LeanIX Kubernetes Connector

Note: This document is intended solely for developers. VSM users should follow the LeanIX VSM docs.

The LeanIX Kubernetes Connector collects information from Kubernetes.

Overview

The LeanIX Kubernetes Connector (Integration Hub self start) runs in the Kubernetes cluster as a container itself and collects information from the cluster like namespaces, deployments, pods, etc. The information are sanitized and brought into the LDIF (LeanIX Data Interchange Format) format that LeanIX understands. If custom storage backend is enabled, The output then is stored in the kubernetes.ldif file that gets imported into LeanIX. The progress is updated to Integration Hub datasource. The Integration API run is taken care by Integration Hub.

Getting started

Depending on how you would like to run the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector the installation steps differ a bit and depends on the selected storage backend.

Integration Hub

Connector template

vsm-k8s-connector

Architecture

The LeanIX Kubernetes Connector gets deployed via a Helm chart into the Kubernetes cluster as a CronJob. All necessary requirements like the ServiceAccount, the ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding are deployed also by the Helm chart.

Only necessary permissions are given to the connector as the default ClusterRole view and additional permissions listed below that are not part of the ClusterRole view.

Kubernetes ClusterRole view

apiGroups	resources	verbs
""	nodes, persistentvolumes	get, list, watch
"apiextensions.k8s.io"	customresourcedefinitions	get, list, watch
"policy"	podsecuritypolicies	get, list, watch
"rbac.authorization.k8s.io"	roles, clusterroles, rolebindings, clusterrolebindings	get, list, watch
"storage.k8s.io"	storageclasses	get, list, watch

The CronJob is configured to run every hour and spins up a new pod of the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector. If the flag is enabled, As mentioned in the overview the connector creates the kubernetes.ldif file and logs into the leanix-k8s-connector.log file.

Currently, two storage backend types are natively supported by the connector.

file
azureblob

The file storage backend lets you use every storage that can be provided to Kubernetes through a PersistentVolume and a PersistentVolumeClaim.

When using the file storage backend you must pre-create the PersistentVolume and PersistentVolumeClaim the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector should use.

The azureblob storage backend leverages an Azure Storage account you must provide to store the .ldif and .log files.

Release process

A release can be triggered on the main branch by selecting the "Release tag version" workflow and dispatching a workflow manually. The input is the new version number and a description of the release/ the changes. The workflow will:

create a github tag with the specified semantic version
build the go binary
build and push the docker image
create a github release
create a pull request with the updated helm chart and repo index

Installation - Helm chart

Before you can install the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector make sure that the following pre-requisites are fulfilled on your local workstation.

kubectl is installed
helm client is installed
git is installed

Pre-release versions

If you want to install pre-release versions of the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector, append the helm CLI commands with --devel.

Add LeanIX Kubernetes Connector Helm chart repository

Before you can install the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector via the provided Helm chart you must add the Helm chart repository first.

helm repo add leanix 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leanix/leanix-k8s-connector/master/helm/'
helm repo update
helm repo list

The output of the helm repo list command should look like this.

NAME                  URL
stable                https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com
local                 http://127.0.0.1:8879/charts
leanix                https://raw.githubusercontent.com/leanix/leanix-k8s-connector/master/helm/

A list of the available LeanIX Kubernetes connector Helm chart versions can be retrieved with the command helm search repo leanix.

NAME                                        CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION
leanix/leanix-k8s-connector                 1.0.0         1.0.0       Retrieves information from Kubernetes cluster

Setting up data source in LeanIX workspace

Create a new data source with k8s connector template(mentioned above) and add required parameters

Integration Hub connector configuration

Name	Format	Default	Mandatory
resolveStrategy	label/namespace	empty	✅
resolveLabel	plain text	empty	❌

Integration API Default Configuration

Default configurations are a list of Integration API configurations that are available on all workspaces automatically. Availability and visibility can be still controlled using feature flags. The default configurations show all processor configuration for a given workspace.

In the context of leanix-k8s-connector the configuration file integration-api-default-config has feature flags integration.integrationapi and integration.vsm.k8s which needs to be enabled.

Sample Default configuration Explained

It is important to know iff certain changes on this file are needed and if you have no idea. Please contact #team-helios on Slack.

Additionally in the References Section you can find the Confulence link to details of Default Configurations.

Starting Connector in k8s

NOTE: The LeanIX Integration API options requires an API token. See the LeanIX technical documentation on how to obtain one. LeanIX Technical Documentation

NOTE: Make sure Integration Hub data source is setup on the workspace

Create a Kubernetes secret with the LeanIX API token.

kubectl create secret generic api-token --from-literal=token={LEANIX_API_TOKEN}

The following configuration example for quick start

Parameter	Default value	Provided value	Notes
integrationApi.fqdn	""	app.leanix.net	The FQDN of your LeanIX instance
integrationApi.secretName	""	api-token	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the LeanIX API token.
integrationApi.datasourceName	""	aks-cluster-k8s-connector	The name of the datasource configured on the workspace
schedule.standard	0 /1 * *		CronJob schedule. Defaults to every hour, when you enabled the LeanIX Integration API option. Schedule lowest possible value is every hour
lxWorkspace	""	00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	The UUID of the LeanIX workspace the data is sent to. Make sure Integration Hub data source is also setup in the same workspace
verbose	false	true	Enables verbose logging on the stdout interface of the container.
blacklistNameSpaces	kube-system	kube-system, default	Namespaces that are not scanned by the connector. Must be provided in the format `"{kube-system,default}"` when using the `--set` option. Wildcard blacklisting is also supported e.g. `"{kube-,default}"` or `"{-system,default}"`.
enableCustomStorage	false	false	Disable/enable custom storage backend option. Even if disabled the connector works

helm upgrade --install leanix-k8s-connector leanix/leanix-k8s-connector \
--set integrationApi.fqdn=app.leanix.net \
--set integrationApi.secretName=api-token \
--set integrationApi.datasourceName=aks-cluster-k8s-connector \
--set args.lxWorkspace=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 \
--set args.verbose=true \
--set args.blacklistNamespaces="{kube-system,default}"

Beside the option to override the default values and provide values via the --set option of the helm command, you can also edit the values.yaml file.

...
integrationApi:
  fqdn: "app.leanix.net"
  secretName: "api-token"
  datasourceName: "aks-cluster-k8s-connector"

schedule:
  standard: "0 */1 * * *"
...
args:
  lxWorkspace: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
  verbose: true
  blacklistNamespaces:
  - "kube-system"
  - "default"
...

The following configuration example assumes that you use the azureblob storage backend.

Parameter	Default value	Provided value	Notes
integrationApi.fqdn	""	app.leanix.net	The FQDN of your LeanIX instance
integrationApi.secretName	""	api-token	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the LeanIX API token.
integrationApi.datasourceName	""	aks-cluster-k8s-connector	The name of the datasource configured on the workspace
schedule.standard	0 /1 * *		CronJob schedule. Defaults to every hour, when you enabled the LeanIX Integration API option. Schedule lowest possible value is every hour
lxWorkspace	""	00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	The UUID of the LeanIX workspace the data is sent to. Make sure Integration Hub data source is also setup in the same workspace
verbose	false	true	Enables verbose logging on the stdout interface of the container.
storageBackend	none	azureblob	The default value for the storage backend is `none`, if not provided.
secretName	""	azure-secret	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the Azure Storage account credentials.
container	""	leanixk8sconnector	The name of the container used to store the `kubernetes.ldif` and `leanix-k8s-connector.log` files.
blacklistNameSpaces	kube-system	kube-system, default	Namespaces that are not scanned by the connector. Must be provided in the format `"{kube-system,default}"` when using the `--set` option. Wildcard blacklisting is also supported e.g. `"{kube-,default}"` or `"{-system,default}"`.
enableCustomStorage	false	true	Disable/enable custom storage backend option. Even if disabled the connector works

helm upgrade --install leanix-k8s-connector leanix/leanix-k8s-connector \
--set integrationApi.fqdn=app.leanix.net \
--set integrationApi.secretName=api-token \
--set integrationApi.datasourceName=aks-cluster-k8s-connector \
--set args.lxWorkspace=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 \
--set args.verbose=true \
--set args.enableCustomStorage=true \
--set args.storageBackend=azureblob \
--set args.azureblob.secretName=azure-secret \
--set args.azureblob.container=leanixk8sconnector \
--set args.blacklistNamespaces="{kube-system,default}"

Beside the option to override the default values and provide values via the --set option of the helm command, you can also edit the values.yaml file.

...
integrationApi:
  fqdn: "app.leanix.net"
  secretName: "api-token"
  datasourceName: "aks-cluster-k8s-connector"

schedule:
  standard: "0 */1 * * *"
...
args:
  lxWorkspace: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
  verbose: true
  enableCustomStorage: true
  storageBackend: azureblob
  file:
    localFilePath: "/mnt/leanix-k8s-connector"
    claimName: ""
  azureblob:
    secretName: "azure-secret"
    container: "leanixk8sconnector"
  blacklistNamespaces:
  - "kube-system"
  - "default"
...

file storage backend

The first step to get started with the file storage backend type is to create the PersistentVolume and PersistentVolumeClaim in advance.

In the following example the creation of a PV and PVC to connect to Azure Files is shown.

Start with the creation of an Azure Storage account and an Azure file share as described in the Azure documentation. In our example we used leanixk8sconnector as file share name.

Create a storage account
Create a file share in Azure Files

Next, create a Kubernetes secret with the Azure Storage account name and the Azure Storage account key. The information about the name and the key can be retrieved directly via the Azure portal.

Access keys

kubectl create secret generic azure-secret --from-literal=azurestorageaccountname={STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME} --from-literal=azurestorageaccountkey={STORAGE_KEY}

Afterwards create the PV and PVC using the template below running the kubectl apply -f template.yaml command.

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: azurefile
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 1Gi
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  azureFile:
    secretName: azure-secret
    shareName: leanixk8sconnector
    readOnly: false
  mountOptions:
  - dir_mode=0777
  - file_mode=0777
  - uid=1000
  - gid=1000
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: azurefile
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteMany
  volumeName: azurefile
  storageClassName: ""
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

Run kubectl get pv && kubectl get pvc and check your output. It should look like this.

NAME        CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   RECLAIM POLICY   STATUS   CLAIM               STORAGECLASS   REASON   AGE
azurefile   1Gi        RWX            Retain           Bound    default/azurefile                           45s
NAME        STATUS   VOLUME      CAPACITY   ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
azurefile   Bound    azurefile   1Gi        RWX                           45s

Finally, we use the Helm chart deploying the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector to the Kubernetes cluster.

The following command deploys the connector to the Kubernetes cluster and overwrites the parameters in the values.yaml file.

Parameter	Default value	Provided value	Notes
integrationApi.fqdn	""	app.leanix.net	The FQDN of your LeanIX instance
integrationApi.secretName	""	api-token	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the LeanIX API token.
integrationApi.datasourceName	""	aks-cluster-k8s-connector	The name of the datasource configured on the workspace
schedule.standard	0 /1 * *		CronJob schedule. Defaults to every hour.
lxWorkspace	""	00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	The UUID of the LeanIX workspace the data is sent to.
verbose	false	true	Enables verbose logging on the stdout interface of the container.
storageBackend	none	file	The default value for the storage backend is `none`, if not provided.
localFilePath	/mnt/leanix-k8s-connector		The path that is used for mounting the PVC into the container and storing the `kubernetes.ldif` and `leanix-k8s-connector.log` files.
claimName	""	azurefile	The name of the PVC used to store the `kubernetes.ldif` and `leanix-k8s-connector.log` files.
blacklistNameSpaces	kube-system	kube-system, default	Namespaces that are not scanned by the connector. Must be provided in the format `"{kube-system,default}"` when using the `--set` option. Wildcard blacklisting is also supported e.g. `"{kube-,default}"` or `"{-system,default}"`.
enableCustomStorage	false	true	Disable/enable custom storage backend option. Even if disabled the connector works

helm upgrade --install leanix-k8s-connector leanix/leanix-k8s-connector \
--set integrationApi.fqdn=app.leanix.net \
--set integrationApi.secretName=api-token \
--set integrationApi.datasourceName=aks-cluster-k8s-connector \
--set args.lxWorkspace=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 \
--set args.verbose=true \
--set args.enableCustomStorage=true \
  storageBackend= file \
--set args.file.claimName=azurefile \
--set args.blacklistNamespaces="{kube-system,default}"

Beside the option to override the default values and provide values via the --set option of the helm command, you can also edit the values.yaml file.

...
integrationApi:
  fqdn: "app.leanix.net"
  secretName: "api-token"
  datasourceName: "aks-cluster-k8s-connector"

schedule:
  standard: "0 */1 * * *"
...
args:
  lxWorkspace: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
  verbose: true
  enableCustomStorage: true
  storageBackend: file
  file:
    localFilePath: "/mnt/leanix-k8s-connector"
    claimName: "azurefile"
  azureblob:
    secretName: ""
    container: ""
  blacklistNamespaces:
  - "kube-system"
  - "default"
...

azureblob storage backend

The first step to get started with the azureblob storage backend type is to create an Azure Storage account as described in the Azure documentation.

Create a storage account

Next, create a Kubernetes secret which contains the Azure Storage account name and the Azure Storage account key. The information about the name and the key can be retrieved directly via the Azure portal.

Access keys

kubectl create secret generic azure-secret --from-literal=azurestorageaccountname={STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME} --from-literal=azurestorageaccountkey={STORAGE_KEY}

Finally, we use the Helm chart deploying the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector to the Kubernetes cluster.

The following command deploys the connector to the Kubernetes cluster and overwrites the parameters in the values.yaml file.

Parameter	Default value	Provided value	Notes
integrationApi.fqdn	""	app.leanix.net	The FQDN of your LeanIX instance
integrationApi.secretName	""	api-token	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the LeanIX API token.
integrationApi.datasourceName	""	aks-cluster-k8s-connector	The name of the datasource configured on the workspace
schedule.standard	0 /1 * *		CronJob schedule. Defaults to every hour.
lxWorkspace	""	00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000	The UUID of the LeanIX workspace the data is sent to.
verbose	false	true	Enables verbose logging on the stdout interface of the container.
storageBackend	none	azureblob	The default value for the storage backend is `none`, if not provided.
secretName	""	azure-secret	The name of the Kubernetes secret containing the Azure Storage account credentials.
container	""	leanixk8sconnector	The name of the container used to store the `kubernetes.ldif` and `leanix-k8s-connector.log` files.
blacklistNameSpaces	kube-system	kube-system, default	Namespaces that are not scanned by the connector. Must be provided in the format `"{kube-system,default}"` when using the `--set` option. Wildcard blacklisting is also supported e.g. `"{kube-,default}"` or `"{-system,default}"`.
enableCustomStorage	false	true	Disable/enable custom storage backend option. Even if disabled the connector works

helm upgrade --install leanix-k8s-connector leanix/leanix-k8s-connector \
--set integrationApi.fqdn=app.leanix.net \
--set integrationApi.secretName=api-token \
--set integrationApi.datasourceName=aks-cluster-k8s-connector \
--set args.lxWorkspace=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 \
--set args.verbose=true \
--set args.enableCustomStorage=true \
--set args.storageBackend=azureblob \
--set args.azureblob.secretName=azure-secret \
--set args.azureblob.container=leanixk8sconnector \
--set args.blacklistNamespaces="{kube-system,default}"

Beside the option to override the default values and provide values via the --set option of the helm command, you can also edit the values.yaml file.

...
integrationApi:
  fqdn: "app.leanix.net"
  secretName: "api-token"
  datasourceName: "aks-cluster-k8s-connector"

schedule:
  standard: "*/1 * * * *"
  integrationApi: "0 */1 * * *"
...
args:
  lxWorkspace: "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
  verbose: true
  enableCustomStorage: true
  storageBackend: azureblob
  file:
    localFilePath: "/mnt/leanix-k8s-connector"
    claimName: ""
  azureblob:
    secretName: "azure-secret"
    container: "leanixk8sconnector"
  blacklistNamespaces:
  - "kube-system"
  - "default"
...

Optional - Advanced deployment settings

Depending on your corporate policies / permission set the creation of ClusterRoles or ClusterRoleBindings are done beforehand. You then can set in the values.yaml the following setting to true or use --set when installing the Helm chart to override the default value.

...
clusterRoleAlreadyCreated: true
...

Furthermore, when you use different user ids and group ids in your environment than the provided default. You can set them in the values.yaml or use --set when installing the Helm chart to override the default values.

...
securityContext:
  userId: 1337
  groupId: 1337
...

If you are in need to provide additional ENV values you can do so by setting them in the values.yaml or use --set when installing the Helm chart to override the default values.

...
args:
...
  additionalEnv:
    FOO: "BAR"
...

Developer Environment Setup

NOTE: Make sure Integration Hub data source is setup on the workspace

The connector can be published to a minikube instance

Steps

install minikube
If already installed make sure you run

minikube delete
Start minikube instance

minikube start --insecure-registry="<your-ip eg:192. ..>:5000"
Open minikube dashboard

minikube dashboard

By default, The cronJob pulls the image from docker hub. To override the behaviour:

Install local docker image registry (https://www.docker.com/blog/how-to-use-your-own-registry-2/)
Run registry locally

docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --name registry registry:2.7
Use Makefile.local

make -f Makefile.local clean build image docker tag leanix-dev/leanix-k8s-connector localhost:5000/leanix-dev/leanix-k8s-connector:1.0.0-dev docker push localhost:5000/leanix-dev/leanix-k8s-connector:1.0.0-dev
- or make -f Makefile.local local
Finally, run the command

helm upgrade --install --devel leanix-k8s-connector leanix/leanix-k8s-connector \ --set image.repository=192.168.29.244:5000/leanix-dev/leanix-k8s-connector \ --set image.tag=1.0.0-dev \ --set integrationApi.fqdn=app.leanix.net \ --set integrationApi.secretName=api-token \ --set integrationApi.datasourceName=k8s-connector-test \ --set args.lxWorkspace=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000 \ --set args.verbose=true \ --set enableCustomStorage=true --set args.storageBackend=azureblob \ --set args.azureblob.secretName=azure-secret \ --set args.azureblob.container=leanixk8sconnector \ --set args.blacklistNamespaces="{kube-system}"

Make sure you are using --devel flag to get the latest helm chart version

Known issues

If the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector pod resides in an Error or CrashLoopBackOff state and you issued a helm upgrade --install command to fix it, you still the see the same pod instead of a new one.

This is not an issue of the LeanIX Kubernetes Connector itself. Instead it takes several minutes in this case until the CronJob creates a new pod.

If you do not want to wait until Kubernetes fix it itself, you can just delete the Job object.

Run kubectl get jobs.batch and look for the Job object with COMPLETIONS 0/1.

NAME                              COMPLETIONS   DURATION   AGE
leanix-k8s-connector-1563961200   0/1           20m        20m

Issue kubectl delete jobs.batch leanix-k8s-connector-1563961200 and you should see a new pod coming up afterwards.

Migration docs

6.0.0 to 6.1.0

This migration involves changes to make the helm configurations much simpler. The operator does not have to worry about such parameters while scanning the data source.
- The following helm values can not be set as parameters anymore. Therefore, no need to use them either in helm commands or values.yaml.
  - args.clustername : The iHUB connector configuration for the k8s integration is extended to capture the 'clusterName'.
  - args.connectorID, args.connectorVersion, args.processingMode : Here these values are set by default and no need to set with helm commands or values.yaml

4.0.0 to 5.0.0

New flag enableCustomStorage is introduced. This flags allows to disable the option to upload LDIF to custom storage backend. Disabling the flag will not affect the functionality of the connector.
The default value is false. The new flag needs to be added with true value for same behaviour even after k8s connector upgrade to 5.0.0. --set args.enableCustomStorage=true
args.storageBackend default is changed to none. Rename according to your configuration. Previously default value was file. e.g --set args.storageBackend=file

3.0.0 to 4.0.0

Converted to a self-start connector of Integration Hub. Data source must be configured in the workspace before setting up the connector.
New mandatory flag is introduced to work with Integration hub data source - integrationApi.datasourceName
LDIF is still uploaded to choosen backend including the Integration Hub to trigger Integration API automatically. Hence integrationApi.enabled flag is removed
All the flags which are required when integrationapi.enabled is true should be passed such as integrationApi.fqdn, integrationApi.secretName
Integration API connector is automatically provisioned to the workspace. Dependency on cloud-beta is removed by introducing custom fields - resolveStrategy, resolveLabel
Integration API connector type is changed to leanix-mi-connector and connector id to leanix-k8s-connector hence the connector version is changed to 1.0.0. The default value is also changed to 1.0.0 from 1.1.1
schedule.integrationApi flag is removed and there is a single schedule.standard
Lowest possible value for schedule.standard is every hour

Version history

CHANGELOG

References for detailed understanding

Integration API
Integration Hub
Default Config iAPI

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README.md

README.md

LeanIX Kubernetes Connector

Table of contents

Overview

Getting started

Integration Hub

Connector template

Architecture

Release process

Installation - Helm chart

Pre-release versions

Add LeanIX Kubernetes Connector Helm chart repository

Setting up data source in LeanIX workspace

Integration Hub connector configuration

Integration API Default Configuration

Starting Connector in k8s

file storage backend

azureblob storage backend

Optional - Advanced deployment settings

Developer Environment Setup

Steps

Known issues

Migration docs

6.0.0 to 6.1.0

4.0.0 to 5.0.0

3.0.0 to 4.0.0

Version history

References for detailed understanding

Files

README.md

Latest commit

History

README.md

File metadata and controls

LeanIX Kubernetes Connector

Table of contents

Overview

Getting started

Integration Hub

Connector template

Architecture

Release process

Installation - Helm chart

Pre-release versions

Add LeanIX Kubernetes Connector Helm chart repository

Setting up data source in LeanIX workspace

Integration Hub connector configuration

Integration API Default Configuration

Starting Connector in k8s

file storage backend

azureblob storage backend

Optional - Advanced deployment settings

Developer Environment Setup

Steps

Known issues

Migration docs

6.0.0 to 6.1.0

4.0.0 to 5.0.0

3.0.0 to 4.0.0

Version history

References for detailed understanding