Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin for VCD

Starting CSE 3.0 and VCD 10.2, Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 2.0 is available out of the box with VCD 10.2

Refer to Compatibility Matrix and Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 2.0.0 documentation

Overview

For VCD versions before 10.2, Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 1.0.3 can be used with CSE 3.0 to manage Kubernetes Clusters directly from VCD UI

Register and publish Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin

Method 1: Via CSE server cli

To register the plugin, run

cse ui-plugin register [path to plugin zip file] -c [path to CSE config file] -s

To unregister the plugin, first we need to figure out the ID of the plugin. List all installed plugins, and get ID of the CSE UI Plugin, by running

cse ui-plugin list -c [path to CSE config file] -s

Run the following command to remove the plugin from VCD.

cse ui-plugin deregister [ID] -c [path to CSE config file] -s

Method 2: Via VCD UI portal

To register the plugin, upload container-ui-plugin.zip to VCD through Customize Portal option in the navigation menu of VCD Service Provider view. Then follow the standard steps of publishing an UI plugin. After registration, refresh the page. There should be a Kubernetes Container Clusters option in the navigation menu.

To unregister the plugin, select the plugin in Customize Portal and click on DELETE button.

Access Control

Tenant users cannot register/unregister Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin, and they can only use the plugin once access has been granted by Service Provider. Service Providers can enable/disable Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin as well as manage access contorl to the plugin.

Enable/Disable plugin

On Customize Portal page, select Container UI Plugin, and click on the ENABLE or DISABLE button. Disabling the plugin will make the plugin inaccessible for both providers and tenants

Access control for tenants

On Customize Portal page, select Container UI Plugin, and click on the PUBLISH button. . In the wizard, customize the scope to publish to. To remove plugin access from specific tenants, un-select them from the scope and click publish.

Functionality

Landing Page

Select Kubernetes Container Clusters in the navigation menu to access the landing page. A list of Kubernetes clusters created by Container Service Extension (CSE) will be displayed, along with some basic cluster information.

Provider View

Service providers can view all clusters in all organizations

Tenant View

Tenants can only view clusters in their organization that they have visibility for

Common Roles

Organization Administrator: can view all clusters in the organization
Catalog Author, vApp User and Console Access Only: can view clusters created by catalog authors
vApp Author: can view clusters they own

Upon clicking on the cluster name, users can view the details page of the corresponding cluster.

Cluster Creation

Clicking the NEW button on the top left will open the cluster creation wizard.

Cluster Deletion

Select a cluster in the datagrid, and click the DELETE button on the top left.

Cluster Info Page

Clicking on the cluster name will redirect you to its info page. This info page contains the following functionalities:

Navigate back to the landing page using the top navigation bar
Download the cluster’s kube config (to be used with kubectl) using the button on the right of the cluster name.
View cluster information. Info section contains cluster-specific details, while Details section contains VCD/CSE details.
Add new worker nodes to Native clusters. Removing worker nodes from native clusters is not supported in Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 1.0.3

Known Issues

Creating a cluster using Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin as system administrator in a large-scale VCD (many orgs, org vdcs, networks, etc) will fail

When trying to create cluster as a system administrator user, datagrids in cluster create wizard will fail to load, preventing cluster creation. (Error will be an extension timeout error). This is because plugin 1.0.3 is not optimized to fetch VCD entities (orgs, ovdcs, networks, etc) at large scale (Tested in an environment with 80+ orgs/ovdcs/networks). The request will overload CSE Server and fail to complete.

Workaround: If system administrator must create a cluster in a large-scale VCD environment, CSE CLI should be used instead.

Re-registering Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin with VCD fails

If the beta version of CSE UI plugin is already registered with VCD, trying to upgrade it via CSE cli or VCD UI will fail. Right now, the only way to update the UI plugin is to de-register/delete it and then re-install using the new zip file. Additionally, the provider will need to re-publish the plugin to all the tenants that were previously given access to the CSE UI plugin.

Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin landing page on VCD UI perpetually shows a spinning wheel

If CSE server is inaccessible/down, on VCD UI’s CSE landing page, user only sees the loading spinner instead of an error message.

Workaround: Make sure CSE server is running.

Cluster operations fail silently on UI

On clicking confirm in cluster creation/deletion wizards/confirmation message boxes, user does not immediately get to know if the plugin successfully sent the request, or if CSE Server successfully received the same. Form validation and HTTP error display is not implemented in Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 1.0.3

Enterprise PKS cluster creation fails from UI

If CSE is enabled with Enterprise PKS but OrgVDCs are not enabled with Enterprise PKS as their k8s provider, Kubernetes Clusters UI Plugin 1.0.3 will allow cluster creation operation on that OrgVDC, but the operation will eventually fail. This behavior is as designed.

Workaround: - Enable the OrgVDC explicitly for Enterprise PKS cluster deployment via the following command

>vcd cse ovdc enable [ovdc name] -k 'ent-pks' -o [Org Name] -d [domain name] -p [plan name]