkl’s dashboard provides feedback on your recent code changes and their effects on the overall system or application. 

The dashboard includes the following: 

• Automated Jaeger-based tracing (Sprkl code-level traces on top of infra traces)
• System graph: A visualization of the system architecture that shows the connections and dependencies between components in the application
• Errors: Aggregation of errors caused by your code during the application execution
• Coverage: A git-analysis-based coverage that relates to blocks analyzed and marked as relevant
• Insights: Identification of opportunities for improvement 
• Interactions: A view of the ripple effect of code changes on different system components
• Security: Aggregation of vulnerabilities (CVEs) found during your code change execution

Contact me with questions or comments about the integration or Sprkl.

Try Sprkl for free!