Kubernetes Secrets in KubeSphere

A Kubernetes Secret is used to store and manage sensitive information, such as passwords, OAuth tokens, and ssh keys. To use a Secret, a Pod needs to reference it in one of the following ways.

  • As a file in a volume mounted and consumed by containerized applications running in a Pod.
  • As environment variables used by containers in a Pod.
  • As image registry credentials when images are pulled for the Pod by the kubelet.

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a Secret in KubeSphere.

Prerequisites

You need to create a workspace, a project and a user (project-regular). The user must be invited to the project with the role of operator. For more information, see Create Workspaces, Projects, Users and Roles.

Create a Kubernetes Secret

Step 1: Open the dashboard

Log in to the console as project-regular. Go to Configuration of a project, select Secrets and click Create.

Step 2: Enter basic information

Specify a name for the Secret (for example, demo-secret) and click Next to continue.

Tip

You can see the Secret’s manifest file in YAML format by enabling Edit YAML in the upper-right corner. KubeSphere allows you to edit the manifest file directly to create a Secret. Alternatively, you can follow the steps below to create a Secret via the dashboard.

Step 3: Set a Secret

  1. Under the tab Data Settings, you must select a Secret type. In KubeSphere, you can create the following Kubernetes Secret types, indicated by the type field.

    Note

    For all Secret types, values for all keys under the field data in the manifest must be base64-encoded strings. After you specify values on the KubeSphere dashboard, KubeSphere converts them into corresponding base64 character values in the YAML file. For example, if you enter password and hello123 for Key and Value respectively on the Edit Data page when you create the default type of Secret, the actual value displaying in the YAML file is aGVsbG8xMjM= (namely, hello123 in base64 format), automatically created by KubeSphere.

    • Default. The type of Opaque in Kubernetes, which is also the default Secret type in Kubernetes. You can create arbitrary user-defined data for this type of Secret. Click Add Data to add key-value pairs for it.

    • TLS information. The type of kubernetes.io/tls in Kubernetes, which is used to store a certificate and its associated key that are typically used for TLS, such as TLS termination of Ingress resources. You must specify Credential and Private Key for it, indicated by tls.crt and tls.key in the YAML file respectively.

    • Image registry information. The type of kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson in Kubernetes, which is used to store the credentials for accessing a Docker registry for images. For more information, see Image Registries.

    • Username and password. The type of kubernetes.io/basic-auth in Kubernetes, which is used to store credentials needed for basic authentication. You must specify Username and Password for it, indicated by username and password in the YAML file respectively.

  2. For this tutorial, select the default type of Secret. Click Add Data and enter the Key (MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD) and Value (123456) to specify a Secret for MySQL.

  3. Click √ in the lower-right corner to confirm. You can continue to add key-value pairs to the Secret or click Create to finish the creation. For more information about how to use the Secret, see Compose and Deploy WordPress.

Check Secret Details

  1. After a Secret is created, it will be displayed in the list. You can click icon on the right and select the operation from the menu to modify it.

    • Edit Information: View and edit the basic information.
    • Edit YAML: View, upload, download, or update the YAML file.
    • Edit Settings: Modify the key-value pair of the Secret.
    • Delete: Delete the Secret.

  2. Click the name of the Secret and you can go to its details page. Under the tab Data, you can see all the key-value pairs you have added for the Secret.

    Note

    As mentioned above, KubeSphere automatically converts the value of a key into its corresponding base64 character value. To see the actual decoded value, click icon on the right.

  3. Click More to display what operations about this Secret you can do.

    • Edit YAML: View, upload, download, or update the YAML file.
    • Edit Secret: Modify the key-value pair of the Secret.
    • Delete: Delete the Secret, and return to the list page.

How to Use a Kubernetes Secret

Generally, you need to use a Secret when you create workloads, Services, Jobs or CronJobs. For example, you can select a Secret for a code repository. For more information, see Image Registries.

Alternatively, you may need to add environment variables for containers. On the Container Image page, select Environment Variables and click From secret to use a Secret from the list.

Create the Most Common Secrets

This section shows how to create Secrets from your Docker Hub account and GitHub account.

Create the Docker Hub Secret

  1. Log in to KubeSphere as project-regular and go to your project. Select Secrets from the navigation bar and click Create on the right.

  2. Set a name, such as dockerhub-id, and click Next. On the Data Settings page, fill in the following fields and click Validate to verify whether the information provided is valid.

    Type: Select Image registry information.

    Registry Address: Enter the Docker Hub registry address, such as docker.io.

    Username: Enter your Docker ID.

    Password: Enter your Docker Hub password.

  3. Click Create to finish.

Create the GitHub Secret

  1. Log in to KubeSphere as project-regular and go to your project. Select Secrets from the navigation bar and click Create on the right.

  2. Set a name, such as github-id, and click Next. On the Data Settings page, fill in the following fields.

    Type: Select Username and password.

    Username: Enter your GitHub account.

    Password: Enter your GitHub password.

  3. Click Create to finish.

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