kube-explorer is available on: GitHub - DockerHub - Web

kube-explorer is designed to help you browse and manage your Azure Container Registry (ACR) with ease and in one place.

kube-explorer gives you visibility into your Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster so that you know where your Images and Helm Charts are deployed.

kube-explorer is free, container based tool, stateless, easy to configure and deploy. The installation of kube-explorer doesn't pollute your system with lots of binaries or redundant files. In fact, the footprint of kube-explorer on your system is none, zero, as it runs on your Docker Engine instance.

You can run kube-explorer on any platform: Linux, Windows or MacOS, as long as the operating system is Docker aware.

This is image for running kube-explorer application. Please refer to the Configuration and Deployment sections regarding instructions on how to set kube-explorer up.

Key terms used in this document:

• ACR - Azure Container Registry
• AKS - Azure Kubernetes Service
• Principal - App Registration in Azure to allow principal access to resources in Azure as either Reader or Contributor for the purposes to run kube-explorer

kube-explorer's session is fixed to 60 minutes, after which you will be logged out and you will have to login again. Future upgrades will make this configurable beyond 60 minute timeouts.

kube-explorer can only be linked to Azure cloud at the moment. Future upgrades will allow connections to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud.

kube-explorer can read from a single ACR at the moment.

However, kube-explorer can access Kubernetes Cluster details from multiple AKSs even on multiple Azure Subscriptions.

kube-explorer will cross-reference usage of your Images and Helm Charts in ACR across your AKS Cluster Deployments. It's important, however, to understand how the linking works and how to set it up.

Without the config below kube-explorer will not be able to cross reference your Images & Helm Charts in ACR with your AKS Cluster Deployments.

The link is based on Image Name as follows myrepo.registry.io/my-image:tag

myrepo.registry.io/web/api:2.2.12877

Deployment.yaml template will need the Image Name, myrepo.registry.io/web/api:2.2.12877, passed in the spec.template.spec.containers.image section of the template.

spec.template.spec.containers.image: myrepo.registry.io/web/api:2.2.12877

kube-explorer will then access this information from AKS Cluster Deployment and cross reference its data sets from ACR to establish a visual indicator for your Images in the tool.

The link is based on Helm Chart Name as follows my-chart-version

web-api-2.2.12877

Deployment.yaml template will need the Chart Name, web-api-2.2.12877, passed in the spec.template.metadata.labels.chart section of the template.

spec.template.metadata.labels.chart: web-api-2.2.12877

kube-explorer will then access this information from AKS Cluster Deployment and cross reference its data sets from ACR to establish a visual indicator for your Helm Charts in the tool.

Without the config below kube-explorer will not be able to pull data from either ACR or AKS.

Once you have the above config items, kube-explorer can be setup in either Read or Contributor Role for either ACR or AKS access.

1. Replace the latest tag with desired version for the image
2. Run the docker run command as below

docker run `
-dit `
-p 80:80 `
-m 1g `
--cpus="1" `
--restart=always `
--read-only `
--tmpfs /tmp `
--cap-drop=ALL `
--cap-add=NET_BIND_SERVICE `
--name kube-explorer `
-e ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production `
qbituniverse/kube-explorer:latest

1. Replace the latest tag with desired version of the image
2. Pass required parameters for the -e key=value pairs
3. Run the docker run command as below

docker run `
-dit `
-p 80:80 `
-m 1g `
--cpus="1" `
--restart=always `
--read-only `
--tmpfs /tmp `
--cap-drop=ALL `
--cap-add=NET_BIND_SERVICE `
--name kube-explorer `
-e ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production `
-e Configuration__Application__Name=name `
-e Configuration__Application__ShowException=false `
-e Configuration__Application__CacheDataSets=false `
-e Configuration__Application__CacheDurationMinutes=60 `
-e Configuration__Application__Username=username `
-e Configuration__Application__Password=password `
-e Configuration__Application__AutoLogin=false `
-e Configuration__Azure__TenantId=tenantid `
-e Configuration__Azure__ClientId=clienid `
-e Configuration__Azure__ClientSecret=clientsecret `
qbituniverse/kube-explorer:latest

1. Replace the latest tag with desired version of the image inside of the Compose-kube-explorer.yaml file
2. Run the docker compose command to create application with default configuration

version: '2.4'
services:
  api:
    image: qbituniverse/kube-explorer:latest
    container_name: kube-explorer
    ports:
    - "80:80"
    read_only: true
    tmpfs:
    - /tmp
    restart: always
    cpus: 1
    mem_limit: 1g
    cap_drop:
    - ALL
    cap_add:
    - NET_BIND_SERVICE
    environment:
    - ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production

docker compose -f Compose-kube-explorer.yaml up -d

1. Replace the latest tag with desired version of the image inside of the Compose-kube-explorer.yaml file
2. Modify the Compose-values.yaml with custom configuration
3. Run the docker compose command to create application with custom configuration

version: '2.4'
services:
  api:
    ports:
    - "80:80"
    environment:
    - ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production
    - Configuration__Application__Name=name
    - Configuration__Application__ShowException=false
    - Configuration__Application__CacheDataSets=false
    - Configuration__Application__CacheDurationMinutes=60
    - Configuration__Application__Username=username
    - Configuration__Application__Password=password
    - Configuration__Application__AutoLogin=false
    - Configuration__Azure__TenantId=tenantid
    - Configuration__Azure__ClientId=clienid
    - Configuration__Azure__ClientSecret=clientsecret

docker compose -f Compose-kube-explorer.yaml -f Compose-values.yaml up -d

helm install --name kube-explorer local/kube-explorer

helm install --name kube-explorer `
--set ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT=Production `
--set Configuration__Application__Name=name `
--set Configuration__Application__ShowException=false `
--set Configuration__Application__CacheDataSets=false `
--set Configuration__Application__CacheDurationMinutes=60 `
--set Configuration__Application__Username=username `
--set Configuration__Application__Password=password `
--set Configuration__Application__AutoLogin=false `
--set Configuration__Azure__TenantId=tenantid `
--set Configuration__Azure__ClientId=clienid `
--set Configuration__Azure__ClientSecret=clientsecret `
local/kube-explorer

helm install --name kube-explorer -f values.yaml local/kube-explorer

name: ""
namespace: ""
secrets:
  dockerHub: ""
configuration:
  environment: ""
  applicationName: ""
  applicationShowException: ""
  applicationCacheDataSets: ""
  applicationCacheDurationMinutes: ""
  applicationUsername: ""
  applicationPassword: ""
  applicationAutoLogin: ""
  azureTenantId: ""
  azureClientId: ""
  azureClientSecret: ""

kube-explorer is available on: GitHub - DockerHub - Web