Kubernetes

Our integration with Kubernetes queries your Kubernetes clusters directly according to your definition. By using our Kubernetes integration you can ingest live data, directly from your K8s clusters into Port in a transparent, efficient and precise manner, thus making sure only the information you need appears in the software catalog, and remains up to date.

Our integration with Kubernetes provides real-time event processing, this allows for an accurate real-time representation of your K8s cluster inside Port.

tip

Port's Kubernetes exporter is open source, view the source code here

💡 Kubernetes exporter common use cases

Our Kubernetes exporter makes it easy to fill the software catalog with live data directly from your clusters, for example:

• Map all of the resources in your clusters, including namespaces, pods, replica sets, cluster nodes, deployments and other cluster objects;
• Get real-time metadata from your cluster such as replica counts, deployment health, node health and more;
• Use relations to create a complete, easily digestible map of your K8s cluster inside Port;
• Map your Kubernetes resources from common CRDs such as ArgoCD, Istio and more;
• etc.

How it works

Port's Kubernetes exporter allows you to bring all the data supported by the K8s API to show running services, environments and more. The open source Kubernetes exporter allows you to perform extract, transform, load (ETL) on data from K8s into the desired software catalog data model.

The exporter is deployed using a Helm chart that is installed on the cluster. Once it is set up, it continues to sync changes, meaning that all changes, deletions or additions are accurately and automatically reflected in Port.

The helm chart uses a YAML configuration file to describe the ETL process to load data into the developer portal. The approach reflects a golden middle between an overly opinionated K8s visualization that might not work for everyone and a too-broad approach that could introduce unneeded complexity into the developer portal.

Here is an example snippet from the config.yml file which demonstrates the ETL process for getting ReplicaSet data from the cluster and into the software catalog:

The exporter makes use of the JQ JSON processor to select, modify, concatenate, transform and perform other operations on existing fields and values from the Kubernetes objects.

Exporter config.yml file

The config.yml file is how you specify the exact resources you want to query from your K8s cluster, and also how you specify which entities and which properties you want to fill with data from the cluster.

Here is an example config.yml block:

resources: # List of K8s resources to list, watch, and export to Port.
  - kind: apps/v1/replicasets # group/version/resource (G/V/R) format
    selector:
      query: .metadata.namespace | startswith("kube") | not # JQ boolean query. If evaluated to false - skip syncing the object.
    port:
      entity:
        mappings: # Mappings between one K8s object to one or many Port Entities. Each value is a JQ query.
          - identifier: .metadata.name
            title: .metadata.name
            blueprint: '"deploymentConfig"'
            properties:
              creationTimestamp: .metadata.creationTimestamp
              annotations: .metadata.annotations
              status: .status

config.yml structure

• The root key of the config.yml file is the resources key:

  resources:
    - kind: apps/v1/replicasets
      selector:
      ...

• The kind key is a specifier for an object from the K8s API or CRD following the group/version/resource (G/V/R) format:

    resources:
      - kind: apps/v1/replicasets
        selector:
        ...
  tip

  A reference of available Kubernetes Resources to list, watch, and export can be found here

• The selector and the query keys let you filter exactly which objects from the specified kind will be ingested to the software catalog

  resources:
    - kind: apps/v1/replicasets
      selector:
        query: .metadata.namespace | startswith("kube") | not # JQ boolean query. If evaluated to false - skip syncing the object.
      port:

  Some example use cases:

  • To sync all objects from the specified kind: do not specify a selector and query key;

  • To sync all objects from the specified kind that are not related to the internal Kubernetes system, use:

    query: .metadata.namespace | startswith("kube") | not

  • To sync all objects from the specified kind that start with production, use:

    query: .metadata.namespace | startswith("production")

  • etc.

• The port, entity and the mappings keys open the section used to map the Kubernetes object fields to Port entities, the mappings key is an array where each object matches the structure of an entity

  resources:
    - kind: apps/v1/replicasets
      selector:
        query: .metadata.namespace | startswith("kube") | not
      port:
        entity:
          mappings: # Mappings between one K8s object to one or many Port Entities. Each value is a JQ query.
            - identifier: .metadata.name
              title: .metadata.name
              blueprint: '"myBlueprint"'
              properties:
                creationTimestamp: .metadata.creationTimestamp
                annotations: .metadata.annotations
                status: .status
              relations:
                myRelation: .metadata.namespace

Prerequisites

• Port's Kubernetes exporter is installed using Helm, so Helm must be installed to use the exporter's chart. Please refer to Helm's documentation for installation instructions;
• You will need your Port credentials to install the Kubernetes exporter.

tip

Find your Port credentials

To find your Port API credentials go to Port, click on the Credentials button at the bottom left corner and you will be able to view and copy your CLIENT_ID and CLIENT_SECRET:

info

The exporter helm chart can be found here

Installation

1. Add Port's Helm repo by using the following command:

   helm repo add port-labs https://port-labs.github.io/helm-charts
   tip

   If you already added Port's Helm repo earlier, run helm repo update to retrieve the latest versions of the charts. You can then run helm search repo port-labs to see the charts.

2. Prepare a config.yml file that will define which Kubernetes objects to ingest to Port;

3. Install the exporter service on your Kubernetes cluster by running the following command:

   helm upgrade --install my-port-k8s-exporter port-labs/port-k8s-exporter \
   --create-namespace --namespace port-k8s-exporter \
   --set secret.secrets.portClientId=CLIENT_ID --set secret.secrets.portClientSecret=CLIENT_SECRET \
   --set-file configMap.config=config.yaml

Done! the exporter will begin creating and updating objects from your Kubernetes cluster as Port entities shortly.

Updating exporter configuration

In order to update the config.yml file deployed on your Kubernetes cluster, you can run the installation command again:

helm upgrade --install my-port-k8s-exporter port-labs/port-k8s-exporter \
--create-namespace --namespace port-k8s-exporter \
--set secret.secrets.portClientId=CLIENT_ID --set secret.secrets.portClientSecret=CLIENT_SECRET \
--set-file configMap.config=config.yaml

Examples

Refer to the examples page for practical configurations and their corresponding blueprint definitions.

Advanced

Refer to the advanced page for advanced use cases and outputs.