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Proxy Configuration

Linkerd provides a set of annotations that can be used to override the data plane proxy’s configuration. This is useful for overriding the default configurations of auto-injected proxies.

The following is the list of supported annotations:

AnnotationDescription
config.alpha.linkerd.io/proxy-enable-native-sidecarEnable KEP-753 native sidecars. This is an experimental feature. It requires Kubernetes >= 1.29. If enabled, .proxy.waitBeforeExitSeconds should not be used.
config.alpha.linkerd.io/proxy-wait-before-exit-secondsThe proxy sidecar will stay alive for at least the given period after receiving SIGTERM signal from Kubernetes but no longer than pod’s terminationGracePeriodSeconds. Defaults to 0
config.linkerd.io/access-logEnables HTTP access logging in the proxy. Accepted values are apache, to output the access log in the Appache Common Log Format, and json, to output the access log in JSON.
config.linkerd.io/admin-portProxy port to serve metrics on
config.linkerd.io/close-wait-timeoutSets nf_conntrack_tcp_timeout_close_wait. Accepts a duration string, e.g. 1m or 3600s
config.linkerd.io/control-portProxy port to use for control
config.linkerd.io/debug-imageLinkerd debug container image name
config.linkerd.io/debug-image-pull-policyDocker image pull policy for debug image
config.linkerd.io/debug-image-versionLinkerd debug container image version
config.linkerd.io/default-inbound-policyProxy’s default inbound policy
config.linkerd.io/enable-debug-sidecarInject a debug sidecar for data plane debugging
config.linkerd.io/enable-external-profilesEnable service profiles for non-Kubernetes services
config.linkerd.io/image-pull-policyDocker image pull policy
config.linkerd.io/inbound-portProxy port to use for inbound traffic
config.linkerd.io/init-imageLinkerd init container image name
config.linkerd.io/init-image-versionLinkerd init container image version
config.linkerd.io/opaque-portsPorts that skip the proxy’s protocol detection mechanism and are proxied opaquely. Comma-separated list of values, where each value can be a port number or a range a-b.
config.linkerd.io/outbound-portProxy port to use for outbound traffic
config.linkerd.io/pod-inbound-portsComma-separated list of (non-proxy) container ports exposed by the pod spec. Useful when other mutating webhooks inject sidecar containers after the proxy injector has run
config.linkerd.io/proxy-awaitThe application container will not start until the proxy is ready; accepted values are enabled and disabled
config.linkerd.io/proxy-cpu-limitMaximum amount of CPU units that the proxy sidecar can use
config.linkerd.io/proxy-cpu-requestAmount of CPU units that the proxy sidecar requests
config.linkerd.io/proxy-disable-inbound-protocol-detect-timeoutWhen set to true, disables the protocol detection timeout on the inbound side of the proxy by setting it to a very high value
config.linkerd.io/proxy-disable-outbound-protocol-detect-timeoutWhen set to true, disables the protocol detection timeout on the outbound side of the proxy by setting it to a very high value
config.linkerd.io/proxy-ephemeral-storage-limitUsed to override the limitEphemeralStorage config
config.linkerd.io/proxy-ephemeral-storage-requestUsed to override the requestEphemeralStorage config
config.linkerd.io/proxy-imageLinkerd proxy container image name
config.linkerd.io/proxy-inbound-connect-timeoutInbound TCP connection timeout in the proxy
config.linkerd.io/proxy-inbound-discovery-cache-unused-timeoutMaximum time allowed before an unused inbound discovery result is evicted from the cache. Defaults to 90s
config.linkerd.io/proxy-log-formatLog format (plain or json) for the proxy
config.linkerd.io/proxy-log-levelLog level for the proxy
config.linkerd.io/proxy-memory-limitMaximum amount of Memory that the proxy sidecar can use
config.linkerd.io/proxy-memory-requestAmount of Memory that the proxy sidecar requests
config.linkerd.io/proxy-outbound-connect-timeoutUsed to configure the outbound TCP connection timeout in the proxy
config.linkerd.io/proxy-outbound-discovery-cache-unused-timeoutMaximum time allowed before an unused outbound discovery result is evicted from the cache. Defaults to 5s
config.linkerd.io/proxy-uidRun the proxy under this user ID
config.linkerd.io/proxy-versionTag to be used for the Linkerd proxy images
config.linkerd.io/shutdown-grace-periodGrace period for graceful proxy shutdowns. If this timeout elapses before all open connections have completed, the proxy will terminate forcefully, closing any remaining connections.
config.linkerd.io/skip-inbound-portsPorts that should skip the proxy and send directly to the application. Comma-separated list of values, where each value can be a port number or a range a-b.
config.linkerd.io/skip-outbound-portsOutbound ports that should skip the proxy. Comma-separated list of values, where each value can be a port number or a range a-b.
config.linkerd.io/skip-subnetsComma-separated list of subnets in valid CIDR format that should be skipped by the proxy
linkerd.io/injectControls whether or not a pod should be injected; accepted values are enabled, disabled and ingress

For example, to update an auto-injected proxy’s CPU and memory resources, we insert the appropriate annotations into the spec.template.metadata.annotations of the owner’s pod spec, using kubectl edit like this:

spec:
  template:
    metadata:
      annotations:
        config.linkerd.io/proxy-cpu-limit: "1"
        config.linkerd.io/proxy-cpu-request: "0.2"
        config.linkerd.io/proxy-memory-limit: 2Gi
        config.linkerd.io/proxy-memory-request: 128Mi

See here for details on tuning the proxy’s resource usage.

For proxies injected using the linkerd inject command, configuration can be overridden using the command-line flags.

Ingress Mode

Warning

When an ingress is meshed in ingress mode by using linkerd.io/inject: ingress, the ingress must be configured to remove the l5d-dst-override header to avoid creating an open relay to cluster-local and external endpoints.

Proxy ingress mode is a mode of operation designed to help Linkerd integrate with certain ingress controllers. Ingress mode is necessary if the ingress itself cannot be otherwise configured to use the Service port/ip as the destination.

When an individual Linkerd proxy is set to ingress mode, it will route requests based on their :authority, Host, or l5d-dst-override headers instead of their original destination. This will inform Linkerd to override the endpoint selection of the ingress container and to perform its own endpoint selection, enabling features such as per-route metrics and traffic splitting.

The proxy can be made to run in ingress mode by using the linkerd.io/inject: ingress annotation rather than the default linkerd.io/inject: enabled annotation. This can also be done with the --ingress flag in the inject CLI command:

kubectl get deployment <ingress-controller> -n <ingress-namespace> -o yaml | linkerd inject --ingress - | kubectl apply -f -