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Hritik Raj
Hritik Raj

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Solved: My Kubernetes Namespace Won’t Show Up in the Dashboard! 🚨🤔

#kubernetes #devops #minikube #learning

Hey everyone! I recently ran into a funny (and a bit frustrating) problem when learning Kubernetes on Minikube:

The namespace I created (nginx) wasn’t appearing in the Kubernetes Dashboard, even though it clearly existed when I checked in the terminal!

If you’re a dev or student starting with Kubernetes and the Dashboard, this walkthrough is for you.

The Problem: Namespace Not Visible in Dashboard

I was following tutorials and had all my deployments, pods, and services running in a namespace called nginx.

When I ran in the terminal:

kubectl get namespaces
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I saw nginx listed, and:

kubectl get all -n nginx
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showed all my resources.

BUT – when I opened the Kubernetes Dashboard, the namespace selector did not list nginx at all! I couldn't see or interact with any of my workflows from the web UI.

What I Tried (and Didn’t Work)

  • Refreshing the Dashboard page 🔄
  • Closing and reopening my browser
  • Restarting minikube

Nothing helped.

So, what gives??

The Solution: It’s All About Dashboard Permissions (RBAC!)

It turns out, the Dashboard runs as a user with limited permissions by default.

If that user doesn’t have rights to see all namespaces, they simply don’t show up in the UI, even if they exist!

Here’s How I Fixed It:

  1. Create an Admin Account for the Dashboard

Save the following YAML as dashboard-adminuser.yaml:

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: ServiceAccount
   metadata:
     name: admin-user
     namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
   ---
   apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
   kind: ClusterRoleBinding
   metadata:
     name: admin-user
   subjects:
   - kind: ServiceAccount
     name: admin-user
     namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
   roleRef:
     kind: ClusterRole
     name: cluster-admin
     apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
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  1. Apply the Admin Account 
   kubectl apply -f dashboard-adminuser.yaml
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  1. Get the Login Token 
   kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard create token admin-user
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(If your version doesn’t support create token, use describe secret as shown in the Dashboard docs.)

  1. Login With This Token in the Dashboard

Go to the Kubernetes Dashboard login screen, paste the token, and…

️🎉 Now all namespaces (including nginx) appear in the selector!

Why Does This Happen?

The dashboard only lists namespaces your account can see. If it runs with minimal permissions, “hidden” namespaces simply won’t be listed.

TL;DR for New Kubernetes Users

  • If your namespace shows up in kubectl but NOT in the dashboard, it’s (almost always) a permissions issue.
  • Fix it by creating a service account with cluster-admin rights for learning/dev.
  • Use the token login in your dashboard.
  • Don’t forget: RBAC controls rule everything in Kubernetes.

Hope this saves you from an afternoon of confusion like mine!

If you hit other beginner Kubernetes mysteries — drop them in the comments or ask away.

Happy DevOps! 🚢

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