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Project Archived: This project is now archived and no longer maintained due to lack of active maintainers and contributors.Please consider using Headlamp instead, which was recently moved under sig-ui. Headlamp is an easy-to-use and extensible Kubernetes web UI.

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What is Kubernetes Dashboard?

Kubernetes Dashboard is a general purpose, web-based UI for Kubernetes clusters. It allows users to manage applications running in the cluster and troubleshoot them, as well as manage the cluster itself. Dashboard UI Overview

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Key Features

Application Management

Deploy, update, and manage containerized applications running in your cluster through an intuitive web interface.

Cluster Monitoring

Monitor cluster resources, view logs, and track the health of your Kubernetes workloads in real-time.

Resource Troubleshooting

Debug applications and troubleshoot issues with detailed views of pods, deployments, services, and other Kubernetes resources.

RBAC Integration

Secure access control through integration with Kubernetes RBAC, ensuring users only see and manage resources they have permissions for.

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Architecture Overview

As of version 7.0.0, Kubernetes Dashboard uses a modern multi-container architecture:
  • Web UI Container: Serves the frontend interface
  • API Container: Handles backend API requests to the Kubernetes cluster
  • Auth Container: Manages authentication and authorization
  • Metrics Scraper: Collects and stores metrics from the Metrics Server
  • Kong Gateway: Acts as an API gateway connecting all containers (DBless configuration)
Starting with version 7.0.0, manifest-based installation has been dropped in favor of Helm-only installation. This change was necessary due to the multi-container setup and hard dependency on the Kong gateway API proxy.

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Versioning Changes

The project has changed its versioning scheme starting with version 7.0.0:
  • The appVersion field has been dropped from the Helm chart
  • Each module (API, Web, Auth, Metrics Scraper) is now versioned separately
  • The Helm chart version can be considered the application version

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Default Privileges

Kubernetes Dashboard operates with minimal privileges by default: Web Container:
  • get and update permissions to the Config Map used as settings storage
  • Default ConfigMap name: kubernetes-dashboard-settings
  • Default namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
API Container:
  • get permission for services/proxy to allow metrics scraper to gather metrics
  • Default service name: kubernetes-dashboard-metrics-scraper
Metrics Scraper Container:
  • get, list, and watch permissions for metrics.k8s.io API to gather metrics from metrics-server
It is critical to correctly set up access control for your Kubernetes Dashboard installation. Always use RBAC with minimal privileges needed for Dashboard to run. Never grant cluster-admin privileges in production environments.

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Use Cases

Kubernetes Dashboard is ideal for:
  • Development Teams: Quickly view application status and logs without command-line tools
  • Operations Teams: Monitor cluster health and troubleshoot issues through a visual interface
  • Learning Kubernetes: Understand Kubernetes concepts through visual representation of resources
  • Resource Management: Create, update, and delete Kubernetes resources through forms

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Community and Support

While the project is archived, the community resources remain available for historical reference and forking purposes.
Historical community channels:

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License

Kubernetes Dashboard is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
Next Steps: Learn how to install Kubernetes Dashboard using Helm or explore accessing the Dashboard after installation.

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