Unlock the Power of Kubernetes with This Step-by-Step Tutorial on Basics, Dashboard, and User Setup

Kubernetes Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to Dashboard Setup and User Access

Learn Kubernetes Fundamentals, Deploy the Dashboard, and Set Up Users with Practical Insights

Over this guide, start learning the basic Kubernetes setup with the dashboard integrated with Docker Desktop and configure user access.

Unless, of course, you’re utilizing Kubernetes, which is a powerful platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and operations of application containers across clusters of hosts, a necessity for any developer or DevOps aficionado. New to Kubernetes? Setting up its dashboard and configuring user access helps smoothen your workflow while giving you a visual advantage. This tutorial will walk you through the basics of Kubernetes, help you install it via Docker Desktop, set up the dashboard and configure secure user access, with examples and screenshots. Off we go into Kubernetes to ease our life with a breeze on overheads concerning containers!🚀

📋Prerequisites

You need:

• Experience with containers and Docker.
• Docker Desktop is running/used on your machine (Windows/Mac).
• Understanding of standard command-line utilities.

💡What You’ll Learn

By the end, sure, you will.

• Understand the basics of Kubernetes and its importance in container orchestration.
• Implementing Kubernetes for local testing with Docker Desktop shall be your choice.
• Deploy Kubernetes Dashboard for visualization management.
• Set up a user account on a secure dashboard.
• Use a real-world monitoring scenario with Kubernetes for this-later solution.

Section Overview

1. What is Kubernetes?
2. Kubernetes Deployments
3. Installing Kubernetes
4. Understanding the kubectl Command
5. Installing the Kubernetes Dashboard (UI)
6. Set Dashboard User
7. Real-World Case: Monitoring a Web App
8. Key Takeaways

☸️What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes, also known as K8s, is a totally open-source platform, which works for managing the deployments, scaling, and operations of their containerized applications. Primarily, from Google, back in 2014 up until now by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), it is now industry standard as the orchestration for containers across different servers. Kubernetes works by grouping containers into pods that run on nodes in a cluster and providing tools to manage networking, storage, and scaling- -think of it like a conductor ensuring your container orchestra plays in harmony.

🚢Kubernetes Deployments

Kubernetes Deployment resource is one which manages a specified number of identical pods and ensures they are running, scaled, and updated. It serves as the ideal resource type for stateless applications, such as web servers, that require a specific number of instances to be maintained. Aside from managing the updates in rolling fashion (say, updating an application without causing any downtime), it also automatically replaces failed pods, thereby making deployments a backbone for reliable application management in Kubernetes.

⚙️Installing Kubernetes

This method involves the installation of Kubernetes using Docker Desktop, which comes with an in-built Kubernetes cluster that is extremely helpful for learning purposes.

Step 1: Install Docker Desktop

• Get the Docker Desktop from docker.com that suits the OS you are operating at that time.
• Install and Start With Docker Desktop.

[embed]Docker: The Secret Weapon for Effortless App Deployment🤫 Learn the essentials of Docker containers, from installation to deployment, and transform your application development…towardsdev.com

Refer my above previous article to detailed instruction to download and install docker desktop in your machine.

Docker Desktop

Step 2: Enable Kubernetes

• Open Docker Desktop.
• Go to Settings > Kubernetes.
• Click the Enable Kubernetes box, and press the Apply & Restart button.
• Docker Desktop downloads the components of Kubernetes, launching your one-node cluster.

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Step 3: Verify Installation

Make sure you have done the following to start using kubectl, which is the command line in Kubernetes:

kubectl version --client

Output

Check the cluster:

kubectl cluster-info

Output

Explanation

• Docker Desktop: Putting together paired with a installed Kubernetes, plus a one-click setup process.
• Single-Node Cluster: Local runs are ideal for learning and testing.

💻Understanding the kubectl Command

kubectl is the command-line interface used to manage resources in a Kubernetes cluster. It talks to the API server to manage resources that include pods, deployments, and services.

Example: Check Cluster Nodes

kubectl get nodes

Output

Explanation

• get nodes: List all nodes in the cluster.
• In the Docker Desktop application, you will see only one node that becomes the control plane and a worker node too.

Pro Tip: To learn the commands, examine kubectl — help.

📊Installing the Kubernetes Dashboard (UI)

Kubernetes Dashboards provide web-based interfaces for visualizing and managing the cluster. We can install one using Helm.

Step 1: Install helm and Add the Helm Repository

To begin with, installation of Helm is a must

winget install Helm.Helm

Note : Prefer command based on your machine from https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/

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helm repo add kubernetes-dashboard https://kubernetes.github.io/dashboard/

Step 2: Install the Dashboard

helm upgrade --install kubernetes-dashboard kubernetes-dashboard/kubernetes-dashboard --create-namespace --namespace kubernetes-dashboard

Explanation

• — create-namespace: Creates namespace for kubernetes-dashboard.
• The Helm deploys the dashboard with less RBAC by default.

Step 3: Access the Dashboard

First, forward the port on the dashboard to your local machine.

kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard port-forward svc/kubernetes-dashboard-kong-proxy 8443:443

Now load your browser and go to https://localhost:8443. Next, you will need to obtain a token while setting it up

dashboard login page

👤Set Dashboard User

The dashboard restricts access by default. So, let us make a user who has admin privilege for educational purposes.

Step 1: Create a Service Account

Create file dashboard-adminuser.yaml:

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

Apply it:

kubectl apply -f dashboard-adminuser.yaml

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Step 2: Grant Admin Privileges

Create the file dashboard-clusterrole.yaml.

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

Apply it:

kubectl apply -f dashboard-clusterrole.yaml

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Step 3: Get the Bearer Token

kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard create token admin-user

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Login into any dashboard by pasting a long token string that could be used here: https://localhost:8443

Kubernetes Dashboard

Explanation

• ServiceAccount: Establishes a user identity.
• ClusterRoleBinding: Assigns admin role (handle with care in production).
• Bearer Token: Confirms the user.

Security Note: Limiting permissions depending on what roles the user occupies will be another step for improving security during production.

🌍Real-World Case: Monitoring a Web App

Let us say that you are running a web application in multiple instances for health monitoring. After deploying the app as a Kubernetes Deployment, you checked the pod status, scaled the replicas, and viewed the logs from the Kubernetes Dashboard. The dashboard informed you that one of the pods had failed because of memory issues, and you could scale the deployment up to four replicas before fixing the issue-all this was done without needing the command line. This makes cluster management so convenient and easy, especially for the new teams trying to get accustomed to the platform.

🔑 Conclusion: Key Takeaways

• Kubernetes Basics: An open-source effort to work on auto-scaling of the application development and deployment process.
• Deployments: Managing and scaling applications that are reliable.
• Installation: Docker Desktop provides an easy way for deploying local clusters.
• kubectl: Essential Equipment in Cluster Cooperation.
• Dashboard: Equipped with a user-oriented view to help in managing the clusters.
• User Setup: ServiceAccounts and Role-Based Access Control (RABC) Offer Secure Access.
• Real-world use: Simplifies monitoring and scaling for web apps.

Cluster Setup :

Dashboard Access Flow :

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