Enable the flow logs API and Calico Whisker

note

This feature is tech preview. Tech preview features may be subject to significant changes before they become GA.

To generate and view flow logs, you need to enable the flow logs API (also known as Goldmane) and Calico Whisker. These components are installed by default in new installations of Calico Open Source 3.30 and later. They are not enabled by default if you upgraded from an earlier version.

There are two components to enable:

• Goldmane. This component aggregates the flow logs and makes them available as a gRPC API. Goldmane can be used independently of Whisker. For example, if you use Calico Cloud Free for observability, you can enable Goldmane and disable Whisker.
• Whisker. This component presents the stream of flow logs in Whisker console, a web-based interface for viewing flow logs. Whisker does not work without Goldmane.

Prerequisites

• You installed Calico Open Source using the operator method or with Helm. Manifest installations are not supported. (But you can convert a manifest installation to an operator installation.)

Enable the flow logs API

1. Enable the flow logs API by applying the Goldmane custom resource:

   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: operator.tigera.io/v1
   kind: Goldmane
   metadata:
     name: default
   EOF
   Expected output

   goldmane.operator.tigera.io/default created

Enable the Calico Whisker web console

1. Enable the Calico Whisker web console by applying the Whisker custom resource:

   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: operator.tigera.io/v1
   kind: Whisker
   metadata:
     name: default
   EOF
   Expected output

   whisker.operator.tigera.io/default created