Using trace tcpretrans

The trace tcpretrans gadget traces TCP retransmissions by the kernel.

On Kubernetes

In terminal 1, start the trace tcpretrans gadget:

$ kubectl gadget trace tcpretrans
K8S.NODE     K8S.NAMESP… K8S.POD     K8S.CONTAI… PID     COMM  IP SRC                    DST                    STATE     TCPFLA… TYPE

In terminal 2, start a pod and configure the network emulator to drop 25% of the packets. This will cause TCP retransmissions:

$ kubectl create service nodeport nginx --tcp=80:80
$ kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx
$ kubectl run --rm -ti --privileged --image ubuntu shell -- bash
root@shell:/# apt-get update
root@shell:/# apt install -y iproute2 curl
root@shell:/# tc qdisc add dev eth0 root netem drop 25%
root@shell:/# curl nginx

The results in terminal 1 will show that some TCP transmissions cause by the dropped packets:

K8S.NODE     K8S.NAMESP… K8S.POD     K8S.CONTAI… PID     COMM  IP SRC                    DST                    STATE     TCPFLA… TYPE
miniku…ocker default     shell       shell       60274   curl  4  p/default/shell:46022  s/default/nginx:80     ESTABLIS…         LOSS
miniku…ocker default     shell       shell       60274   curl  4  p/default/shell:46022  s/default/nginx:80     ESTABLIS… PSH|ACK RETRANS

With ig

In terminal 1, start the trace tcpretrans gadget:

$ sudo ig trace tcpretrans -r docker -c netem
CONTAINER  PID   COMM  IP SRC               DST          STATE        TCPFLAGS

In terminal 2, start a container, configure the network emulator to drop 25% of the packets, and download a web page:

$ docker run -ti --rm --cap-add NET_ADMIN --name=netem wbitt/network-multitool -- /bin/bash
# tc qdisc add dev eth0 root netem drop 25%
# wget 1.1.1.1

The container needs NET_ADMIN capability to manage network interfaces

The results in terminal 1 will show some TCP transmissions caused by the dropped packets:

RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME PID        COMM         IP SRC                          DST                         STATE       TCPFLAGS    TYPE
netem                 21686      wget         4  10.10.0.3:46326              1.1.1.1:80                  SYN_SENT    SYN         RETRANS
netem                 21686      wget         4  10.10.0.3:46326              1.1.1.1:80                  ESTABLISHED             LOSS