As announced, in this article Kubernetes resource view is in public preview, I will review and give my thoughts on this new feature Kubernetes Resource View in the Azure Portal compared to the OSS Kubernetes Dashboard (Web UI).
A prerequisite is that the AKS Cluster needs to be enable Azure AD integration.
The biggest convenience factor is to easily and quickly view between different AKS clusters and get a basic view of resources and do basic troubleshooting.
My general hassles with Kubernetes Dashboard is managing many Kubernetes clusters across of dev, test and prod environments.
- I usually have to login (one at a time) into each cluster with az aks get-credentials, load up the Kubernetes Dashboard application in the browser.
- I regularly get tangled up with permissions, network traffic issues, any DNS URLs, certificates and any client browser issues. This depends on the level of sophistication of each cluster and environment.
- I don’t like the frequent login timeouts with Kubernetes Dashboard, but there is a way to configure that, but the point is, it is another hassle to deal
Keep in mind, there is a way to clean up and streamline these hurdles and inconveniences with scripts and automation, but when managing a few clusters multiplied by dev, test and prod environments, it can get cumbersome and keeping everything consistent and up to date.
The following is a side by side comparison between Azure Portal’s Azure Kubernetes Service Resource Viewer and Kubernetes Dashboard.
Namespaces
Similar functionality and amount of information between both. I do like the Filter by namespace located above the list. I would prefer the search filter support a contains operation instead of exact match for added convenience.
Kubernetes dashboard does have a search bar, but it is global to all resources.
Namespaces – View & Edit YAML
Great to see that there is the ability to save YAML updates
Namespaces – Events
Workloads
I like the user experience with the three filters by pod name, status and namespace. However, there is no (or at least not yet) pie charts of workload status that is offered in Kubernetes Dashboard.
Pod Details
I like the tabbed navigation between Init Containers, Containers and Conditions
Kubernetes Dashboard still shows more details
Pod Details – YAML
Azure Portal Supports text search (ctrl + F) just as it does for K8s Dashboard.
Pod Details – Events
Pod Details – Insights
A unique advantage of the Azure Portal Kubenetes Resources view is that it can leverage the Azure Monitor for Container Insights for performance related metrics done to the pods and containers.
Kubernetes Dashboard doesn’t have this capability.
Services and Ingresses
Overall, very similar in functionality.
Ingress Details
Same set of functionality as shown in above such as view and edit of the YAML and view its events.
Other Resources
Other resources not shown (yet) in the Azure Portal are the following:
And
Final Remarks
The Kubernetes Resources shown in the Azure Portal is very convenient and I would use often. Yet I would still use the Kubernetes Dashboard as it still offers more functionality and details.
References
Roy Kim on Azure and Microsoft 365 