EKS-Anywhere., Kubernetes dashboard with NGINX Ingress and self-signed certificates

This article is part of the EKS Anywhere series EKS Anywhere, extending the Hybrid cloud momentum | by Ambar Hassani | Apr, 2022 | Medium

Was scavenging a bit here and bit there. However, I could not find a complete reference as I needed it. So here is a short configuration blog that might help to setup a Kubernetes dashboard with NGINX Ingress controller and self-signed certs on an EKS Anywhere cluster

Deploy MetalLB load balancer.

helm repo add metallb https://metallb.github.io/metallb
helm install metallb metallb/metallb --wait --timeout 15m --namespace metallb-system --create-namespace

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: IPAddressPool
metadata:
  name: first-pool
  namespace: metallb-system
spec:
  addresses:
  - 10.204.111.56-10.204.111.58
---
apiVersion: metallb.io/v1beta1
kind: L2Advertisement
metadata:
  name: example
  namespace: metallb-system
EOF

Deploy NGINX Ingress controller

• Note that the Ingress controller YAML has SSL passthrough enabled.

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/thecloudgarage/eks-anywhere/blob/main/ingress-controllers/nginx-ingress-class.yaml
kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thecloudgarage/eks-anywhere/main/ingress-controllers/nginx-ingress-controller.yaml

Create namespace and secret for Kubernetes dashboard.

• Ensure that a tls.key and tls.crt file is created for your domain.
• Ensure that the file names are tls.crt and tls.key
• Ensure that the directory path is set in the create secret command.

kubectl create ns kubernetes-dashboard
kubectl create secret generic kubernetes-dashboard-cert --from-file=$HOME/common-certs -n kubernetes-dashboard

Deploy Kubernetes resources for Kubernetes dashboard

• Note that we have changed the default secret for the cert mounts in the below YAML to the one created above
• In addition, there are two args passed to the container for tls.crt and tls.crt.

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
# Copyright 2017 The Kubernetes Authors.
#
# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
# You may obtain a copy of the License at
#
#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
#
# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
# limitations under the License.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: kubernetes-dashboard

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

kind: Service
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 443
      targetPort: 8443
  selector:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard-certs
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
type: Opaque

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard-csrf
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
type: Opaque
data:
  csrf: ""

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard-key-holder
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
type: Opaque

---

kind: ConfigMap
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard-settings
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

kind: Role
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
rules:
  # Allow Dashboard to get, update and delete Dashboard exclusive secrets.
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["secrets"]
    resourceNames: ["kubernetes-dashboard-key-holder", "kubernetes-dashboard-certs", "kubernetes-dashboard-csrf"]
    verbs: ["get", "update", "delete"]
    # Allow Dashboard to get and update 'kubernetes-dashboard-settings' config map.
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["configmaps"]
    resourceNames: ["kubernetes-dashboard-settings"]
    verbs: ["get", "update"]
    # Allow Dashboard to get metrics.
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["services"]
    resourceNames: ["heapster", "dashboard-metrics-scraper"]
    verbs: ["proxy"]
  - apiGroups: [""]
    resources: ["services/proxy"]
    resourceNames: ["heapster", "http:heapster:", "https:heapster:", "dashboard-metrics-scraper", "http:dashboard-metrics-scraper"]
    verbs: ["get"]

---

kind: ClusterRole
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
rules:
  # Allow Metrics Scraper to get metrics from the Metrics server
  - apiGroups: ["metrics.k8s.io"]
    resources: ["pods", "nodes"]
    verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]

---

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: Role
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: kubernetes-dashboard
    namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: kubernetes-dashboard
    namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

kind: Deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
spec:
  replicas: 1
  revisionHistoryLimit: 10
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        k8s-app: kubernetes-dashboard
    spec:
      securityContext:
        seccompProfile:
          type: RuntimeDefault
      containers:
        - name: kubernetes-dashboard
          image: kubernetesui/dashboard:v2.5.0
          imagePullPolicy: Always
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8443
              protocol: TCP
          args:
            - --auto-generate-certificates
            - --namespace=kubernetes-dashboard
            - --tls-cert-file=/tls.crt #note the additional args presented via the tls.crt for self-signed cert
            - --tls-key-file=/tls.key #note the additional args presented via the tls.key for self-signed cert
            # Uncomment the following line to manually specify Kubernetes API server Host
            # If not specified, Dashboard will attempt to auto discover the API server and connect
            # to it. Uncomment only if the default does not work.
            # - --apiserver-host=http://my-address:port
          volumeMounts:
            - name: kubernetes-dashboard-certs
              mountPath: /certs
              # Create on-disk volume to store exec logs
            - mountPath: /tmp
              name: tmp-volume
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              scheme: HTTPS
              path: /
              port: 8443
            initialDelaySeconds: 30
            timeoutSeconds: 30
          securityContext:
            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
            runAsUser: 1001
            runAsGroup: 2001
      volumes:
        - name: kubernetes-dashboard-certs
          secret:
            secretName: kubernetes-dashboard-cert #note the change in the default secret provided in the YAML to the one we created.
        - name: tmp-volume
          emptyDir: {}
      serviceAccountName: kubernetes-dashboard
      nodeSelector:
        "kubernetes.io/os": linux
      # Comment the following tolerations if Dashboard must not be deployed on master
      tolerations:
        - key: node-role.kubernetes.io/master
          effect: NoSchedule

---

kind: Service
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: dashboard-metrics-scraper
  name: dashboard-metrics-scraper
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
spec:
  ports:
    - port: 8000
      targetPort: 8000
  selector:
    k8s-app: dashboard-metrics-scraper

---

kind: Deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
metadata:
  labels:
    k8s-app: dashboard-metrics-scraper
  name: dashboard-metrics-scraper
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
spec:
  replicas: 1
  revisionHistoryLimit: 10
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      k8s-app: dashboard-metrics-scraper
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        k8s-app: dashboard-metrics-scraper
    spec:
      securityContext:
        seccompProfile:
          type: RuntimeDefault
      containers:
        - name: dashboard-metrics-scraper
          image: kubernetesui/metrics-scraper:v1.0.7
          ports:
            - containerPort: 8000
              protocol: TCP
          livenessProbe:
            httpGet:
              scheme: HTTP
              path: /
              port: 8000
            initialDelaySeconds: 30
            timeoutSeconds: 30
          volumeMounts:
          - mountPath: /tmp
            name: tmp-volume
          securityContext:
            allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
            readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
            runAsUser: 1001
            runAsGroup: 2001
      serviceAccountName: kubernetes-dashboard
      nodeSelector:
        "kubernetes.io/os": linux
      # Comment the following tolerations if Dashboard must not be deployed on master
      tolerations:
        - key: node-role.kubernetes.io/master
          effect: NoSchedule
      volumes:
        - name: tmp-volume
          emptyDir: {}
EOF

Deploy the Ingress resource.

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: kubernetes-dashboard
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: "HTTPS"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-passthrough: "true"
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - k8s-dashboard.thecloudgarage.com
  rules:
    - host: k8s-dashboard.thecloudgarage.com
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: kubernetes-dashboard
                port:
                  number: 443
EOF

Create a service account for Kubernetes dashboard

cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: admin-user
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: admin-user
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: cluster-admin # name: view if read only user required
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: admin-user
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard

---

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: admin-user
  namespace: kubernetes-dashboard
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/service-account.name: "admin-user"   
type: kubernetes.io/service-account-token
EOF

Get the token

kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard describe secret $(kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard get secret | grep admin-user | awk '{print $1}')

Login with token and access

Happy kub’ing

cheers

Ambar@thecloudgarage

#iwork4dell