pilot-agent

Istio Pilot agent runs in the sidecar or gateway container and bootstraps Envoy.

FlagsDescription
--log_as_jsonWhether to format output as JSON or in plain console-friendly format
--log_caller <string>Comma-separated list of scopes for which to include caller information, scopes can be any of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] (default ``)
--log_output_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level of messages to output, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope>:<level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:info`)
--log_rotate <string>The path for the optional rotating log file (default ``)
--log_rotate_max_age <int>The maximum age in days of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (0 indicates no limit) (default `30`)
--log_rotate_max_backups <int>The maximum number of log file backups to keep before older files are deleted (0 indicates no limit) (default `1000`)
--log_rotate_max_size <int>The maximum size in megabytes of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (default `104857600`)
--log_stacktrace_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level at which stack traces are captured, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope:level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:none`)
--log_target <stringArray>The set of paths where to output the log. This can be any path as well as the special values stdout and stderr (default `[stdout]`)

pilot-agent proxy

Envoy proxy agent

pilot-agent proxy [flags]
FlagsDescription
--binaryPath <string>Path to the proxy binary (default `/usr/local/bin/envoy`)
--concurrency <int>number of worker threads to run (default `0`)
--configPath <string>Path to the generated configuration file directory (default `/etc/istio/proxy`)
--connectTimeout <duration>Connection timeout used by Envoy for supporting services (default `10s`)
--controlPlaneAuthPolicy <string>Control Plane Authentication Policy (default `NONE`)
--controlPlaneBootstrapProcess bootstrap provided via templateFile to be used by control plane components.
--customConfigFile <string>Path to the custom configuration file (default ``)
--datadogAgentAddress <string>Address of the Datadog Agent (default ``)
--disableInternalTelemetryDisable internal telemetry
--discoveryAddress <string>Address of the discovery service exposing xDS (e.g. istio-pilot:8080) (default `istio-pilot:15010`)
--dnsRefreshRate <string>The dns_refresh_rate for bootstrap STRICT_DNS clusters (default `300s`)
--domain <string>DNS domain suffix. If not provided uses ${POD_NAMESPACE}.svc.cluster.local (default ``)
--drainDuration <duration>The time in seconds that Envoy will drain connections during a hot restart (default `45s`)
--envoyAccessLogService <string>Settings of an Envoy gRPC Access Log Service API implementation (default ``)
--envoyMetricsService <string>Settings of an Envoy gRPC Metrics Service API implementation (default ``)
--id <string>Proxy unique ID. If not provided uses ${POD_NAME}.${POD_NAMESPACE} from environment variables (default ``)
--ip <string>Proxy IP address. If not provided uses ${INSTANCE_IP} environment variable. (default ``)
--lightstepAccessToken <string>Access Token for LightStep Satellite pool (default ``)
--lightstepAddress <string>Address of the LightStep Satellite pool (default ``)
--lightstepCacertPath <string>Path to the trusted cacert used to authenticate the pool (default ``)
--lightstepSecureShould connection to the LightStep Satellite pool be secure
--log_as_jsonWhether to format output as JSON or in plain console-friendly format
--log_caller <string>Comma-separated list of scopes for which to include caller information, scopes can be any of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] (default ``)
--log_output_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level of messages to output, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope>:<level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:info`)
--log_rotate <string>The path for the optional rotating log file (default ``)
--log_rotate_max_age <int>The maximum age in days of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (0 indicates no limit) (default `30`)
--log_rotate_max_backups <int>The maximum number of log file backups to keep before older files are deleted (0 indicates no limit) (default `1000`)
--log_rotate_max_size <int>The maximum size in megabytes of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (default `104857600`)
--log_stacktrace_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level at which stack traces are captured, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope:level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:none`)
--log_target <stringArray>The set of paths where to output the log. This can be any path as well as the special values stdout and stderr (default `[stdout]`)
--mixerIdentity <string>The identity used as the suffix for mixer's spiffe SAN. This would only be used by pilot all other proxy would get this value from pilot (default ``)
--outlierLogPath <string>The log path for outlier detection (default ``)
--parentShutdownDuration <duration>The time in seconds that Envoy will wait before shutting down the parent process during a hot restart (default `1m0s`)
--pilotIdentity <string>The identity used as the suffix for pilot's spiffe SAN (default ``)
--proxyAdminPort <uint16>Port on which Envoy should listen for administrative commands (default `15000`)
--proxyComponentLogLevel <string>The component log level used to start the Envoy proxy (default `misc:error`)
--proxyLogLevel <string>The log level used to start the Envoy proxy (choose from {trace, debug, info, warning, error, critical, off}) (default `warning`)
--serviceCluster <string>Service cluster (default `istio-proxy`)
--serviceregistry <string>Select the platform for service registry, options are {Kubernetes, Consul, Mock} (default `Kubernetes`)
--statsdUdpAddress <string>IP Address and Port of a statsd UDP listener (e.g. 10.75.241.127:9125) (default ``)
--statusPort <uint16>HTTP Port on which to serve pilot agent status. If zero, agent status will not be provided. (default `0`)
--stsPort <int>HTTP Port on which to serve Security Token Service (STS). If zero, STS service will not be provided. (default `0`)
--templateFile <string>Go template bootstrap config (default ``)
--tokenManagerPlugin <string>Token provider specific plugin name. (default `GoogleTokenExchange`)
--trust-domain <string>The domain to use for identities (default ``)
--zipkinAddress <string>Address of the Zipkin service (e.g. zipkin:9411) (default ``)

pilot-agent request

Makes an HTTP request to the Envoy admin API

pilot-agent request <method> <path> [<body>] [flags]
FlagsDescription
--log_as_jsonWhether to format output as JSON or in plain console-friendly format
--log_caller <string>Comma-separated list of scopes for which to include caller information, scopes can be any of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] (default ``)
--log_output_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level of messages to output, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope>:<level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:info`)
--log_rotate <string>The path for the optional rotating log file (default ``)
--log_rotate_max_age <int>The maximum age in days of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (0 indicates no limit) (default `30`)
--log_rotate_max_backups <int>The maximum number of log file backups to keep before older files are deleted (0 indicates no limit) (default `1000`)
--log_rotate_max_size <int>The maximum size in megabytes of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (default `104857600`)
--log_stacktrace_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level at which stack traces are captured, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope:level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:none`)
--log_target <stringArray>The set of paths where to output the log. This can be any path as well as the special values stdout and stderr (default `[stdout]`)

pilot-agent version

Prints out build version information

pilot-agent version [flags]
FlagsShorthandDescription
--log_as_jsonWhether to format output as JSON or in plain console-friendly format
--log_caller <string>Comma-separated list of scopes for which to include caller information, scopes can be any of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] (default ``)
--log_output_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level of messages to output, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope>:<level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:info`)
--log_rotate <string>The path for the optional rotating log file (default ``)
--log_rotate_max_age <int>The maximum age in days of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (0 indicates no limit) (default `30`)
--log_rotate_max_backups <int>The maximum number of log file backups to keep before older files are deleted (0 indicates no limit) (default `1000`)
--log_rotate_max_size <int>The maximum size in megabytes of a log file beyond which the file is rotated (default `104857600`)
--log_stacktrace_level <string>Comma-separated minimum per-scope logging level at which stack traces are captured, in the form of <scope>:<level>,<scope:level>,... where scope can be one of [all, authn, cache, citadelclient, configmapcontroller, default, googleca, model, rbac, sds, secretfetcher, stsclient, stsserver, token, validation, vault] and level can be one of [debug, info, warn, error, fatal, none] (default `default:none`)
--log_target <stringArray>The set of paths where to output the log. This can be any path as well as the special values stdout and stderr (default `[stdout]`)
--output <string>-oOne of 'yaml' or 'json'. (default ``)
--short-sUse --short=false to generate full version information

Environment variables

These environment variables affect the behavior of the pilot-agent command.
Variable NameTypeDefault ValueDescription
CA_ADDRString
CA_PROVIDERStringCitadel
ENABLE_INGRESS_GATEWAY_SDSBooleanfalse
GKE_CLUSTER_URLStringThe url of GKE cluster
INGRESS_GATEWAY_FALLBACK_SECRETStringgateway-fallback
INGRESS_GATEWAY_NAMESPACEString
INITIAL_BACKOFF_MSECInteger0
INSTANCE_IPString
ISTIOD_ADDRStringService name of istiod. If empty the istiod listener, certs will be disabled.
ISTIO_AUTO_MTLS_ENABLEDBooleanfalseIf true, auto mTLS is enabled, sidecar checks key/cert if SDS is not enabled.
ISTIO_BOOTSTRAPString
ISTIO_BOOTSTRAP_OVERRIDEString
ISTIO_GPRC_MAXRECVMSGSIZEInteger4194304Sets the max receive buffer size of gRPC stream in bytes.
ISTIO_GPRC_MAXSTREAMSInteger100000Sets the maximum number of concurrent grpc streams.
ISTIO_KUBE_APP_PROBERSString
ISTIO_META_TLS_CLIENT_CERT_CHAINString/etc/certs/cert-chain.pem
ISTIO_META_TLS_CLIENT_KEYString/etc/certs/key.pem
ISTIO_META_TLS_CLIENT_ROOT_CERTString/etc/certs/root-cert.pem
ISTIO_META_TLS_SERVER_CERT_CHAINString/etc/certs/cert-chain.pem
ISTIO_META_TLS_SERVER_KEYString/etc/certs/key.pem
ISTIO_META_TLS_SERVER_ROOT_CERTString/etc/certs/root-cert.pem
ISTIO_NAMESPACEString
JWT_POLICYStringthird-party-jwtThe JWT validation policy.
MESH_CONFIGStringThe mesh configuration
NAMESPACEStringistio-systemnamespace that nodeagent/citadel run in
OUTPUT_KEY_CERT_TO_DIRECTORYStringThe output directory for the key and certificate. If empty, no output of key and certificate.
PILOT_BLOCK_HTTP_ON_443BooleantrueIf enabled, any HTTP services will be blocked on HTTPS port (443). If this is disabled, any HTTP service on port 443 could block all external traffic
PILOT_CERT_DIRString
PILOT_CERT_PROVIDERStringcitadelthe provider of Pilot DNS certificate.
PILOT_DEBOUNCE_AFTERTime Duration100msThe delay added to config/registry events for debouncing. This will delay the push by at least this internal. If no change is detected within this period, the push will happen, otherwise we'll keep delaying until things settle, up to a max of PILOT_DEBOUNCE_MAX.
PILOT_DEBOUNCE_MAXTime Duration10sThe maximum amount of time to wait for events while debouncing. If events keep showing up with no breaks for this time, we'll trigger a push.
PILOT_DEBUG_ADSZ_CONFIGBooleanfalse
PILOT_DISTRIBUTION_HISTORY_RETENTIONTime Duration1m0sIf enabled, Pilot will keep track of old versions of distributed config for this duration.
PILOT_ENABLE_CONFIG_DISTRIBUTION_TRACKINGBooleantrueIf enabled, Pilot will assign meaningful nonces to each Envoy configuration message, and allow users to interrogate which envoy has which config from the debug interface.
PILOT_ENABLE_CRD_VALIDATIONBooleanfalseIf enabled, pilot will validate CRDs while retrieving CRDs from kubernetes cache.Use this flag to enable validation of CRDs in Pilot, especially in deployments that do not have galley installed.
PILOT_ENABLE_EDS_DEBOUNCEBooleantrueIf enabled, Pilot will include EDS pushes in the push debouncing, configured by PILOT_DEBOUNCE_AFTER and PILOT_DEBOUNCE_MAX. EDS pushes may be delayed, but there will be fewer pushes. By default this is enabled
PILOT_ENABLE_EDS_FOR_HEADLESS_SERVICESBooleanfalseIf enabled, for headless service in Kubernetes, pilot will send endpoints over EDS, allowing the sidecar to load balance among pods in the headless service. This feature should be enabled if applications access all services explicitly via a HTTP proxy port in the sidecar.
PILOT_ENABLE_FALLTHROUGH_ROUTEBooleantrueEnableFallthroughRoute provides an option to add a final wildcard match for routes. When ALLOW_ANY traffic policy is used, a Passthrough cluster is used. When REGISTRY_ONLY traffic policy is used, a 502 error is returned.
PILOT_ENABLE_HEADLESS_SERVICE_POD_LISTENERSBooleantrueIf enabled, for a headless service/stateful set in Kubernetes, pilot will generate an outbound listener for each pod in a headless service. This feature should be disabled if headless services have a large number of pods.
PILOT_ENABLE_MYSQL_FILTERBooleanfalseEnableMysqlFilter enables injection of `envoy.filters.network.mysql_proxy` in the filter chain.
PILOT_ENABLE_PROTOCOL_SNIFFING_FOR_INBOUNDBooleantrueIf enabled, protocol sniffing will be used for inbound listeners whose port protocol is not specified or unsupported
PILOT_ENABLE_PROTOCOL_SNIFFING_FOR_OUTBOUNDBooleantrueIf enabled, protocol sniffing will be used for outbound listeners whose port protocol is not specified or unsupported
PILOT_ENABLE_REDIS_FILTERBooleanfalseEnableRedisFilter enables injection of `envoy.filters.network.redis_proxy` in the filter chain.
PILOT_ENABLE_TCP_METADATA_EXCHANGEBooleantrueIf enabled, metadata exchange will be enabled for TCP using ALPN and Network Metadata Exchange filters in Envoy
PILOT_ENABLE_THRIFT_FILTERBooleanfalseEnableThriftFilter enables injection of `envoy.filters.network.thrift_proxy` in the filter chain.
PILOT_FILTER_GATEWAY_CLUSTER_CONFIGBooleanfalse
PILOT_HTTP10BooleanfalseEnables the use of HTTP 1.0 in the outbound HTTP listeners, to support legacy applications.
PILOT_INBOUND_PROTOCOL_DETECTION_TIMEOUTTime Duration1sProtocol detection timeout for inbound listener
PILOT_INITIAL_FETCH_TIMEOUTTime Duration0sSpecifies the initial_fetch_timeout for config. If this time is reached without a response to the config requested by Envoy, the Envoy will move on with the init phase. This prevents envoy from getting stuck waiting on config during startup.
PILOT_PUSH_THROTTLEInteger100Limits the number of concurrent pushes allowed. On larger machines this can be increased for faster pushes
PILOT_RESPECT_DNS_TTLBooleantrueIf enabled, DNS based clusters will respect the TTL of the DNS, rather than polling at a fixed rate. This option is only provided for backward compatibility purposes and will be removed in the near future.
PILOT_RESTRICT_POD_UP_TRAFFIC_LOOPBooleantrueIf enabled, this will block inbound traffic from matching outbound listeners, which could result in an infinite loop of traffic. This option is only provided for backward compatibility purposes and will be removed in the near future.
PILOT_SCOPE_GATEWAY_TO_NAMESPACEBooleanfalseIf enabled, a gateway workload can only select gateway resources in the same namespace. Gateways with same selectors in different namespaces will not be applicable.
PILOT_SCOPE_PUSHESBooleantrueIf enabled, pilot will attempt to limit unnecessary pushes by determining what proxies a config or endpoint update will impact.
PILOT_SIDECAR_USE_REMOTE_ADDRESSBooleanfalseUseRemoteAddress sets useRemoteAddress to true for side car outbound listeners.
PILOT_SKIP_VALIDATE_TRUST_DOMAINBooleanfalseSkip validating the peer is from the same trust domain when mTLS is enabled in authentication policy
PILOT_TRACE_SAMPLINGFloating-Point100Sets the mesh-wide trace sampling percentage. Should be 0.0 - 100.0. Precision to 0.01. Default is 100, not recommended for production use.
PILOT_USE_ENDPOINT_SLICEBooleanfalseIf enabled, Pilot will use EndpointSlices as the source of endpoints for Kubernetes services. By default, this is false, and Endpoints will be used. This requires the Kubernetes EndpointSlice controller to be enabled. Currently this is mutual exclusive - either Endpoints or EndpointSlices will be used
PKCS8_KEYBooleanfalseWhether to generate PKCS#8 private keys
PLUGINSString
POD_NAMEString
POD_NAMESPACEString
SDS_ENABLEDBooleanfalse
SDS_UDS_PATHStringunix:/var/run/sds/uds_pathSDS address
SECRET_GRACE_DURATIONTime Duration12h0m0s
SECRET_JOB_RUN_INTERVALTime Duration10m0s
SECRET_TTLTime Duration24h0m0s
SECRET_WATCHER_RESYNC_PERIODString
STACKDRIVER_TRACING_DEBUGBooleanfalseIf set to true, enables trace output to stdout
STACKDRIVER_TRACING_ENABLEDBooleanfalseIf enabled, stackdriver will get configured as the tracer.
STACKDRIVER_TRACING_MAX_NUMBER_OF_ANNOTATIONSInteger200Sets the max number of annotations for stackdriver
STACKDRIVER_TRACING_MAX_NUMBER_OF_ATTRIBUTESInteger200Sets the max number of attributes for stackdriver
STACKDRIVER_TRACING_MAX_NUMBER_OF_MESSAGE_EVENTSInteger200Sets the max number of message events for stackdriver
STALED_CONNECTION_RECYCLE_RUN_INTERVALTime Duration5m0s
TERMINATION_DRAIN_DURATION_SECONDSInteger5The amount of time allowed for connections to complete on pilot-agent shutdown. On receiving SIGTERM or SIGINT, pilot-agent tells the active Envoy to start draining, preventing any new connections and allowing existing connections to complete. It then sleeps for the TerminationDrainDuration and then kills any remaining active Envoy processes.
TRUST_DOMAINString
USE_ISTIO_JWT_FILTERBooleanfalseUse the Istio JWT filter for JWT token verification.

Exported metrics

Metric NameTypeDescription
endpoint_no_podLastValueEndpoints without an associated pod.
istio_buildLastValueIstio component build info
num_failed_outgoing_requestsSumNumber of failed outgoing requests (e.g. to a token exchange server, CA, etc.)
num_outgoing_requestsSumNumber of total outgoing requests (e.g. to a token exchange server, CA, etc.)
num_outgoing_retriesSumNumber of outgoing retry requests (e.g. to a token exchange server, CA, etc.)
outgoing_latencySumThe latency of outgoing requests (e.g. to a token exchange server, CA, etc.) in milliseconds.
pilot_conflict_inbound_listenerLastValueNumber of conflicting inbound listeners.
pilot_conflict_outbound_listener_http_over_current_tcpLastValueNumber of conflicting wildcard http listeners with current wildcard tcp listener.
pilot_conflict_outbound_listener_http_over_httpsLastValueNumber of conflicting HTTP listeners with well known HTTPS ports
pilot_conflict_outbound_listener_tcp_over_current_httpLastValueNumber of conflicting wildcard tcp listeners with current wildcard http listener.
pilot_conflict_outbound_listener_tcp_over_current_tcpLastValueNumber of conflicting tcp listeners with current tcp listener.
pilot_destrule_subsetsLastValueDuplicate subsets across destination rules for same host
pilot_duplicate_envoy_clustersLastValueDuplicate envoy clusters caused by service entries with same hostname
pilot_eds_no_instancesLastValueNumber of clusters without instances.
pilot_endpoint_not_readyLastValueEndpoint found in unready state.
pilot_jwks_resolver_network_fetch_fail_totalSumTotal number of failed network fetch by pilot jwks resolver
pilot_jwks_resolver_network_fetch_success_totalSumTotal number of successfully network fetch by pilot jwks resolver
pilot_no_ipLastValuePods not found in the endpoint table, possibly invalid.
pilot_total_rejected_configsSumTotal number of configs that Pilot had to reject or ignore.
pilot_virt_servicesLastValueTotal virtual services known to pilot.
pilot_vservice_dup_domainLastValueVirtual services with dup domains.
total_active_connectionsSumThe total number of active SDS connections.
total_push_errorsSumThe total number of failed SDS pushes.
total_pushesSumThe total number of SDS pushes.
total_secret_update_failuresSumThe total number of dynamic secret update failures reported by proxy.
total_stale_connectionsSumThe total number of stale SDS connections.
Was this information useful?
Do you have any suggestions for improvement?

Thanks for your feedback!