Logs

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Overview

Ankra’s Logs feature allows you to:

• Stream real-time logs from any workload in your cluster
• View logs from multiple pods simultaneously
• Filter and search within log output
• Switch between containers in multi-container pods
• Customize display with font size, line wrapping, and color highlighting

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Accessing Logs

There are two ways to access logs in Ankra:

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Cluster Logs

Navigate to Logs in the cluster sidebar to access the cluster-wide log viewer. This allows you to:

1. Select any workload (Deployment, StatefulSet, or DaemonSet)
2. View logs from all pods belonging to that workload
3. Switch between pods without leaving the page

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Pod Logs

Navigate to Kubernetes → Pods, click on a pod, and select the Logs tab to view logs for that specific pod.

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Log Viewer Features

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Workload Selection

In the Cluster Logs view, use the workload selector to choose which application’s logs to view:

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Pod Selection

When viewing a workload with multiple pods, you can:

• View a single pod - Select one pod from the dropdown
• View all pods - Select multiple pods to see combined logs
• Identify log sources - Each log line shows which pod it came from

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Container Selection

For pods with multiple containers:

• Use the container dropdown to switch between containers
• Select multiple containers to view combined logs
• Init containers and sidecar containers are also available

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Streaming Controls

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Play/Pause

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Auto-scroll

The log viewer automatically scrolls to show new logs. When you scroll up to view older logs:

• Auto-scroll pauses automatically
• A Follow button appears at the bottom
• Click Follow to resume auto-scrolling

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Load Older Logs

Scroll to the top of the log viewer to automatically load older logs. The viewer will:

1. Fetch the previous time window of logs
2. Prepend them to the current view
3. Maintain your scroll position

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Filtering & Search

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Text Search

Use the search box to filter logs:

• Type any text to filter log lines
• Matching lines are highlighted
• Match count is displayed

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Regex Search

Click the .* button to enable regex mode:

• Use regular expressions for advanced filtering
• Syntax errors are shown inline
• Common patterns: error|warn, \d{3}, "status":\s*\d+

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Log Level Filtering

Use the level filter buttons to show/hide logs by severity:

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Display Settings

Click the Settings (gear icon) to customize the log viewer:

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Tail Lines

Choose how many recent log lines to fetch when connecting:

• 100 lines (default)
• 500 lines
• 1000 lines
• 5000 lines
• All available logs

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Font Size

Adjust the log text size:

• 10px - 20px range
• Use the slider or +/- buttons

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Line Wrapping

Toggle line wrapping on/off:

• On - Long lines wrap to multiple lines
• Off - Long lines scroll horizontally

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Color Levels

Toggle syntax highlighting for log levels:

• On - Log levels are color-coded
• Off - Plain text display

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Timestamps

Toggle timestamp display:

• On - Show Kubernetes timestamps at the start of each line
• Off - Hide timestamps for cleaner output

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Fullscreen Mode

Click the Fullscreen button (expand icon) to enter fullscreen mode:

• Log viewer fills the entire screen
• All controls remain accessible
• Press Escape or click the button again to exit

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Downloading Logs

Click the Download button to save logs to a file:

• Logs are saved as a .txt file
• Filename includes pod name and timestamp
• All currently loaded logs are included

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Offline Clusters & Cached Data

Log streaming requires an active connection to your cluster through the Ankra agent.

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When the Cluster is Online

• Logs stream in real-time from the Kubernetes API
• New log lines appear as they are written
• You can load older logs by scrolling up

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When the Cluster Goes Offline

• Existing logs remain visible - Logs already loaded in the viewer stay accessible
• New logs cannot be fetched - The stream pauses until connection is restored
• A warning banner appears - Indicates the cluster is offline and data may be stale

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Reconnection

When the cluster comes back online:

• The log stream automatically reconnects
• New logs resume streaming
• You may need to refresh to clear cached state

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AI-Assisted Troubleshooting

Ankra’s AI assistant can analyze logs to help you diagnose issues faster.

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Using AI with Logs

1. Navigate to the pod experiencing issues
2. Click the Troubleshoot button in the pod details
3. The AI analyzes recent logs, events, and resource status
4. You receive actionable insights and suggested fixes

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What AI Analyzes

The AI assistant examines:

• Error patterns - Identifies recurring errors and their root causes
• Stack traces - Parses exception details and suggests fixes
• Resource issues - Detects OOM kills, CPU throttling, and probe failures
• Configuration problems - Spots misconfigured environment variables or mounts

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Best Practices

For more details on AI-powered debugging, see Kubernetes AI Troubleshooting.

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Performance Tips

When working with high-volume log output, use these strategies to keep the viewer responsive:

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Reduce Initial Load

• Use smaller tail lines - Start with 100-500 lines instead of “All” for busy workloads
• Select specific containers - Avoid streaming all containers if you only need one

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Filter Aggressively

• Apply log level filters - Hide DEBUG/INFO logs when investigating errors
• Use search early - Filter to relevant keywords before logs accumulate
• Enable regex for precision - Narrow results with patterns like error|exception|failed

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Manage the Stream

• Pause when investigating - Stop new logs from pushing important lines out of view
• Download for analysis - Export logs to a file for grep, analysis tools, or sharing
• Refresh periodically - Clear accumulated logs and start fresh if the viewer slows down

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Multi-Pod Considerations

When viewing logs from multiple pods:

• Start with one pod, then add more as needed
• High-traffic pods can overwhelm the combined view
• Consider using log level filters to reduce cross-pod noise

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Common Tasks

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Debugging a Crashing Pod

1. Navigate to Logs in the sidebar
2. Select the workload containing the failing pod
3. Look for ERROR or FATAL messages
4. Scroll up to see logs from before the crash
5. Check previous container logs if the pod restarted

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Monitoring Multiple Replicas

1. Open Logs for your workload
2. Select all pods in the pod dropdown
3. Each log line shows which pod it came from
4. Use search to filter across all pods

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Finding Specific Errors

1. Enter your search term in the filter box
2. Enable regex mode for complex patterns
3. Use log level filters to show only errors
4. The match count helps you assess frequency

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Tips

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Keyboard Shortcuts

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