Using the k8s dashboard on LKE

There will come a time when you need a live visualization of your Kubernetes clusters—seeing deployments, pods, secrets, monitoring metrics, and more. The Kubernetes Dashboard offers an intuitive web UI to manage and troubleshoot your workloads on Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE).

The image shows a Kubernetes management dashboard displaying details of a cluster named "kodekloudtest9292," including version, resources, and node pool status. It lists nodes with their status as "Running" and associated IP addresses."

From this single pane of glass, you can:

Deploy or edit containerized applications
Monitor pod and deployment status
View logs and resource usage
Troubleshoot issues with real-time metrics

1. Accessing the Dashboard

Log in to the Linode Cloud Manager.
Navigate to Kubernetes and select your cluster.
Click Kubernetes Dashboard.

You’ll be redirected to the login screen:

The image shows a login screen for the Kubernetes Dashboard, offering options to sign in using a token or kubeconfig file.

Authentication Methods

Method	Steps
kubeconfig	Click the ⋮ menu, upload your local `kubeconfig` file, then Sign In.
Token	Copy the bearer token from Cloud Manager and paste it into the Token field below.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Config
clusters:
- name: lke61875
  cluster:
    server: https://5d8f062c-9683-4326-8882-4cd8c1e02405.cpc-...
    certificate-authority-data: LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJJVUS...
users:
- name: lke61875-admin
  user:
    token: eyJhbGciOiJSUzI...
contexts:
- name: lke61875-ctx
  context:
    cluster: lke61875
    namespace: default
    user: lke61875-admin
current-context: lke61875-ctx

/HQTFVZEVRUU8KTUF50QNtDFZbV5YmlWFpYTxdEUVlKS29aWh2Y05BUUVMQ

Note

Tokens are scoped by RBAC rules. Ensure your service account has the correct role bindings to view the resources you need.

Click Sign In to open the dashboard.

2. Dashboard Overview

Upon first login (in the default namespace), you may see an empty view:

Warning

If you leave the dashboard exposed without proper authentication, anyone with the URL and token can view or modify your cluster. Always secure access.

Switching Namespaces

Use the namespace dropdown in the top-right corner to choose kube-system and inspect core components:

The image shows a Kubernetes dashboard displaying a list of running pods with details such as names, images, labels, nodes, and statuses.

3. Inspecting Deployments

Select Deployments under Workloads to view system controllers like CoreDNS and Calico:

The image shows a Kubernetes dashboard displaying the "Deployments" section, listing two deployments: "coredns" and "calico-kube-controllers," along with their respective images and labels.

4. Workloads Overview

Under Workloads, you can monitor all controllers:

Workload Type	Description
Daemon Sets	Run one pod per node (e.g., kube-proxy)
Deployments	Declarative updates & scaling
Replica Sets	Maintain a stable set of replicas
Pods	The smallest deployable unit

The image shows a Kubernetes dashboard interface displaying various workloads such as Daemon Sets, Deployments, Pods, and Replica Sets, each with a green circle indicating the number of running instances.

Click on any workload—for example, the kube-proxy DaemonSet—to inspect pod details:

The image shows a Kubernetes dashboard displaying the status of "kube-proxy" daemon sets, with details about pods, images, labels, nodes, and their running status.

5. Services, Config & Storage

Beyond workloads, the sidebar lets you explore:

Services: ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer endpoints
Config and Storage: ConfigMaps, Secrets, PersistentVolumes, PVCs
Access Control: Roles, RoleBindings, ServiceAccounts

6. Additional Resources

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