Getting Started

Plugins can be used to extend the functionality of kobs. For example you can use Prometheus to display metrics, Elasticsearch to display logs or Jaeger to display traces for your application within kobs.

All the configured plugins can be found on the home page of kobs. From this page you can use the configured plugins directly.

Plugins

Specification

Plugins can also be used as preview for an application or within a dashboard panel:

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellite	string	The name of the satellite on which the plugin is configured. This field can be omitted, when the same satellite should be used as for the applicatiom, user, team or dashboard where the plugin is used.	No
name	string	The name of the plugin as it is defined in the configuration file. Or one of the special values `applications`, `topology`, `userapplications`, `userteams`, `dashboards`, `markdown` or `resources` for plugins where the type is `app`.	Yes
type	string	The type of the plugin as it is defined in the configuration file or `app` for the built-in plugins.	Yes
options	any	Plugin specific options as they are defined at the plugins page (e.g. PromQL query).	Yes

Built-in Plugins

The following built-in plugins can be used when the type of the plugin is set to app.

`applications`

The applications plugin can be used to display a list of applications for a team. The plugin requires the following options:

Field	Type	Description	Required
team	string	The name of the team for which the applications should be shown. This must match a value of a teams `group` property.	Yes

plugin:
  name: applications
  type: app
  options:
    team: dia@kobs.io

`topology`

The topology plugin can be used to display the topology graph of an application within a dashboard. The plugin requires the following options:

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellite	string	The satellite of the application.	Yes
cluster	string	The cluster of the application.	Yes
namespace	string	The namespace of the application.	Yes
name	string	The name of the application	Yes

plugin:
  name: topology
  type: app
  options:
    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
    namespace: "<% $.namespace %>"
    name: "<% $.name %>"

`insights`

The insights plugin can be used to display the insights of an application within a dashboard. The plugin requires the following options:

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellite	string	The satellite of the application.	Yes
cluster	string	The cluster of the application.	Yes
namespace	string	The namespace of the application.	Yes
name	string	The name of the application	Yes

plugin:
  name: insights
  type: app
  options:
    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
    namespace: "<% $.namespace %>"
    name: "<% $.name %>"

Example

apiVersion: kobs.io/v1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: example-application
  namespace: kobs
spec:
  dashboards:
    - title: Inisghts
      inline:
        rows:
          - size: -1
            panels:
              - title: thanos-compactor
                colSpan: 3
                plugin:
                  name: insights
                  type: app
                  options:
                    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
                    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
                    namespace: "monitoring"
                    name: "thanos-compactor"
              - title: thanos-querier
                colSpan: 3
                plugin:
                  name: insights
                  type: app
                  options:
                    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
                    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
                    namespace: "monitoring"
                    name: "thanos-querier"
              - title: thanos-ruler
                colSpan: 3
                plugin:
                  name: insights
                  type: app
                  options:
                    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
                    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
                    namespace: "monitoring"
                    name: "thanos-ruler"
              - title: thanos-store
                colSpan: 3
                plugin:
                  name: insights
                  type: app
                  options:
                    satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
                    cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
                    namespace: "monitoring"
                    name: "thanos-store"

Insights

`userapplications`

The userapplications plugin can be used to display the applications which are owned by the teams a user is a member of. This plugin doesn't require any options and is inteded to be used within a User CR to customize a users profile page.

User Applications

`userteams`

The userteams plugin can be used to display the team a user is a member of. This plugin doesn't require any options and is inteded to be used within a User CR to customize a users profile page.

User Teams

`dashboards`

The dashboards plugin can be used to display a list of dashboards within a dashboard. The plugin requires the following options:

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellite	string	The satellite of the dashboard.	Yes
cluster	string	The cluster of the dashboard.	Yes
namespace	string	The namespace of the dashboard.	Yes
name	string	The name of the dashboard	Yes
title	string	The title of the dashboard.	Yes
description	string	An optional description for the dashboard.	No
placeholders	map	A map of placeholders for the dashboard, with the placeholder name as key and the placeholder value as value.	No

plugin:
  name: dashboards
  type: app
  options:
    - satellite: "<% $.satellite %>"
      cluster: "<% $.cluster %>"
      namespace: kobs
      name: elasticsearch-details
      title: Details
      placeholders:
        namespace: "{% .namespace %}"
        cluster: "{% .cluster %}"

`markdown`

The markdown plugin can be used to display a Markdown formatted text within a dashboard. The plugin requires the following options:

Field	Type	Description	Required
text	string	The markdown formatted text.	Yes

plugin:
  name: markdown
  type: app
  options:
    text: |
      The application displays information about a
      book, similar to a single catalog entry of an online book store. Displayed
      on the page is a description of the book, book details (ISBN, number of
      pages, and so on), and a few book reviews.

      The Bookinfo application is broken into four separate microservices:

      * `productpage`. The `productpage` microservice calls the `details` and `reviews` microservices to populate the page.
      * `details`. The `details` microservice contains book information.
      * `reviews`. The `reviews` microservice contains book reviews. It also calls the `ratings` microservice.
      * `ratings`. The `ratings` microservice contains book ranking information that accompanies a book review.

      There are 3 versions of the `reviews` microservice:

      * Version v1 doesn't call the `ratings` service.
      * Version v2 calls the `ratings` service, and displays each rating as 1 to 5 black stars.
      * Version v3 calls the `ratings` service, and displays each rating as 1 to 5 red stars.

      The end-to-end architecture of the application is shown below.

      ![Bookinfo Application without Istio](https://istio.io/latest/docs/examples/bookinfo/noistio.svg)

      This application is polyglot, i.e., the microservices are written in different languages.
      It's worth noting that these services have no dependencies on Istio, but make an interesting
      service mesh example, particularly because of the multitude of services, languages and versions
      for the `reviews` service.

Markdown

`resources`

The resources plugin can be used to display Kubernetes resources within a dashboard. The plugin can be used in the notifications or in a panel within a dashboard.

Panel Options

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellites	[]string	A list of satellites for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
clusters	[]string	A list of clusters for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
namespaces	[]string	A list of namespaces for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
resources	[]string	A list of resources for which the resources should be shown. The following strings can be used as resource: `cronjobs`, `daemonsets`, `deployments`, `jobs`, `pods`, `replicasets`, `statefulsets`, `endpoints`, `horizontalpodautoscalers`, `ingresses`, `networkpolicies`, `services`, `configmaps`, `persistentvolumeclaims`, `persistentvolumes`, `poddisruptionbudgets`, `secrets`, `serviceaccounts`, `storageclasses`, `clusterrolebindings`, `clusterroles`, `rolebindings`, `roles`, `events`, `nodes`, `podsecuritypolicies`. A Custom Resource can be used as follows `<name>.<group>/<version>` (e.g. `vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1`).	Yes
selector	string	A label selector for the resources.	No
columns	[]Column	An optional list of columns to customize the shown fields for a resource.	No
filter	string	An optional filter using JSONPath to filter the list of resources.	No

Column

Field	Type	Description	Required
title	string	A title for the column.	Yes
resource	string	The name of the resource for which the column should be used.	Yes
jsonPath	string	The JSONPath which should be used to select the value from the resource manifest file.	Yes
type	string	An optional type for formatting the column values. Currently only `date` is supported as special formatter.	No

Notification Options

Field	Type	Description	Required
satellites	[]string	A list of satellites for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
clusters	[]string	A list of clusters for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
namespaces	[]string	A list of namespaces for which the resources should be shown.	Yes
resources	[]string	A list of resources for which the resources should be shown. The following strings can be used as resource: `cronjobs`, `daemonsets`, `deployments`, `jobs`, `pods`, `replicasets`, `statefulsets`, `endpoints`, `horizontalpodautoscalers`, `ingresses`, `networkpolicies`, `services`, `configmaps`, `persistentvolumeclaims`, `persistentvolumes`, `poddisruptionbudgets`, `secrets`, `serviceaccounts`, `storageclasses`, `clusterrolebindings`, `clusterroles`, `rolebindings`, `roles`, `events`, `nodes`, `podsecuritypolicies`. A Custom Resource can be used as follows `<name>.<group>/<version>` (e.g. `vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1`).	Yes
selector	string	A label selector for the resources.	No
columns	[]Column	An optional list of columns to customize the shown fields for a resource.	No
filter	string	An optional filter using JSONPath to filter the list of resources.	No

plugin:
  name: resources
  type: app
  options:
    satellites:
      - kobs
    clusters:
      - kobs
    namespaces:
      - bookinfo
    resources:
      - pods
      - deployments
      - services
    selector: app=productpage

Note

If you want to display Kubernetes resources from the same satellite / cluster / namespace as it is used in an application / user / team / dashboard you can use the following JSONPath to set the values: <% $.satellite %>, <% $.cluster %>, <% $.namespace %> and <% $.name %>. For example the following configuration would display all pods and deployments with from the same satellite, cluster and namespace where the application lives.

plugin:
  name: resources
  type: app
  options:
    satellites:
      - "<% $.satellite %>"
    clusters:
      - "<% $.cluster %>"
    namespaces:
      - "<% $.namespace %>"
    resources:
      - pods
      - deployments
    selector: app.kubernetes.io/name="<% $.name %>"

Example 1 with Custom Columns

plugin:
  name: resources
  type: app
  options:
    satellites:
      - "<% $.satellite %>"
    clusters:
      - "<% $.cluster %>"
    namespaces:
      - bookinfo
    resources:
      - pods
      - deployments
    selector: app=reviews
    columns:
      - title: Image
        resource: pods
        jsonPath: "$.spec.containers[?(@.name==='bookinfo')].image"
      - title: Creation Time
        resource: pods
        jsonPath: "$.metadata.creationTimestamp"
        type: date
      - title: Image
        resource: deployments
        jsonPath: "$.spec.template.spec.containers[*].image"

Example 2 with Custom Columns

plugin:
  name: resources
  type: app
  options:
    satellites:
      - "<% $.satellite %>"
    clusters:
      - "<% $.cluster %>"
    namespaces:
      - bookinfo
    resources:
      - vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
    columns:
      - title: Status
        resource: vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
        jsonPath: "$.status.conditions[*].status"
      - title: Reason
        resource: vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
        jsonPath: "$.status.conditions[*].reason"
      - title: Type
        resource: vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
        jsonPath: "$.status.conditions[*].type"
      - title: Message
        resource: vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
        jsonPath: "$.status.conditions[*].message"
      - title: Last Transition Time
        resource: vaultsecrets.ricoberger.de/v1alpha1
        jsonPath: "$.status.conditions[*].lastTransitionTime"
        type: date

`static`

The static plugin can be used within the variables section of a dashboard, to define a static list of variable values. The options for this plugin is a list of strings with the possible values for the variable:

variables:
  - name: var_reporter
    label: Reporter
    plugin:
      name: static
      type: app
      options:
        - destination
        - source