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Cloudev

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Kubernetes Deployment for Dummies

#kubernetes #go #cloudcomputing #react

Managing Kubernetes clusters through the command line works well, but it becomes slow and error-prone as complexity grows. This project explores how to build a simple web-based Kubernetes dashboard using Go and React to improve visibility and control over cluster resources.

Why I Built This Project

  • Kubernetes is powerful, but operational tasks often rely heavily on commands like:
  • kubectl get pods
  • kubectl logs pod-name
  • kubectl scale deployment app --replicas=3

While effective, this approach has challenges:

1.Hard to visualize cluster state
2.Repetitive commands for daily operations
3.Steep learning curve for teams new to Kubernetes
4.Increased risk of manual errors

What the Dashboard Does
The Kubernetes Deployment Dashboard provides a centralized UI to:
1.View pods and their status across namespaces

  1. Monitor deployments and replica health 3.Inspect pod logs directly in the browser 4.Scale deployments with a single action 5.Restart deployments using rollout updates 6.Secure API access using Basic Authentication

Tech Stack

  • Backend: Go, Gin
  • Kubernetes integration: client-go
  • Frontend: React (Vite)
  • Containerization: Docker
  • Cluster: Kubernetes (Minikube / EKS compatible)
  • Authentication: Basic Auth

Backend Design
The backend is built using Go and Gin. It acts as a bridge between the frontend and Kubernetes API.

Key responsibilities:

  • Connect to Kubernetes cluster using kubeconfig or in-cluster service accounts
  • Fetch cluster resources (pods, deployments)
  • Execute actions (scale, restart)
  • Stream logs from pods
  • Return structured JSON responses

Kubernetes Integration
The project uses Kubernetes client-go to interact with the cluster.
It can:

  • List workloads
  • Modify deployments
  • Retrieve logs
  • Work across namespaces

RBAC permissions are defined to ensure the service only has the access it needs.
Security Considerations

For simplicity, the project uses Basic Authentication.
In production environments, this should be replaced with:

  • OAuth2 or OIDC
  • TLS encryption
  • Fine-grained RBAC policies
  • Audit logging

Possible Improvements

There are several directions to extend this project:

  • Real-time logs using WebSockets
  • Multi-cluster support
  • Metrics dashboard using Prometheus
  • Role-based authentication system
  • Helm chart deployment

If you want to explore the code or contribute, the project is available on GitHub:https://github.com/Copubah/k8s-dashboard

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