Web Kubectl - Run kubectl command in web browser

Goal

Web Kubectl helps you manage kubernetes credentials and run kubectl command in web browser, so that you don't have to install kubectl on your local PC or some other servers, furthermore Web Kubectl can be used for a team.

Advantage

Support multiple user and multiple Kubernetes clusters：One deployment of Web Kubectl can be used for a team, all of the team members can use Web Kubectl simultaneously although they are connecting different Kubernetes clusters or different privileges.
Session isolation：All of the online sessions are isolated, each session has its own namespace and storage which is invisible to the others.
Support kubeconfig file and bearer token：You can provide kubeconfig file or bearer token to connect Kubernetes cluster through Web Kubectl.
Easy to use and integrate：You can simply use the index page for a quick start, or integrate with your application using api.
Manage Kubernetes clusters in VPC：Through Web Kubectl you can manage the Kubernetes clusters in VPC which is unreachable from you laptop.

_______________________________________________________________________
|   Local Network     |          DMZ           |      VPC/Datacenter  |
|                     |                        |                      |
|                     |    _______________     |   ----------------   |
|   ---------------   |    |             |  /~~~~~>| Kubernetes A |   |
|   | Your Laptop |~~~~~~~>| Web Kubectl | /   |   ----------------   |
|   ---------------   |    |             | \   |                      |
|                     |    ---------------  \  |   ----------------   |
|                     |                      \~~~~>| Kubernetes B |   |
|                     |                        |   ----------------   |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Architecture

Web Kubectl use webkubectl/gotty to run a JavaScript based terminal on web browsers.
When opens a new session, a temporary Linux namespace will be created for the session, this make sure all sessions are isolated, each session has its own namespace and storage, meanwhile .kube/config file is generated for current session.
When session terminated, the provisioned namespace and storage are deleted.

Installation

$ docker run --name="webkubectl" -p 8080:8080 -d --privileged kubeoperator/webkubectl

Advanced environment variables

ENV	Type	Default Value	Description
SESSION_STORAGE_SIZE	string	10M	Storage size limit for single connection
KUBECTL_INSECURE_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY	bool	true	Whether to skip tls verify
GOTTY_OPTIONS	string	--port 8080 --permit-write --permit-arguments	Gotty options, see more
WELCOME_BANNER	string	Welcome to Web Kubectl, try kubectl --help.	Welcome banner after web terminal opened

Usage

Use index page

Open below url in web browser.

http://<webkubectl-address>:<port>

In the opened page you can manage your own kubeconfig files or bearer tokens which are stored in local storage, then choose a session and click connect to use kubectl command in web terminal.

Use API

Get token by Kubernetes API server address and bearer token

$ curl http://<webkubectl-address>:<port>/api/kube-token -X POST -d '{"name":"gks-hk-dev","apiServer":"https://k8s-cluster:6443","token":"token-content"}'
#response
$ {"success":true,"token":"mkolj4hgbutfgy1thgp1","message":""}

Request Json

key	Type	Description
name	string	session name
apiServer	string	API server address
token	string	Kubernetes bearer token

Response Json

key	Type	Description
success	bool	the request is proceeded successfully or not
token	string	token used to open terminal
message	string	error message if success is false

Get token by kubeconfig file

$ curl http://<webkubectl-address>:<port>/api/kube-config -X POST -d '{"name":"k8s-cluster-bj1","kubeConfig":"<kubeconfig file content base64 encoded>"}'
#response
$ {"success":true,"token":"mkolj4hgbutfgy1thgp1","message":""}

Request Json

key	Type	Description
name	string	session name
kubeConfig	string	kubeconfig file content base64 encoded

Response Json

key	Type	Description
success	bool	the request is proceeded successfully or not
token	string	token used to open terminal
message	string	error message if success is false

Open web terminal with token fetched from API

http://<webkubectl-address>:<port>/terminal/?token=<token fetched from api>

Security

Token validation：The token fetched from api will be invalid immediately after it's used once, and it expires after 5 minutes if not used.
Authentication：By default all resources can be accessed without any authentication, to restrict anonymous access, you can enable the basic authentication of gotty, see how to.
SSL/TLS：By default all traffic between the server and clients are NOT encrypted, we recommend you enable SSL/TLS option of gotty, see how to. Alternatively you can deploy Web Kubectl behind a proxy and enable SSL/TLS for the proxy, please note that the proxy should support WebSocket protocol.

Extensions

Dependencies

License

https://www.fit2cloud.com

Web Kubectl is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Alternatives

https://github.com/fanux/fist/tree/master/terminal: Another web terminal to run kubectl.
https://github.com/rancher: In the cluster view of Rancher, a web based kubectl can be launched, but we didn't find the source code.
https://github.com/du2016/web-terminal-in-go: Web terminal to connect containers in K8S.
https://github.com/lf1029698952/kube-webshell: Similar as above, another web terminal to connect containers in K8S.

max8899 / webkubectl