Access Log Service (ALS)¶

Access Log Service (ALS) is a mechanism within the Istio Service mesh that facilitates the collection and management of access logs.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md]

In the context of modern observability stacks, ALS is commonly used to stream logs directly to an [[OpenTelemetry]] Collector.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md] This allows for the processing of log data—such as batching and exporting—before it is stored in a final backend or output to standard output for debugging.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md]

Configuration in Istio¶

To enable ALS, a Telemetry resource must be applied to the mesh.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md] This resource defines the provider to which access logs should be sent, such as an OpenTelemetry endpoint named otel.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md]

A typical implementation involves: 1. Deploying an otel-collector with a gRPC receiver (typically on port 4317).^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md] 2. Configuring the mesh (e.g., using the demo profile) to recognize these telemetry settings.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md]

Verification¶

Once configured, ALS functionality can be verified by generating traffic within the mesh (e.g., using a tool like fortio to request a service like httpbin) and inspecting the logs of the collector Pod.^[400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md]

Sources¶

• 400-devops__07-Monitoring-and-Observability__k8s-istio__samples__open-telemetry__README.md