Managing Resources

Kubernetes Dashboard provides comprehensive resource management capabilities for all Kubernetes resource types. This guide covers how to interact with pods, services, config maps, and other cluster resources.

Resource Categories

Dashboard organizes resources into logical categories:

Workloads

Manage application workloads and compute resources:

Pods: Individual container instances
Deployments: Declarative application deployments
StatefulSets: Stateful application management
DaemonSets: Node-level daemon processes
ReplicaSets: Pod replica management
ReplicationControllers: Legacy replica management
Jobs: Run-to-completion tasks
CronJobs: Scheduled tasks

Discovery and Load Balancing

Network services and ingress:

Services: Stable network endpoints
Ingresses: HTTP/HTTPS routing rules
Ingress Classes: Ingress controller configuration

Config and Storage

Configuration and data persistence:

ConfigMaps: Configuration data
Secrets: Sensitive information
PersistentVolumeClaims: Storage requests
StorageClasses: Dynamic provisioning policies

Cluster Resources

Cluster-wide configuration:

Namespaces: Virtual cluster isolation
Nodes: Cluster compute nodes
PersistentVolumes: Available storage
Roles: Namespace-scoped permissions
ClusterRoles: Cluster-wide permissions
ServiceAccounts: Pod identity and authentication

All resource types are defined in modules/api/pkg/resource/ with dedicated handlers for list, detail, and CRUD operations.

Viewing Resources

List View

Navigate to any resource category to see a comprehensive list view:

Search: Filter resources by name
Namespace Filter: Show resources from specific namespaces
Status Indicators: Visual health and status information
Metrics: CPU and memory usage (when metrics-server is available)

Detail View

Click any resource to view detailed information:

Overview
Events
YAML

Resource metadata (name, namespace, labels, annotations)
Status and conditions
Resource version and creation timestamp
Owner references

Managing Pods

Pods are the fundamental compute unit in Kubernetes.

Pod Information

The pod detail view provides (modules/api/pkg/resource/pod/list.go:54-81):

type Pod struct {
    ObjectMeta        types.ObjectMeta
    TypeMeta          types.TypeMeta
    Status            string
    RestartCount      int32
    Metrics           *PodMetrics
    Warnings          []common.Event
    NodeName          string
    ContainerImages   []string
    ContainerStatuses []ContainerStatus
    AllocatedResources PodAllocatedResources
}

Pod Status

Possible pod states:

Running: All containers are running
Pending: Waiting for scheduling or image pull
Succeeded: All containers completed successfully
Failed: At least one container failed
Unknown: Pod status cannot be determined

Pod Actions

View Logs

Access container logs with filtering and download options

Exec Shell

Open an interactive shell session in any container

Edit

Modify pod configuration (creates new pod)

Delete

Remove the pod from the cluster

Resource Allocation

View CPU and memory requests/limits:

type PodAllocatedResources struct {
    CPURequests    int64  // Allocated millicores
    CPULimits      int64  // CPU limit
    MemoryRequests int64  // Memory allocated
    MemoryLimits   int64  // Memory limit
    GPURequests    []GPUAllocation
    GPULimits      []GPUAllocation
}

Dashboard supports NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel GPU allocations for AI/ML workloads.

Managing Services

Services provide stable networking for your applications.

Service Types

ClusterIP
NodePort
LoadBalancer
ExternalName

Exposes the service on an internal cluster IP. Only accessible within the cluster.

spec:
  type: ClusterIP
  clusterIP: 10.96.0.1

Exposes the service on each node’s IP at a static port.

spec:
  type: NodePort
  ports:
  - port: 80
    nodePort: 30080

Provisions an external load balancer (cloud provider integration required).

spec:
  type: LoadBalancer

Maps the service to a DNS name.

spec:
  type: ExternalName
  externalName: my.database.example.com

Service Details

The service view shows (modules/api/pkg/resource/service/list.go:28-50):

type Service struct {
    ObjectMeta        types.ObjectMeta
    TypeMeta          types.TypeMeta
    InternalEndpoint  common.Endpoint
    ExternalEndpoints []common.Endpoint
    Selector          map[string]string
    Type              v1.ServiceType
    ClusterIP         string
}

Endpoints: Internal and external access points
Selectors: Label selectors for pod targeting
Ports: Port mappings and protocols

Managing ConfigMaps and Secrets

ConfigMaps

Store non-sensitive configuration data:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: app-config
data:
  database.host: "postgres.default.svc"
  database.port: "5432"

Create ConfigMap

Navigate to Config and Storage → Config Maps → Create

Add Data

Enter key-value pairs or upload configuration files

Save

Click Create to store the configuration

Secrets

Store sensitive data like passwords and API keys:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: db-credentials
type: Opaque
data:
  username: YWRtaW4=  # base64 encoded
  password: cGFzc3dvcmQ=

Dashboard displays secrets in base64-decoded format. Ensure you have appropriate RBAC permissions to prevent unauthorized access.

Managing Storage

PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs)

Request storage resources:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: app-data
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 10Gi
  storageClassName: fast-ssd

StorageClasses

Define storage provisioning policies:

Provisioner: Storage backend (AWS EBS, GCE PD, etc.)
Parameters: Provider-specific configuration
Reclaim Policy: What happens when PVC is deleted
Volume Binding Mode: Immediate or WaitForFirstConsumer

Editing Resources

Dashboard provides inline YAML editing:

Navigate to Resource

Open the detail view of any resource

Click Edit

Click the Edit button in the action bar

Modify YAML

Make changes to the resource definition

Apply Changes

Click Update to apply modifications

Some resource fields are immutable after creation. Dashboard validates edits and displays appropriate errors.

Deleting Resources

Select Resources

Check the boxes next to resources you want to delete

Click Delete

Click the delete icon in the action bar

Confirm

Confirm the deletion in the dialog prompt

Deletion is permanent and cannot be undone. Ensure you have backups before deleting critical resources.

Filtering and Searching

Dashboard provides powerful filtering capabilities:

Namespace Filter: Show resources from one or all namespaces
Text Search: Filter by resource name
Label Selector: Filter by label key-value pairs
Status Filter: Show only healthy, warning, or error resources

Resource Metrics

When metrics-server is installed, Dashboard displays:

CPU Usage: Current CPU consumption
Memory Usage: Current memory consumption
Historical Charts: Time-series graphs
Sparklines: Quick visual indicators in list views

Learn more about metrics in Monitoring and Metrics.

Best Practices

Use labels for organization

Apply consistent labels to resources for better filtering and selection.

Set resource quotas

Prevent resource exhaustion by configuring namespace resource quotas.

Regular cleanup

Remove unused resources to reduce clutter and costs.

Monitor resource health

Regularly check events and status conditions for issues.

Next Steps

Viewing Logs

Learn how to access and filter container logs

Shell Access

Execute commands in running containers

Get Started

User Guide

Architecture

Configuration

Resource Categories

Workloads

Discovery and Load Balancing

Config and Storage

Cluster Resources

Viewing Resources

List View

Detail View

Managing Pods

Pod Information

Pod Status

Pod Actions

View Logs

Exec Shell

Edit

Delete

Resource Allocation

Managing Services

Service Types

Service Details

Managing ConfigMaps and Secrets

ConfigMaps

Secrets

Managing Storage

PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs)

StorageClasses

Editing Resources

Deleting Resources

Filtering and Searching

Resource Metrics

Best Practices

Next Steps

Viewing Logs

Shell Access

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get Started

User Guide

Architecture

Configuration

​Resource Categories

​Workloads

​Discovery and Load Balancing

​Config and Storage

​Cluster Resources

​Viewing Resources

​List View

​Detail View

​Managing Pods

​Pod Information

​Pod Status

​Pod Actions

View Logs

Exec Shell

Edit

Delete

​Resource Allocation

​Managing Services

​Service Types

​Service Details

​Managing ConfigMaps and Secrets

​ConfigMaps

​Secrets

​Managing Storage

​PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs)

​StorageClasses

​Editing Resources

​Deleting Resources

​Filtering and Searching

​Resource Metrics

​Best Practices

​Next Steps

Viewing Logs

Shell Access

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Resource Categories

Workloads

Discovery and Load Balancing

Config and Storage

Cluster Resources

Viewing Resources

List View

Detail View

Managing Pods

Pod Information

Pod Status

Pod Actions

Resource Allocation

Managing Services

Service Types

Service Details

Managing ConfigMaps and Secrets

ConfigMaps

Secrets

Managing Storage

PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs)

StorageClasses

Editing Resources

Deleting Resources

Filtering and Searching

Resource Metrics

Best Practices

Next Steps