Router Topologies with Skupper

This project uses Ansible playbooks wrapped by a Makefile to create and tear down Skupper topologies for two execution environments:

• Kubernetes
• Podman

It also provides workload deployment helpers for running Fortio as a client/server pair so you can exercise the topology and run performance tests across the Skupper network.

What this project does

The repository automates the setup of these Skupper topologies:

• 1 router
• 2 routers
• 3 routers in a linear topology

For each topology, you can:

1. Create the Skupper sites/routers
2. Link the sites together
3. Deploy a Fortio server on one end of the topology
4. Deploy a Fortio client on the other end
5. Use the Fortio UI or endpoints to run HTTP and gRPC performance tests

Repository structure

• Makefile - entry point for setup, teardown, and workload deployment
• requirements.yml - required Ansible collections
• playbooks/kube/ - Kubernetes topology and workload playbooks
• playbooks/podman/ - Podman topology and workload playbooks

Prerequisites

Common requirements

Make sure the following tools are installed:

• make
• ansible
• ansible-galaxy

Install the required Ansible collections with:

make install-collections

This installs the collections declared in requirements.yml, including:

• kubernetes.core
• skupper.v2

Kubernetes requirements

You need:

• Access to a Kubernetes cluster
• kubectl configured and pointing to the target cluster
• A valid kubeconfig at ~/.kube/config or exported via KUBECONFIG

The Makefile exports:

KUBECONFIG=$(HOME)/.kube/config

So by default it will use ~/.kube/config.

Podman requirements

You need:

• podman
• jq

The Podman playbooks use host networking and local Skupper resources.

Optional environment variable:

export SKUPPER_CLI_IMAGE=quay.io/skupper/cli:v2-dev

If not set, the Podman playbooks default to that image automatically.

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TL;DR

Quick Actions

Setup Topologies:

# Kubernetes
make setup-kube-1          # Single router
make setup-kube-2          # Two routers
make setup-kube-3-linear   # Three routers (linear)

# Podman
make setup-podman-1        # Single router
make setup-podman-2        # Two routers
make setup-podman-3-linear # Three routers (linear)

Deploy Workloads:

# Kubernetes
make deploy-kube-workloads

# Podman
make deploy-podman-workloads

Quick Example (Kubernetes)

# 1. Install dependencies
make install-collections

# 2. Set up a 3-router linear topology
make setup-kube-3-linear

# 3. Deploy Fortio server and client
make deploy-kube-workloads

# 4. Run performance tests through the topology
# Option A: Use the Fortio UI at the printed LoadBalancer IP
# Option B: Run a quick load test from the command line
make run-kube-fortio-load

# 5. Clean up when done
make teardown-kube

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Available Make targets

Install dependencies

make install-collections

Kubernetes topology setup

make setup-kube-1
make setup-kube-2
make setup-kube-3-linear

Kubernetes teardown

make teardown-kube

Podman topology setup

make setup-podman-1
make setup-podman-2
make setup-podman-3-linear

Podman teardown

make teardown-podman

Deploy Kubernetes workloads

make deploy-kube-fortio-server
make deploy-kube-fortio-client
make deploy-kube-workloads

Deploy Podman workloads

make deploy-podman-fortio-server
make deploy-podman-fortio-client
make deploy-podman-workloads

Remove Podman workloads

make undeploy-podman-fortio-client
make undeploy-podman-fortio-server
make undeploy-podman-workloads

Run Fortio load tests

make run-kube-fortio-load
make run-podman-fortio-load

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How to set up a topology

Choose either Kubernetes or Podman, then choose the desired topology.

Kubernetes

Single router

make setup-kube-1

Creates:

• Namespace topology-1
• Skupper site router-1

Two routers

make setup-kube-2

Creates:

• Namespaces topology-1, topology-2
• Skupper sites router-1, router-2
• A link from topology-2 to topology-1

Three routers in a line

make setup-kube-3-linear

Creates:

• Namespaces topology-1, topology-2, topology-3
• Skupper sites router-1, router-2, router-3
• Links:
  • topology-2 -> topology-1
  • topology-3 -> topology-2

Podman

Single router

make setup-podman-1

Creates and starts:

• Namespace topology-1
• Skupper site router-1

Two routers

make setup-podman-2

Creates and starts:

• Namespaces topology-1, topology-2
• Skupper sites router-1, router-2
• Router access on topology-1
• A link from topology-2 to topology-1

Three routers in a line

make setup-podman-3-linear

Creates and starts:

• Namespaces topology-1, topology-2, topology-3
• Skupper sites router-1, router-2, router-3
• Router access on topology-1 and topology-2
• Links:
  • topology-2 -> topology-1
  • topology-3 -> topology-2

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How to deploy workloads

The project uses Fortio as:

• server on the last topology namespace/router
• client on the first topology namespace/router

This lets you measure traffic crossing the full topology.

Kubernetes workloads

Deploy the Fortio server

make deploy-kube-fortio-server

This deploys the Fortio server to the highest-numbered topology-* namespace.

Examples:

• setup-kube-1 -> deploys to topology-1
• setup-kube-2 -> deploys to topology-2
• setup-kube-3-linear -> deploys to topology-3

Deploy the Fortio client

make deploy-kube-fortio-client

This deploys the Fortio client to the lowest-numbered topology-* namespace, typically topology-1.

After deployment, the playbook prints usage hints. For the Fortio client, the intended access points are:

• Fortio UI: http://<fortio-client-ip>:8080/fortio
• HTTP target: http://fortio-http:8080/echo
• gRPC target: http://fortio-grpc:8079

Notes:

• The client is exposed as a Kubernetes LoadBalancer service.
• If the external IP is not immediately available, the playbook may print a placeholder until the service gets an address.

Podman workloads

Deploy the Fortio server

make deploy-podman-fortio-server

This deploys the Fortio server to the highest-numbered topology namespace.

Deploy the Fortio client

make deploy-podman-fortio-client

This deploys the Fortio client to the lowest-numbered topology namespace.

After deployment, the playbook prints the local URLs to use:

• Fortio UI: http://localhost:7080/fortio
• HTTP target: http://127.0.0.1:8080/echo
• gRPC target: http://127.0.0.1:8079

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How to run performance tests

Performance testing is done through the Fortio client against the Fortio server exposed through Skupper listeners/connectors.

Kubernetes performance test flow

1. Set up a topology, for example:

   make setup-kube-3-linear

2. Deploy the server:

   make deploy-kube-fortio-server

3. Deploy the client:

   make deploy-kube-fortio-client

4. Open the Fortio client UI using the printed LoadBalancer IP:

   http://<fortio-client-ip>:8080/fortio
   

5. Run tests from the UI using one of these targets:

   • HTTP: http://fortio-http:8080/echo
   • gRPC: http://fortio-grpc:8079

Podman performance test flow

1. Set up a topology, for example:

   make setup-podman-3-linear

2. Deploy the server:

   make deploy-podman-fortio-server

3. Deploy the client:

   make deploy-podman-fortio-client

4. Open the Fortio client UI:

   http://localhost:7080/fortio
   

5. Run tests from the UI using one of these targets:

   • HTTP: http://127.0.0.1:8080/echo
   • gRPC: http://127.0.0.1:8079

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Example end-to-end workflows

Kubernetes example

make setup-kube-2
make deploy-kube-fortio-server
make deploy-kube-fortio-client

Then open the Fortio UI and test traffic through the two-router topology.

When finished:

make teardown-kube

Podman example

make setup-podman-2
make deploy-podman-fortio-server
make deploy-podman-fortio-client

Then open:

http://localhost:7080/fortio

When finished:

make teardown-podman

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Teardown and cleanup

Kubernetes

Remove the Kubernetes-based topology:

make teardown-kube

Podman

Remove the Podman workloads and topology:

make teardown-podman

Note: the Podman undeploy tasks are called automatically by make teardown-podman, so you normally do not need to run them manually.

If needed, workloads can also be removed independently:

make undeploy-podman-workloads

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Notes

• All setup and deployment commands run Ansible locally using ansible-playbook -i localhost,.
• Kubernetes workload deployment automatically selects:
  • the first topology-* namespace for the client
  • the last topology-* namespace for the server
• Podman workload deployment follows the same first/last topology selection logic.
• The project is intended for experimenting with Skupper topology layouts and measuring the impact on HTTP/gRPC request paths using Fortio.