Kubernetes的Nginx Ingress 0.20之前的版本，upstream的keep-alive不生效
目录
说明
Kubernetes使用nginx-ingress-controller代理到集群内服务的请求，nginx所在的机器上上有大量的time-wait连接。
抓包发现nginx发起的到upstream连接中只有一个请求，http头中connection字段是close，连接是被upstream主动断开的：
但是明明在配置中为upstream配置了keep-alive，并指定最大数量32。
调查
先在测试环境做个试验，摸清nginx的转发行为。
Nginx keep-alive强调需要设置http版本1.1，并且要清除Connection请求头，按要求正确配置确定keep-alive是有效的，这里不展示了。
下面主要试验一下特殊情况。（问题环境中，nginx配置文件因为别的原因没有清除Connection，upstream收到的请求头是Connection: close，所以主要关心特殊情况下的行为）
不配置http1.1，不清除Connection：请求端发起“Connection: close”请求
先测试一下在不配置http 1.1和不清除Connection请求头的情况下，请求端在请求头里带上“Connection: close”会怎样。
使用下面的配置文件：
$ cat /etc/nginx/conf.d/echo.com.conf
upstream echo_upstream{
server 172.16.128.126:8080;
keepalive 10;
}
server {
listen 7000 ;
listen [::]:7000 ;
server_name echo.com; # 在本地host配置域名
keepalive_requests 2000;
keepalive_timeout 60s;
location / {
proxy_pass http://echo_upstream;
# proxy_http_version 1.1; # 故意注释这两行配置，观察下行为
# proxy_set_header Connection ""; #
}
}
使用下面的压测命令：
./wrk -d 2m -c 20 -H "host: echo.com" -H "Connection: close" http://10.10.64.58:7000
在upstream端抓包，发现除了少部分报文抓取不连续的连接，其它所有连接中都只包含一次http请求：
不配置http1.1，不清除Connection：请求端发起不带“Connection”请求
请求端发起的请求不设置Connection，nginx将使用默认的close值。使用下面的压测命令：
./wrk -d 2m -c 20 -H "host: echo.com" http://10.10.64.58:7000
压测端发出的请求是这样的：
GET / HTTP/1.1
host: echo.com
Host: 10.10.64.58:7000
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Server: nginx/1.12.2
Date: Wed, 08 May 2019 09:01:26 GMT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 379
Connection: keep-alive
...
而upstream端收到请求是带有close的，一个连接中只有一个请求：
GET / HTTP/1.0
Host: echo_upstream
Connection: close
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 May 2019 09:08:08 GMT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 379
Connection: close
Server: echoserver
不配置http1.1，不清除Connection：请求端发起“Connection: keep-alive”请求
即使请求端设置了keep-alive，nginx转发给upstream的依然是Connection: close：
GET / HTTP/1.0
Host: echo_upstream
Connection: close
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 May 2019 11:37:58 GMT
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Length: 379
Connection: close
Server: echoserver
小结
由此得出结论，如果不进行下面设置，无论请求端如何调整，nginx转发给upstream时都不会使用keep-alive：
server {
...
location /http/ {
proxy_pass http://http_backend;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
proxy_set_header Connection "";
...
}
}
检查问题环境
先看一下问题环境upstream收到的报文，是HTTP/1.1，带有Connection: close，这个组合有点奇怪，是前面试验中没遇到的：
GET /js/manifest.988fecf548c158ad4ab7.js HTTP/1.1
Host: ********
Connection: close
X-Real-IP: ********
....
检查配置文件发现了问题：
...
# Retain the default nginx handling of requests without a "Connection" header
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
default upgrade;
'' close;
}
...
# Allow websocket connections
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
...
在配置模板文件/etc/nginx/template/nginx.tmpl中找到了这段配置的说明，这是nginx 1.3开始提供的WebSocket proxying代理功能：
{{/* Whenever nginx proxies a request without a "Connection" header, the "Connection" header is set to "close" */}}
{{/* when making the target request. This means that you cannot simply use */}}
{{/* "proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection" for WebSocket support because in this case, the */}}
{{/* "Connection" header would be set to "" whenever the original request did not have a "Connection" header, */}}
{{/* which would mean no "Connection" header would be in the target request. Since this would deviate from */}}
{{/* normal nginx behavior we have to use this approach. */}}
# Retain the default nginx handling of requests without a "Connection" header
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
default upgrade;
'' close;
}
上面配置的影响是：当http请求头中没有Upgrade字段时，转发给upstream的请求被设置为“Connection: close”（nginx的默认行为）。keepalive因此而无效，之所以是HTTP/1.1，是因为配置文件有这样一样配置：
proxy_http_version 1.1;
修改并验证
在测试环境更新nginx配置，将默认行为设置为“Connection: ““”，看一下能否解决问题。更新后的配置如下：
upstream echo_upstream{
server 172.16.128.126:8080;
keepalive 1;
}
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
default upgrade;
'' "";
}
server {
listen 7000 ;
listen [::]:7000 ;
server_name echo.com; # 在本地host配置域名
keepalive_requests 2000;
keepalive_timeout 60s;
location / {
proxy_pass http://echo_upstream;
proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
proxy_set_header Connection $connection_upgrade;
proxy_http_version 1.1;
# proxy_set_header Connection "";
}
}
再次测试，请求端不使用keep-alive：
./wrk -d 2m -c 20 -H "host: echo.com" -H "Connection: close" http://10.10.64.58:7000
在upstream端抓包，即使请求端不使用keep-alive，nginx转发upstream的时候还是会使用keep-alive:
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: echo_upstream
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 May 2019 11:54:00 GMT
Content-Type: text/plain
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Connection: keep-alive
Server: echoserver
...
GET / HTTP/1.1
Host: echo_upstream
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 08 May 2019 11:54:00 GMT
Content-Type: text/plain
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Connection: keep-alive
Server: echoserver
把keepalive_timeout 60s;调大，会看到请求端停止请求之后，nginx与upstream还有连接。
最终结论
刚开始怀疑是因历史原因修改了nginx.tmpl导致的，但是通过比对nginx-ingress-controller 0.24.0、问题环境中0.9.0以及原始的0.9.0中的nginx.tmpl，发现这是0.9.0版本中的一个bug。
0.24.0的配置模板中设置map的时候，会根据$cfg.UpstreamKeepaliveConnections的值做不同设置：
# See https://www.nginx.com/blog/websocket-nginx
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
default upgrade;
{{ if (gt $cfg.UpstreamKeepaliveConnections 0) }}
# See http://nginx.org/en/docs/http/ngx_http_upstream_module.html#keepalive
'' '';
{{ else }}
'' close;
{{ end }}
}
0.9.0中则没有考虑keepalive的因素：
map $http_upgrade $connection_upgrade {
default upgrade;
'' close;
}
翻阅ChangeLog找到了这个问题的修复记录，是在0.20.0版本修复的：make upstream keepalive work for http #3098。
参考
