Enabling application service maps

Application service maps give you visibility into how workloads communicate in a Kubernetes cluster, helping you detect dependencies and monitor traffic flows in real time.

KVA collects traffic data between workloads and reports it to the ServiceNow instance as part of its installation. Three methods are available: a ServiceNow DaemonSet, Istio or Linkerd service meshes, or Cilium. Each method is suited to different cluster configurations. For deployment prerequisites and installation steps, see Install Kubernetes Visibility Agent (KVA).

• If you use a ServiceNow DaemonSet, a pod runs on each Kubernetes node and reports new connections it detects to the main Informer pod every 60 seconds. To find out how to enable the application service maps using a ServiceNow DaemonSet, see Enable service maps using DaemonSet.
• If you use service meshes and have a Prometheus server, provide the Prometheus URL. The Informer then queries the Prometheus server periodically for connection data reported by the service mesh. To find out how to enable the application service maps using Istio or Linkerd service meshes, see Enable service maps using service meshes.

• Enable service maps using DaemonSet
  Enable application service maps based on the traffic between the workloads in Kubernetes by using a ServiceNow DaemonSet as part of Kubernetes Visibility Agent (KVA) installation.
• Enable service maps using service meshes
  Enable application service maps based on the traffic between the workloads in Kubernetes by using Istio or Linkerd or service meshes as part of Kubernetes Visibility Agent (KVA) installation.
• Create application service maps
  Create a service map that maps application services based on traffic between the workloads in Kubernetes using Istio or Linkerd service meshes or a ServiceNow DaemonSet.
• Create hybrid application service maps
  Create hybrid service maps that extend outside the Kubernetes cluster and map other related service resources.