Observables are live event taps that can be configured at any Sidecar in the Fabric mesh. By taking metadata from the request and response at each point throughout the mesh, Grey Matter can perform high-level monitoring of user experience, create audit trails for service access, or any other required analysis.
Observable Content
| Field | Description | Value |
|---|---|---|
id | A GUID, unique for each event. | |
eventChain | An optional chain of GUIDs. | |
schemaVersion | The version of the Observable schema in use structure. | |
originatorTokens | Identifiers (e.g. USER_DN) for originators of this event. | |
topic | Human readable string to identify/indicate what this event is about. | |
timestamp | Unix timestamp of when the observable was produced according to the host system. | |
xForwardedForIp | IP address of the original requester. | |
systemIp | IP address of the system originating the event. | |
action | Action being performed on the service. | create, read, update, delete, undelete |
payload | Request/Response information (see below) | |
payload.isSuccessful | true if service responded with a 2xx code. | |
payload.request | Information about the initial request. | |
payload.requestEndpoint | The URI path that was invoked. E.g. /admin, /services/catalog/1.0/, /apps | |
payload.request.headers | all headers sent along with the request | |
payload.request.body | (optional) The full body sent with the request. | |
payload.response | Information about the returned response. | |
payload.response.code | returned HTTP code. | |
payload.response.headers | all headers sent back to the user. | |
payload.response.body | (optional) The full body sent back to the user |
Example Dashboard
The creation and emission of Observables is core to Grey Matter, but the aggregation and analysis is left to third party tools like Kibana, Splunk, or custom aggregation/analysis tools. An example dashboard showing the geo-location of requests, response bodies, etc is shown below.
Base Payload
Shown below is the base payload that is emitted for every Observable event across the Sidecars. In addition to the metadata below, the request/response bodies can also be emitted for each transaction. However, due to the high data volume this can incur on the supporting infrastructure, this should be turned on only for systems that can support it or for Sidecars/routes in which the data volumes are acceptable.
{
"eventId": "96536082-7077-11ea-89c3-8e1665400fd4",
"eventChain": [
"96536082-7077-11ea-89c3-8e1665400fd4"
],
"schemaVersion": "1.0",
"originatorToken": [
"CN=Acert,OU=Engineering,O=Decipher Technology Studios,L=Alexandria,ST=Virginia,C=US"
],
"eventType": "edge",
"timestamp": 1585346951,
"xForwardedForIp": "192.168.48.196",
"systemIp": "192.168.11.69",
"action": "GET",
"payload": {
"isSuccessful": false,
"request": {
"endpoint": "/services/catalog/1.0/summary",
"headers": {
":authority": "aeb8ee2746fcd11ea84dd123e1026b56-1506059117.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com:80",
":method": "GET",
":path": "/static/js/runtime~main.4e755ff0.js",
"referer": "https://aeb8ee2746fcd11ea84dd123e1026b56-1506059117.us-east-1.elb.amazonaws.com:80/",
"ssl_client_s_dn": "CN=Acert,OU=Engineering,O=Decipher Technology Studios,L=Alexandria,ST=Virginia,C=US",
"user_dn": "CN=Acert,OU=Engineering,O=Decipher Technology Studios,L=Alexandria,ST=Virginia,C=US",
"x-forwarded-for": "192.168.48.196",
"x-forwarded-proto": "https",
"x-real-ip": "192.168.48.196",
"x-request-id": "0ac0108f-cbfb-9b37-a9f7-801baf338710"
}
},
"response": {
"code": 502,
"headers": {
":status": "502"
}
}
}
}
Example Enhanced Payload
Though the base payload includes only metadata that can be universally gained from all requests flowing throughout the mesh, the aggregation process can add additional information and data transformations as desired. The below payload demonstrates the ability to add geo-location information during this aggregation step.
{
"_index": "observables-2020.03.04",
"_type": "_doc",
"_id": "nBlCpnABwokfVRiKGisP",
"_version": 1,
"_score": null,
"_source": {
"eventType": "fibonacci",
"@version": "1",
"action": "GET",
"originatorToken": [
"cn=jeanice.theroux, dc=berkshirehathaway, dc=com",
""
],
"@timestamp": "2020-03-04T15:52:36.000Z",
"timestamp": 1583337156,
"eventChain": [
"2aff9c91-5e30-11ea-b062-0a580a8102c8"
],
"payload": {
"request": {
"endpoint": "/9",
"headers": {
"cache-control": "no-cache",
"cookie": "OauthExpires=1583397155; OauthSignature=RBYj1AO52AaAOMC1ZSmbOmp7WEk; OauthUserDN=cn%3Djeanice.theroux%2C+dc%3Dberkshirehathaway%2C+dc%3Dcom",
"x-gm-domain": "*:9080",
"user-agent": "PostmanRuntime/7.16.2",
"x-gm-shared-rules": "fibonacci",
"content-length": "0",
"user_dn": "cn=jeanice.theroux, dc=berkshirehathaway, dc=com",
"x-forwarded-port": "443",
"external_sys_dn": "",
"x-gm-rule": "DEFAULT",
":method": "GET",
"x-forwarded-host": "oauth.demonstration.deciphernow.com",
":authority": "oauth.demonstration.deciphernow.com",
"forwarded": "for=3.10.150.42;host=oauth.demonstration.deciphernow.com;proto=https;proto-version=",
"x-gm-route": "edge-oauth.fibonacci.route",
"accept": "*/*",
"x-forwarded-for": "3.10.150.42",
":path": "/9",
"postman-token": "acce6a87-1e2f-4e64-8362-cd388b49b890",
"x-request-id": "d47d7f62-6eeb-414f-963b-3c43abc26f19",
"accept-encoding": "gzip, deflate",
"x-envoy-original-path": "/services/fibonacci/latest/9",
"x-forwarded-proto": "https"
}
},
"response": {
"body": "34\n",
"headers": {
"content-type": "text/plain; charset=utf-8",
":status": "200",
"date": "Wed, 04 Mar 2020 15:52:36 GMT",
"content-length": "3",
"x-envoy-upstream-service-time": "0"
},
"code": 200
},
"isSuccessful": true
},
"xForwardedForIp": "3.10.150.42",
"geoip": {
"country_name": "United Kingdom",
"region_name": "England",
"ip": "3.10.150.42",
"country_code2": "GB",
"location": {
"lon": -0.093,
"lat": 51.5164
},
"latitude": 51.5164,
"city_name": "London",
"country_code3": "GB",
"timezone": "Europe/London",
"region_code": "ENG",
"longitude": -0.093,
"continent_code": "EU",
"postal_code": "EC2V"
},
"schemaVersion": "1.0",
"systemIp": "10.129.2.200",
"eventId": "2aff9c91-5e30-11ea-b062-0a580a8102c8"
},
"fields": {
"@timestamp": [
"2020-03-04T15:52:36.000Z"
]
},
"sort": [
1583337156000
]
}