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Creating a Read-Only Kubernetes User: A Step-by-Step Guide for Data Scientists

Kubernetes has become a cornerstone in the world of container orchestration, providing a robust platform for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications. As a data scientist, you may need to interact with Kubernetes clusters to deploy your machine learning models or manage data pipelines. However, you might not always need full access to the cluster. In such cases, a read-only user can be a perfect solution. This blog post will guide you through the process of creating a read-only Kubernetes user.
By Saturn Cloud | | Miscellaneous

Creating a Read-Only Kubernetes User: A Step-by-Step Guide for Data Scientists

Kubernetes has become a cornerstone in the world of container orchestration, providing a robust platform for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications. As a data scientist, you may need to interact with Kubernetes clusters to deploy your machine learning models or manage data pipelines. However, you might not always need full access to the cluster. In such cases, a read-only user can be a perfect solution. This blog post will guide you through the process of creating a read-only Kubernetes user.

What is a Read-Only Kubernetes User?

A read-only Kubernetes user is a user with limited permissions, specifically designed to view and inspect resources in a Kubernetes cluster without the ability to modify them. This is particularly useful for auditing, monitoring, or when you need to share cluster information without risking unwanted changes.

Prerequisites

Before we start, ensure you have the following:

  • A running Kubernetes cluster
  • kubectl installed and configured on your local machine
  • Admin access to the Kubernetes cluster

Step 1: Create a Service Account

First, we need to create a service account in Kubernetes. This account will be associated with our read-only user. Use the following command:

kubectl create serviceaccount readonly-user

This command creates a service account named readonly-user in the default namespace.

Step 2: Create a ClusterRole

Next, we need to create a ClusterRole that defines the permissions for our read-only user. In this case, we want the user to have read-only access. Use the following command:

kubectl create clusterrole readonly --verb=get,list,watch --resource=*

This command creates a ClusterRole named readonly that has get, list, and watch permissions on all resources.

Step 3: Bind the Service Account to the ClusterRole

Now, we need to bind our service account to the ClusterRole we just created. This is done using a ClusterRoleBinding. Use the following command:

kubectl create clusterrolebinding readonly-binding --clusterrole=readonly --serviceaccount=default:readonly-user

This command creates a ClusterRoleBinding named readonly-binding that binds the readonly ClusterRole to the readonly-user service account.

Step 4: Retrieve the User Credentials

Finally, we need to retrieve the credentials for our read-only user. These credentials will be used to authenticate the user when interacting with the Kubernetes cluster. Use the following commands:

SECRET_NAME=$(kubectl get serviceaccount readonly-user -o jsonpath='{.secrets[0].name}')
kubectl get secret $SECRET_NAME -o jsonpath='{.data.ca\.crt}' | base64 --decode > ca.crt
kubectl get secret $SECRET_NAME -o jsonpath='{.data.token}' | base64 --decode > token.txt

These commands retrieve the certificate and token for the readonly-user service account and save them in ca.crt and token.txt files, respectively.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have successfully created a read-only Kubernetes user. This user can now interact with the Kubernetes cluster, inspecting resources without the risk of making unwanted changes. This is a crucial step in maintaining the security and integrity of your Kubernetes deployments, especially when working in a team or sharing cluster information.

Remember, Kubernetes is a powerful tool, but with great power comes great responsibility. Always ensure you are following best practices when it comes to security and access control.

Keywords

  • Kubernetes
  • Read-Only User
  • Service Account
  • ClusterRole
  • ClusterRoleBinding
  • Data Scientists
  • Container Orchestration
  • Kubernetes Cluster
  • Kubernetes Deployments
  • Access Control
  • Security
  • Machine Learning Models
  • Data Pipelines

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