Skip to main content
Version: 3.1.0

Chaos Experiment


Chaos Experiment is a set of different operations coupled together to achieve desired chaos impact on a Kubernetes Cluster.
It is useful in automating a series of pre-conditioning steps or action which is necessary to be performed before triggering the chaos injection.
A Chaos Experiment can also be used to perform different operations parallelly to achieve a desired chaos impact.

note

With the latest release of LitmusChaos 3.0.0:

  • The term Chaos Experiment has been changed to Chaos Fault.
  • The term Chaos Scenario/Workflow has been changed to Chaos Experiment.
  • Prerequisites​

    The following should be required before creating a Chaos Experiment:

    How do we define and execute a Chaos Experiment ?​

    LitmusChaos leverages the popular GitOps tool Argo to achieve this goal. Argo enables the creation of different chaos experiments together in form of chaos experiments which are extremely simple and efficient to use.
    With the help of ChaosCenter, chaos experiments with different types of faults can be created. In a Chaos Experiment, the faults can be set to execute in parallel to each other and the user can tune the chaos experiment by adding additional steps to simulate a desired fault that might occur in the production stage.

    Life Cycle of a Chaos Experiment​

    Here is a sample pod-delete chaos experiment from ChaosCenter.

    apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
    kind: Workflow
    metadata:
    name: custom-chaos-workflow-1627980541
    namespace: litmus
    labels:
    subject: custom-chaos-workflow_litmus
    spec:
    arguments:
    parameters:
    - name: adminModeNamespace
    value: litmus
    entrypoint: custom-chaos
    securityContext:
    runAsNonRoot: true
    runAsUser: 1000
    serviceAccountName: argo-chaos
    templates:
    - name: custom-chaos
    steps:
    - - name: install-chaos-experiments
    template: install-chaos-experiments
    - - name: pod-delete
    template: pod-delete
    - - name: revert-chaos
    template: revert-chaos
    - name: install-chaos-experiments
    inputs:
    artifacts:
    - name: pod-delete
    path: /tmp/pod-delete.yaml
    raw:
    data: >
    apiVersion: litmuschaos.io/v1alpha1

    description:
    message: |
    Deletes a pod belonging to a deployment/statefulset/daemonset
    kind: ChaosExperiment

    metadata:
    name: pod-delete
    labels:
    name: pod-delete
    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: litmus
    app.kubernetes.io/component: chaosexperiment
    app.kubernetes.io/version: 3.0.0
    spec:
    definition:
    scope: Namespaced
    permissions:
    - apiGroups:
    - ""
    - apps
    - apps.openshift.io
    - argoproj.io
    - batch
    - litmuschaos.io
    resources:
    - deployments
    - jobs
    - pods
    - pods/log
    - replicationcontrollers
    - deployments
    - statefulsets
    - daemonsets
    - replicasets
    - deploymentconfigs
    - rollouts
    - pods/exec
    - events
    - chaosengines
    - chaosexperiments
    - chaosresults
    verbs:
    - create
    - list
    - get
    - patch
    - update
    - delete
    - deletecollection
    image: litmuschaos/go-runner:3.0.0
    imagePullPolicy: Always
    args:
    - -c
    - ./experiments -name pod-delete
    command:
    - /bin/bash
    env:
    - name: TOTAL_CHAOS_DURATION
    value: "15"
    - name: RAMP_TIME
    value: ""
    - name: FORCE
    value: "true"
    - name: CHAOS_INTERVAL
    value: "5"
    - name: PODS_AFFECTED_PERC
    value: ""
    - name: LIB
    value: litmus
    - name: TARGET_PODS
    value: ""
    - name: SEQUENCE
    value: parallel
    labels:
    name: pod-delete
    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: litmus
    app.kubernetes.io/component: experiment-job
    app.kubernetes.io/version: 3.0.0
    container:
    args:
    - kubectl apply -f /tmp/pod-delete.yaml -n
    {{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}} | sleep 30
    command:
    - sh
    - -c
    image: litmuschaos/k8s:latest
    - name: pod-delete
    inputs:
    artifacts:
    - name: pod-delete
    path: /tmp/chaosengine-pod-delete.yaml
    raw:
    data: |
    apiVersion: litmuschaos.io/v1alpha1
    kind: ChaosEngine
    metadata:
    namespace: "{{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}"
    generateName: pod-delete
    labels:
    instance_id: 86a4f130-d99b-4e91-b34b-8f9eee22cb63
    spec:
    appinfo:
    appns: default
    applabel: app=nginx
    appkind: deployment
    jobCleanUpPolicy: retain
    engineState: active
    chaosServiceAccount: litmus-admin
    experiments:
    - name: pod-delete
    spec:
    components:
    env:
    - name: TOTAL_CHAOS_DURATION
    value: "30"
    - name: CHAOS_INTERVAL
    value: "10"
    - name: FORCE
    value: "false"
    - name: PODS_AFFECTED_PERC
    value: ""
    container:
    args:
    - -file=/tmp/chaosengine-pod-delete.yaml
    - -saveName=/tmp/engine-name
    image: litmuschaos/litmus-checker:latest
    - name: revert-chaos
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/k8s:latest
    command:
    - sh
    - -c
    args:
    - "kubectl delete chaosengine -l 'instance_id in
    (86a4f130-d99b-4e91-b34b-8f9eee22cb63, )' -n
    {{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}} "
    podGC:
    strategy: OnWorkflowCompletion

    The structure of a chaos experiment is similar to that of a Kubernetes Object. It consists of mandatory fields like apiVersion, kind, metadata, spec.

    The spec in a Chaos Experiment is where the different steps are mentioned and the overall life cycle of the chaos experiment is described. We can see different templates are present in the spec of a chaos experiment.

    templates:
    - name: custom-chaos
    steps:
    - - name: install-chaos-experiments
    template: install-chaos-experiments
    - - name: pod-delete
    template: pod-delete
    - - name: revert-chaos
    template: revert-chaos

    Here in this template, we can see different steps are present. These include installing the chaos faults, executing the chaos engine of the faults, and at the end we have the revert chaos step which deletes/removes the resources that were created as part of the chaos experiment.

    Some additional checks can be added with the faults in the form of probes. These probes are defined in the ChaosEngines of the faults and are updated when the fault execution takes place. The overall chaos experiment result can be viewed with the ChaosResult CRD which contains the verdict and the probeSuccessPercentage (a ratio of successful checks v/s total probes).

    What is a run?​

    A chaos experiment run can be defined as a single/one-time execution of the chaos experiment. There can be multiple runs of a single chaos experiment. If the chaos experiment consists of a cron syntax, it will run periodically according to the cron provided in the chaos experiment.

    What is Resilience Score?​

    Resiliency score is an overall measure of the resiliency of a system for a given chaos experiment, which is obtained upon executing the constituent experiment faults on that system.

    While creating a chaos experiment, certain weights are assigned to all the faults present in the chaos experiment. These weights signify the priority/importance of the fault. The higher the weight, the more significant the fault is.

    In ChaosCenter, the weight priority is generally divided into three sections:

    • 0-3: Low Priority
    • 4-6: Medium Priority
    • 7-10: High Priority

    Once a weight has been assigned to the fault, we look for the Probe Success Percentage for that fault itself (Post Chaos) and calculate the total resilience result for that fault as a multiplication of the weight given and the probe success percentage returned after the Chaos Run.

    Total Resilience for one single fault = (Weight Given to that fault * Probe Success Percentage)
    Overall Resilience Score = Total Test Result / Sum of the assigned weights of the faults

    What is a Cron Chaos Experiment?​

    Cron Chaos Experiment is a type of chaos experiment that runs on a pre-defined schedule. It consists of a mandatory field spec.schedule. A cron syntax is provided in this field at which the chaos experiment execution takes place.

    Here's a sample Cron Chaos Experiment for Podtato-Head application:

    apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
    kind: CronWorkflow
    metadata:
    name: podtato-head-1628058291
    namespace: litmus
    labels:
    subject: podtato-head_litmus
    spec:
    schedule: 10 0-23 * * *
    concurrencyPolicy: Forbid
    startingDeadlineSeconds: 0
    workflowSpec:
    entrypoint: argowf-chaos
    serviceAccountName: argo-chaos
    securityContext:
    runAsUser: 1000
    runAsNonRoot: true
    arguments:
    parameters:
    - name: adminModeNamespace
    value: litmus
    templates:
    - name: argowf-chaos
    steps:
    - - name: install-application
    template: install-application
    - - name: install-chaos-experiments
    template: install-chaos-experiments
    - - name: pod-delete
    template: pod-delete
    - - name: revert-chaos
    template: revert-chaos
    - name: delete-application
    template: delete-application
    - name: install-application
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/litmus-app-deployer:latest
    args:
    - -namespace={{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}
    - -typeName=resilient
    - -operation=apply
    - -timeout=400
    - -app=podtato-head
    - -scope=namespace
    - name: install-chaos-experiments
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/k8s:latest
    command:
    - sh
    - -c
    args:
    - kubectl apply -f
    https://hub.litmuschaos.io/api/chaos/1.13.7?file=charts/generic/experiments.yaml
    -n {{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}} ; sleep 30
    - name: pod-delete
    inputs:
    artifacts:
    - name: pod-delete
    path: /tmp/chaosengine.yaml
    raw:
    data: >
    apiVersion: litmuschaos.io/v1alpha1

    kind: ChaosEngine

    metadata:
    namespace: "{{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}"
    labels:
    instance_id: 1b7ec920-75f9-4398-b4c3-9c3a5d7fd5c2
    generateName: podtato-main-pod-delete-chaos
    spec:
    appinfo:
    appns: "{{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}"
    applabel: name=podtato-main
    appkind: deployment
    engineState: active
    chaosServiceAccount: litmus-admin
    jobCleanUpPolicy: retain
    components:
    runner:
    imagePullPolicy: Always
    experiments:
    - name: pod-delete
    spec:
    probe:
    - name: check-podtato-main-access-url
    type: httpProbe
    httpProbe/inputs:
    url: http://podtato-main.{{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}.svc.cluster.local:9000
    insecureSkipVerify: false
    method:
    get:
    criteria: ==
    responseCode: "200"
    mode: Continuous
    runProperties:
    probeTimeout: 1
    interval: 1
    retry: 1
    components:
    env:
    - name: TOTAL_CHAOS_DURATION
    value: "30"
    - name: CHAOS_INTERVAL
    value: "10"
    - name: FORCE
    value: "false"
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/litmus-checker:latest
    args:
    - -file=/tmp/chaosengine.yaml
    - -saveName=/tmp/engine-name
    - name: delete-application
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/litmus-app-deployer:latest
    args:
    - -namespace={{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}}
    - -typeName=resilient
    - -operation=delete
    - -app=podtato-head
    - name: revert-chaos
    container:
    image: litmuschaos/k8s:latest
    command:
    - sh
    - -c
    args:
    - "kubectl delete chaosengine -l 'instance_id in
    (1b7ec920-75f9-4398-b4c3-9c3a5d7fd5c2, )' -n
    {{workflow.parameters.adminModeNamespace}} "
    timezone: Asia/Calcutta

    In the above chaos experiment, we can see the cron syntax at spec.schedule is

    spec:
    schedule: 10 0-23 * * *

    This means the chaos experiment will be executed at the 10th minute of every hour.

    A chaos experiment can be changed into Cron Chaos Experiment from the ChaosCenter. While scheduling a chaos experiment, in the Schedule step, there are few options as part of Recurring Schedules. These include:

    • Every hour
    • Every Day
    • Every Week
    • Every Month

    Summary​

    A chaos experiment is a combination of different steps combined together to perform a specific chaos use-case on a Kubernetes system. These steps can include installing fault steps, ChaosEngine CR for target selection, revert-chaos steps, etc. Chaos Experiments can be scheduled for a later time with the help of Cron Chaos Experiments. These chaos experiments consist of a cron syntax that is used for scheduling a chaos experiment. Once the chaos experiment execution is completed, the resiliency of the targeted application is calculated. Several weights are assigned to different faults in the chaos experiment. These weights are used along with the ProbeSuccessPercentage to find out the resiliency score.

    Learn More​