So the idea is Kubernetes dashboard accesses Kubernetes API to give us beautiful visualizations of different 'kinds' running in the Kubernetes cluster and the method by which we access the Kubernetes dashboard is by the proxy mechanism of the Kubernetes API which can then be exposed to a public host for public access.
My question would be is there any possibility that we can access Kubernetes API proxy mechanism for some other service inside a Kubernetes cluster via that publically exposed address of Kubernetes Dashboard?
Sure you can. So after you set up your proxy with kubectl proxy
, you can access the services with this format:
http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/<service-name>:<port-name>/proxy/
For example for http-svc
and port name http
:
http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/default/services/http-svc:http/proxy/
Note: it's not necessarily for public access, but rather a proxy for you to connect from your public machine (say your laptop) to a private Kubernetes cluster.
You can do it by changing your service to NodePort
:
$ kubectl -n kube-system edit service kubernetes-dashboard
You should see yaml
representation of the service. Change type: ClusterIP
to type: NodePort
and save file.
Note: This way of accessing Dashboard is only possible if you choose to install your user certificates in the browser. Certificates used by kubeconfig file to contact API Server can be used.
Please check the following articles and URLs for better understanding:
Accessing Dashboard 1.7.X and above
Deploying a publicly accessible Kubernetes Dashboard
How to access kubernetes dashboard from outside cluster
Hope it will help you!