Google Summer of Code '20 with Linkerd

Hi, there! This repository has all the details of the work I did as a part of Google Summer of Code '20 with Linkerd

General Information

• Name: Mayank M Shah
• Github: @mayankshah1607
• Email: hello@mayankshah.dev
• Mentors: @Pothulapati, @ihcsim
• Project Title: Conformance Validation
• Project Repository: linkerd/linkerd2-conformance
• Design Proposal: View Proposal

Project Abstract

Linkerd has an extensive check suite that validates a cluster is ready to install Linkerd and that the installation was successful. These checks are, unfortunately, static checks. Because of the wide number of ways a Kubernetes cluster can be configured, users want a way to validate their specific install for conformance over time. The proposed project tackles this problem by allowing users to deploy sample workloads to their cluster and carry out extensive E2E tests for conformance.

This project proposes a new test suite that shall be used for conformance validation. The new test suite shall be used to validate non-trivial network communication (HTTP, gRPC, websocket) among stateless and stateful workloads in the Linkerd data plane. This shall be done by carrying out extensive e2e tests of Linkerd features using a sample distributed application (data plane).

Blog posts

• GSoC '20 with Linkerd

Talks and presentations

• Linkerd community meetup (09-23-2020)
• Linkerd community meetup (09-23-2020) (Presentation)

Issues

Total issues opened: 13

Repository: linkerd/linkerd2-conformance

• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#2 - Add spec for control plane installation and its lifecycle
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#3 - Add support to read and parse test configuration from a YAML file
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#5 - Add tests for proxy injection
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#6 - Add support for using add-ons for control plane installation tests
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#7 - Add new spec for ingress tests
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#8 - Consider using gotestsum
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#13 - Release plan for linkerd2-conformance
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#14 - Restructuring docs
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#15 - Clean-up and refactor Gomega assertions
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#24 - Add new spec for testing retries and timeouts

Repository: linkerd/linkerd2

• linkerd/linkerd2#4497 - pkg.go.dev discovers an older version of linkerd2 module
• linkerd/linkerd2#4530 - Add new helper method in testutil package
• linkerd/linkerd2#4643 - Refactor existing helpers from inject integration tests

Pull Requests

Total PRs made: 19

Note: A lot of the PRs hold really big changes (some of which took weeks to review), hence the relatively low number of PRs.

Repository: linkerd/linkerd2

• linkerd/linkerd2#4532 - Add new helper to package testutil
• linkerd/linkerd2#4591 - Update function signature of testutil.NewGenericTestHelper
• linkerd/linkerd2#4644 - Refactor helper functions from inject integration tests
• linkerd/linkerd2#4681 - Refactor helper functions from install integration tests
• linkerd/linkerd2#4800 - Refactor helper functions from tap integration tests
• linkerd/linkerd2#4752 - Refactor and make checkOutput public

Repository: linkerd/linkerd2-conformance

• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#1 - First pass on conformance validation
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#11 - Add CI features for linkerd2-conformance repo
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#12 - Add tests for ingress
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#16 - Add tests for linkerd tap command
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#17 - Add tests for linkerd stat command
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#18 - Refactor all Gomega assertions and clean up logging
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#19 - Simplify and clean up ingress tests logic
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#20 - Add tests for linkerd routes command
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#21 - Change CI linter timeout to 30m
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#22 - Add tests for linkerd edges command
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#23 - Omit flaky output validation for linkerd inject --manual tests
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#25 - Add tests for testing ServiceProfiles and Retries
• linkerd/linkerd2-conformance#26 - Clean up code for lifecycle and inject tests

Miscellaneous contributions to Linkerd

Throughout the GSoC period, I made small contributions to the community which were outside the scope of my project.

PRs merged

• linkerd/linkerd2#4346
• linkerd/linkerd2#4508

PRs reviewed:

• linkerd/linkerd2#4757
• linkerd/linkerd2#4368

Weekly Updates

• Community Bonding Period

Coding Period - June

• Week 1, June 1st - June 8th
• Week 2, June 8th - June 15th
• Week 3, June 15th - June 22nd
• Week 4, June 22nd - June 29th

Coding Period - July

• Week 5, July 3rd - July 13th
• Week 6, July 13th - July 20th
• Week 7, July 20th - July 27th
• Week 8, July 31st - August 10th

Coding Period - August

• Week 9, August 10th - August 17th
• Week 10, August 17th - August 24th

Conclusion

My journey with Linkerd started back in October 2019, prior to GSoC, when I was just getting started with Kubernetes. By making small contributions such as minor bug fixes and addition of new features to the CLI, I have come a long way in learning about service meshes, to be able to work with the Linkerd community as a GSoC student. From drafting a project proposal, to getting PRs merged, I have always been able to learn something new from every interaction I have had with the Linkerd community. On the technical side of things I have learnt great coding ethics and practices, developed the ability to read code, understand new paradigms in software development, and most importantly learnt a great deal about service meshes and why must one use it. On the non-technical side, I have learnt how to express ideas and communicate effectively with a team.

GSoC and Linkerd have helped me grow as a software engineer, and the journey has been absolutely delightful for me. Special thanks to my mentors Tarun and Ivan who have been very supportive of my ideas and provided vaulable feedback. I'm very excited to see how Linkerd users make effective use of my project, and I also hope to be able to continue making meaningful contributions to the Linkerd community.