The kubectx for operators.
kubeswitch (lazy: switch) takes Kubeconfig context switching to the next level,
catering to operators of large scale Kubernetes installations.
Designed as a drop-in replacement for kubectx.
- Configurable Kubeconfig store
- Unified search over multiple directories, paths, files and Kubeconfig stores
- Search over the Kubeconfigs from multiple Kubeconfig stores and configured paths (e.g, directories on the local filesystem and paths in Vault).
- Easy navigation
- Define alias names for contexts without changing the underlying Kubeconfig
- Switch to any previously used context from the history
- Efficient search
- Stores a pre-computed index of kube-context names to speed up future searches
- Recursive directory search
- Hot reload capability (adds Kubeconfigs to the search on the fly - especially useful when initially searching large directories)
- Improved search experience when dealing with many Kubeconfigs
- Fuzzy search
- Live preview of the Kubeconfig file (sanitized from credentials)
- Easier identify clusters with cryptic context names
- Terminal Window isolation
- Each terminal window can target a different cluster (does not override the current-context in a shared Kubeconfig)
- Each terminal window can target the same cluster and set a different namespace preference e.g., using the tool kubens
- Extensibility
- Anything else but efficient searching and switching of Kubeconfig contexts. Designed to do one thing well. This excludes the ability to change Kubernetes namespaces (use kubens instead) or provide a customized shell prompt (use kube-ps1).
Mac and Linux users can install both the switch.sh script and the switcher binary with homebrew.
$ brew install danielfoehrkn/switch/switch
Source the switch.sh script from the homebrew installation path.
$ INSTALLATION_PATH=$(brew --prefix switch) && source $INSTALLATION_PATH/switch.sh
Mac users can also install both switch.sh and switcher from MacPorts
$ sudo port selfupdate
$ sudo port install kubeswitch
Source the switch.sh script from the MacPorts root (/opt/local).
$ source /opt/local/libexec/kubeswitch/switch.sh
$ go get github.com/danielfoehrKn/kubeswitch
From the repository root run make build-switcher.
This builds the binaries to /hack/switch/.
Copy the build binary for your OS / Architecture to e.g. /usr/local/bin
and source the switch script from /hack/switch/switch.sh.
Download the switch script and the switcher binary.
# grab pre-compiled switcher binary for your OS / architecture
OS=linux # darwin
wget https://github.com/danielfoehrKn/kubeswitch/releases/download/0.3.0/switcher_${OS}_amd64
mv switcher_${OS}_amd64 /usr/local/bin/switcher
chmod +x /usr/local/bin/switcher
# grab switch script
wget https://github.com/danielfoehrKn/kubeswitch/releases/download/0.3.0/switch.sh
mv switch.sh /usr/local/bin/switch.sh
Source switch.sh in .bashrc/.zsh via:
$ source /usr/local/bin/switch.sh
Please see here how to install command completion for bash and zsh shells.
This completes both the kubeswitch commands as well as the context names.
$ switch -h
Usage:
switch [flags]
switch [command]
Available Commands:
<context-name> Switch to context name provided as first argument
history, h Switch to any previous context from the history (short: h)
hooks Runs configured hooks
alias Create an alias for a context. Use <ALIAS>=<CONTEXT_NAME> (<ALIAS>=. to rename current-context to <ALIAS>). To list all use "alias ls" and to remove an alias use "alias rm <ALIAS>"
list-contexts List all available contexts without fuzzy search
clean Cleans all temporary kubeconfig files
- Switch to the previous context from the history
-d <NAME> Delete context <NAME> ('.' for current-context) from the local kubeconfig file.
-c, --current Show the current context name
-u, --unset Unset the current context from the local kubeconfig file
Flags:
--config-path string path on the local filesystem to the configuration file. (default "~/.kube/switch-config.yaml")
--kubeconfig-name string only shows Kubeconfig files with this name. Accepts wilcard arguments "*" and "?". Defaults to "config". (default "config")
--kubeconfig-path string path to be recursively searched for Kubeconfig files. Can be a file or directory on the local filesystem or a path in Vault. (default "~/.kube/config")
--show-preview show preview of the selected Kubeconfig. Possibly makes sense to disable when using vault as the Kubeconfig store to prevent excessive requests against the API. (default true)
--state-directory string path to the local directory used for storing internal state. (default "~/.kube/switch-state")
--store string the backing store to be searched for Kubeconfig files. Can be either "filesystem" or "vault" (default "filesystem")
--vault-api-address string the API address of the Vault store. Overrides the default "vaultAPIAddress" field in the SwitchConfig. This flag is overridden by the environment variable "VAULT_ADDR".
-h, --help help about any command
Just type kubeswitch to search over the context names defined in the default Kubeconfig file ~/.kube/config
or from the environment variable KUBECONFIG.
To recursively search over multiple directories, files and Kubeconfig stores, please see the documentation to set up the necessary configuration file.
Three Kubeconfig stores are supported: filesystem, vault, gardener.
The local filesystem is the default store and does not require any additional setup.
However, if you intend to search for all Kubeconfig context/files in the ~/.kube directory,
please first consider this.
To search over multiple directories and setup Kubeconfig stores (such as Vault), please see here.
Offers a smooth transition as kubeswitch is a
drop-in replacement for kubectx.
You can set an alias and keep using your existing setup.
alias kubectx='switch'
alias kctx='switch'
However, that does not mean that kubeswitch behaves exactly like kubectx.
Please see here to read about some main differences to kubectx.
An alias for any context name can be defined. An alias does not modify or rename the context in the kubeconfig file, instead it is just injected for the search.
Define an alias.
$ switch alias mediathekview=gke_mediathekviewmobile-real_europe-west1-c_mediathekviewmobile
It is also possible to use switch alias <alias>=. to create an alias for the current context.
See the created alias
$ switch alias ls
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ALIAS | CONTEXT |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| mediathekview | mediathekview/gke_mediathekviewmobile-real_europe-west1-c_mediathekviewmobile |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| TOTAL | 1 |
+---------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Remove the alias
$ switch alias rm mediathekview
See here how to use a search index to speed up search operations. Using the search index is especially useful when
- dealing with large amounts of Kubeconfigs and querying the Kubeconfig store is slow (e.g. searching a large directory)
- when using a remote systems (such as Vault) as the Kubeconfig store to increase search speed, reduce latency and save API requests
For large directories with many Kubeconfig files, the Kubeconfigs are added to the search set on the fly. For smaller directory sizes, the search feels instantaneous.
Unfortunately operators sometimes have to deal with cryptic or generated kubeconfig context names that make it hard to guess which Kubernetes cluster this kubeconfig context actually points to. For example, these could be temporary CI clusters.
Without having to manually change the Kubeconfig file, kubeswitch makes it easier to identify
the right context name by including the direct parent path name in the fuzzy search.
This way, the directory layout can actually convey information useful for the search.
To exemplify this, look at the path layout below.
Each Kubernetes landscape (called dev, canary and live) have their own directory containing the Kubeconfigs
of the Kubernetes clusters on that landscape.
Every Kubeconfig is named config.
$ tree .kube/my-path
.kube/my-path
├── canary
│ └── config
├── dev
│ ├── config
│ └── config-tmp
└── live
└── config
This is how the search looks like for this directory. The parent directory name is part of the search.
You can either manually create such a path layout and place the kubeconfigs, or write a custom hook (script / binary) to do that prior to the search.
Customization is possible by using Hooks (think Git pre-commit hooks).
Hooks can call an arbitrary executable or execute commands at a certain time (e.g every 6 hours) prior to the search via kubeswitch.
For more information take a look here.
kubectx is great when dealing with few Kubeconfig files - however lacks support when
operating large Kubernetes installations where clusters spin up on demand,
have cryptic context names or are stored in various kubeconfig stores (e.g., Vault).
kubeswitch is build for a world where Kubernetes clusters are treated as cattle, not pets.
This has implications on how Kubeconfig files are managed.
kubeswitch is fundamentally designed for the modern Kubernetes operator of large dynamic Kubernetes
installations with possibly thousands of Kubeconfig files in various locations.
Has build-in
- convenience features (terminal window isolation, context history, context aliasing, improved search experience, sanitized Kubeconfig preview);
- advanced search capabilities (search index, hot reload);
- as well as integration points with external systems (hooks).
In addition, kubeswitch is a drop-in replacement for kubectx.
You can set an alias and keep using your existing setup.
alias kubectx='switch'
alias kctx='switch'
However, that does not mean that kubeswitch behaves exactly like kubectx.
Alias Names
kubectx supports renaming context names using kubectx <NEW_NAME>=<NAME>.
Likewise, use switch <NEW_NAME>=<NAME> to create an alias.
An alias does not modify or rename the context in the kubeconfig file.
It is just a local configuration that can be removed again via switch alias rm <NAME>.
Directly modifying the Kubeconfig is problematic:
- Common tooling might be used across the team which needs to rely on predictable cluster naming conventions
- Modifying the file is not always possible e.g., when the Kubeconfig is actually stored in a Vault
- No easy way to revert the alias or see aliases that are currently in use
Terminal Window isolation
kubectx directly modifies the kubeconfig file to set the current context.
This has the disadvantage that every other terminal using the same
Kubeconfig file (e.g, via environment variable KUBECONFIG) will also be affected and change the context.
A guideline of kubeswitch is to not modify the underlying Kubeconfig file.
Hence, a temporary copy of the original Kubeconfig file is created and used to modify the context.
This way, each terminal window works on its own copy of the Kubeconfig file and cannot interfere with each other.
Please make sure there are no kubeconfig files that have the same context name within one directory. Define multiple search paths using the switch config.
- Cleanup temporary kubeconfig files after the terminal session ended (instead of using
switch clean) - Act as a credential helper for kubeconfig files to inject the credentials from the backing store
- Support more storage backends (e.g local password managers)
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