skywalking trace data is not appeared in service mesh

[stevenlii]

Describe the question:

I'm trying to use skywalking to check service mesh(istio 1.14.1) tracing, and I checked istio/istio#32588 and #7241 , now get no trace data on service mesh

Steps to reproduce
skywalking installed below:

helm install skywalking skywalking/skywalking -n skywalking \
  --set oap.image.tag=9.1.0 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=9.1.0 \
  --set elasticsearch.imageTag=7.5.1 \
  --set oap.replicas=1 \
  --set oap.env.SW_ENVOY_METRIC_ALS_HTTP_ANALYSIS=mx-mesh \
  --set oap.env.SW_ENVOY_METRIC_ALS_TCP_ANALYSIS=mx-mesh \
  --set values.telemetry.v2.enabled=true
  --set oap.envoy.als.enabled=true

istioctl 1.14.1 installed like this:

istioctl manifest install -y \
  --set profile=demo \
  --set meshConfig.defaultConfig.envoyMetricsService.address=skywalking-oap.istio-system.svc.cluster.local:11800 \
  --set 'meshConfig.defaultConfig.proxyStatsMatcher.inclusionRegexps[0]=.*' \
  --set meshConfig.enableEnvoyAccessLogService=true \
  --set meshConfig.defaultConfig.envoyAccessLogService.address=skywalking-oap.istio-system.svc.cluster.local:11800

configured meshConfig below:

meshConfig:
    accessLogFile: /dev/stdout
    defaultConfig:
      envoyAccessLogService:
        address: skywalking-oap.istio-system.svc.cluster.local:11800
      envoyMetricsService:
        address: skywalking-oap.istio-system.svc.cluster.local:11800
      proxyMetadata: {}
      proxyStatsMatcher:
        inclusionRegexps:
        - .*
    enableEnvoyAccessLogService: true
    enablePrometheusMerge: true
    extensionProviders:
    - name: skywalking
      skywalking:
        port: 11800
        service: skywalking-oap.istio-system.svc.cluster.local
  profile: demo
  tag: 1.14.1

add Telemetry

apiVersion: telemetry.istio.io/v1alpha1
kind: Telemetry
metadata:
  name: test
spec:
  tracing:
  - customTags:
      my_new_foo_tag:
        literal:
          value: foo
    providers:
    - name: skywalking
    randomSamplingPercentage: 100

set start_child_span in EnvoyFilter like below:

apiVersion: networking.istio.io/v1alpha3
kind: EnvoyFilter
metadata:
  namespace: istio-system
  name: route
spec:
  workloadSelector:
    labels:
      istio: ingressgateway
  configPatches:
    - applyTo: HTTP_FILTER
      match:
        context: GATEWAY
        listener:
          filterChain:
            filter:
              name: envoy.filters.network.http_connection_manager
              subFilter:
                name: envoy.filters.http.router
      patch:
        operation: REPLACE
        value:
          name: envoy.filters.http.router
          typed_config:
            "@type": type.googleapis.com/envoy.extensions.filters.http.router.v3.Router
            start_child_span: true

And I propagate sw8 like this( using grpc, so get trace in metadata):

 void genTrace(Metadata headers) {
        Metadata request = TRACING_KEY.get(Context.current());
         if (request.get(Metadata.Key.of("sw8", Metadata.ASCII_STRING_MARSHALLER)) == null) {
			//manual generate trace id as https://gitcode.net/apache/skywalking/-/blob/master/docs/en/protocols/Skywalking-Cross-Process-Propagation-Headers-Protocol-v3.md
		}

However I could not get trace data. Did I miss something or something wrong?
Any suggestion are welcomed.

[wu-sheng]

It should only show on the general service page. From the current SkyWalking perspective, we don't recognize trace as a part of service mesh capability, because one way or another, actually service's agent or envoy's tracer(a.k.a. SDK inside envoy) report the traces.

[stevenlii]

Hi, wu-sheng, thanks very much for your reply.
You said "because one way or another", I could not get you clearly, could you explain it further?
Can I implement trace without using agent when Istio is deployed on kubernetes?
if it exist a way, what's the doc should I learn?
Thank you~

[wu-sheng]

No SDK/agent, no trace.
Istio has a very clear statement, you have to propagate context.
And this issue is about Java agent with OpenTracing, I am not sure what you are asking about.

Please don't continue discussion here. Move on for opening a new discussion, if you want to talk more.

[stevenlii]

Thanks very mush again. Actually I'm thinking of using "envoy's tracer" way.
Based on my environment is kubenetes, istio, and my web use http, service use grpc as rpc framework, There are two questions:

1. The "envoy's tracer" way will show traces on general service page?
2. Followed my “steps to reproduce”, I didn't find any trace show anywhere, did I miss something or something wrong? Or How to integrate "envoy's tracer" way?
   I have learned belowed doc, but it seems something I missed.
   https://skywalking.apache.org/docs/main/latest/en/concepts-and-designs/manual-sdk/
   https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/v1.19.1/api-v3/config/trace/v3/skywalking.proto#extension-envoy-tracers-skywalking
   https://www.envoyproxy.io/docs/envoy/v1.19.1/start/sandboxes/skywalking_tracing

[wu-sheng]

(1) Yes, all native tracer would be general service. The only exception would be when we do OpenFunction integration, the layer would be FAAS.
(2) Personally, I am not sure. Have you checked whether the envoy skywalking tracer is working? That is the envoy side setup. It is better you could at least check which side has not been set correctly.