Customizing the web console in OKD

You can customize the OKD web console to set a custom logo, product name, links, notifications, and command line downloads. This is especially helpful if you need to tailor the web console to meet specific corporate or government requirements.

Adding a custom logo and product name

You can create custom branding by adding a custom logo or custom product name. You can set both or one without the other, as these settings are independent of each other.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

  • Create a file of the logo that you want to use. The logo can be a file in any common image format, including GIF, JPG, PNG, or SVG, and is constrained to a max-width of 200px and a max-height` of 68px. Image size must not exceed 1 MB due to constraints on the ConfigMap object size.

Procedure

  1. Import your logo file into a config map in the openshift-config namespace:

    1. $ oc create configmap console-custom-logo --from-file /path/to/console-custom-logo.png -n openshift-config

    You can alternatively apply the following YAML to create the config map:

    1. apiVersion: v1
    2. kind: ConfigMap
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: console-custom-logo
    5.   namespace: openshift-config
    6. binaryData:
    7.   console-custom-logo.png: <base64-encoded_logo> … (1)
    1Provide a valid base64-encoded logo.

  2. Edit the web console’s Operator configuration to include customLogoFile and customProductName:

    1. $ oc edit consoles.operator.openshift.io cluster
    1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: Console
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: cluster
    5. spec:
    6.   customization:
    7.     customLogoFile:
    8.       key: console-custom-logo.png
    9.       name: console-custom-logo
    10.     customProductName: My Console

    Once the Operator configuration is updated, it will sync the custom logo config map into the console namespace, mount it to the console pod, and redeploy.

  3. Check for success. If there are any issues, the console cluster Operator will report a Degraded status, and the console Operator configuration will also report a CustomLogoDegraded status, but with reasons like KeyOrFilenameInvalid or NoImageProvided.

    To check the clusteroperator, run:

    1. $ oc get clusteroperator console -o yaml

    To check the console Operator configuration, run:

    1. $ oc get consoles.operator.openshift.io -o yaml

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. From Administration → Custom Resource Definitions, click on ConsoleLink.

  2. Select Instances tab

  3. Click Create Console Link and edit the file:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleLink
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: example
    5. spec:
    6.   href: 'https://www.example.com'
    7.   location: HelpMenu (1)
    8.   text: Link 1
    1Valid location settings are HelpMenu, UserMenu, ApplicationMenu, and NamespaceDashboard.

    To make the custom link appear in all namespaces, follow this example:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleLink
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: namespaced-dashboard-link-for-all-namespaces
    5. spec:
    6.   href: 'https://www.example.com'
    7.   location: NamespaceDashboard
    8.   text: This appears in all namespaces

    To make the custom link appear in only some namespaces, follow this example:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleLink
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: namespaced-dashboard-for-some-namespaces
    5. spec:
    6.   href: 'https://www.example.com'
    7.   location: NamespaceDashboard
    8.   # This text will appear in a box called "Launcher" under "namespace" or "project" in the web console
    9.   text: Custom Link Text
    10.   namespaceDashboard:
    11.     namespaces:
    12.     # for these specific namespaces
    13.     - my-namespace
    14.     - your-namespace
    15.     - other-namespace

    To make the custom link appear in the application menu, follow this example:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleLink
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: application-menu-link-1
    5. spec:
    6.   href: 'https://www.example.com'
    7.   location: ApplicationMenu
    8.   text: Link 1
    9.   applicationMenu:
    10.     section: My New Section
    11.     # image that is 24x24 in size
    12.     imageURL: https://via.placeholder.com/24

  4. Click Save to apply your changes.

Customizing console routes

For console and downloads routes, custom routes functionality uses the ingress config route configuration API. If the console custom route is set up in both the ingress config and console-operator config, then the new ingress config custom route configuration takes precedent. The route configuration with the console-operator config is deprecated.

Customizing the console route

You can customize the console route by setting the custom hostname and TLS certificate in the spec.componentRoutes field of the cluster Ingress configuration.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

  • You have created a secret in the openshift-config namespace containing the TLS certificate and key. This is required if the domain for the custom hostname suffix does not match the cluster domain suffix. The secret is optional if the suffix matches.

    You can create a TLS secret by using the oc create secret tls command.

Procedure

  1. Edit the cluster Ingress configuration:

    1. $ oc edit ingress.config.openshift.io cluster

  2. Set the custom hostname and optionally the serving certificate and key:

    1. apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: Ingress
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: cluster
    5. spec:
    6.   componentRoutes:
    7.     - name: console
    8.       namespace: openshift-console
    9.       hostname: <custom_hostname> (1)
    10.       servingCertKeyPairSecret:
    11.         name: <secret_name> (2)
    1The custom hostname.
    2Reference to a secret in the openshift-config namespace that contains a TLS certificate (tls.crt) and key (tls.key). This is required if the domain for the custom hostname suffix does not match the cluster domain suffix. The secret is optional if the suffix matches.

  3. Save the file to apply the changes.

Customizing the download route

You can customize the download route by setting the custom hostname and TLS certificate in the spec.componentRoutes field of the cluster Ingress configuration.

Prerequisites

  • You have logged in to the cluster as a user with administrative privileges.

  • You have created a secret in the openshift-config namespace containing the TLS certificate and key. This is required if the domain for the custom hostname suffix does not match the cluster domain suffix. The secret is optional if the suffix matches.

    You can create a TLS secret by using the oc create secret tls command.

Procedure

  1. Edit the cluster Ingress configuration:

    1. $ oc edit ingress.config.openshift.io cluster

  2. Set the custom hostname and optionally the serving certificate and key:

    1. apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: Ingress
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: cluster
    5. spec:
    6.   componentRoutes:
    7.     - name: downloads
    8.       namespace: openshift-console
    9.       hostname: <custom_hostname> (1)
    10.       servingCertKeyPairSecret:
    11.         name: <secret_name> (2)
    1The custom hostname.
    2Reference to a secret in the openshift-config namespace that contains a TLS certificate (tls.crt) and key (tls.key). This is required if the domain for the custom hostname suffix does not match the cluster domain suffix. The secret is optional if the suffix matches.

  3. Save the file to apply the changes.

Customizing the login page

Create Terms of Service information with custom login pages. Custom login pages can also be helpful if you use a third-party login provider, such as GitHub or Google, to show users a branded page that they trust and expect before being redirected to the authentication provider. You can also render custom error pages during the authentication process.

Customizing the error template is limited to identity providers (IDPs) that use redirects, such as request header and OIDC-based IDPs. It does not have an effect on IDPs that use direct password authentication, such as LDAP and htpasswd.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. Run the following commands to create templates you can modify:

    1. $ oc adm create-login-template > login.html
    1. $ oc adm create-provider-selection-template > providers.html
    1. $ oc adm create-error-template > errors.html

  2. Create the secrets:

    1. $ oc create secret generic login-template --from-file=login.html -n openshift-config
    1. $ oc create secret generic providers-template --from-file=providers.html -n openshift-config
    1. $ oc create secret generic error-template --from-file=errors.html -n openshift-config

  3. Run:

    1. $ oc edit oauths cluster

  4. Update the specification:

    1. apiVersion: config.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: OAuth
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: cluster
    5. # ...
    6. spec:
    7.   templates:
    8.     error:
    9.         name: error-template
    10.     login:
    11.         name: login-template
    12.     providerSelection:
    13.         name: providers-template

    Run oc explain oauths.spec.templates to understand the options.

If you are connected to a service that helps you browse your logs, but you need to generate URLs in a particular way, then you can define a template for your link.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. From Administration → Custom Resource Definitions, click on ConsoleExternalLogLink.

  2. Select Instances tab

  3. Click Create Console External Log Link and edit the file:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleExternalLogLink
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: example
    5. spec:
    6.   hrefTemplate: >-
    7.     https://example.com/logs?resourceName=${resourceName}&containerName=${containerName}&resourceNamespace=${resourceNamespace}&podLabels=${podLabels}
    8.   text: Example Logs

Creating custom notification banners

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. From Administration → Custom Resource Definitions, click on ConsoleNotification.

  2. Select Instances tab

  3. Click Create Console Notification and edit the file:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleNotification
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: example
    5. spec:
    6.   text: This is an example notification message with an optional link.
    7.   location: BannerTop (1)
    8.   link:
    9.     href: 'https://www.example.com'
    10.     text: Optional link text
    11.   color: '#fff'
    12.   backgroundColor: '#0088ce'
    1Valid location settings are BannerTop, BannerBottom, and BannerTopBottom.

  4. Click Create to apply your changes.

Customizing CLI downloads

You can configure links for downloading the CLI with custom link text and URLs, which can point directly to file packages or to an external page that provides the packages.

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to Administration → Custom Resource Definitions.

  2. Select ConsoleCLIDownload from the list of Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs).

  3. Click the YAML tab, and then make your edits:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleCLIDownload
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: example-cli-download-links
    5. spec:
    6.   description: |
    7.     This is an example of download links
    8.   displayName: example
    9.   links:
    10.   - href: 'https://www.example.com/public/example.tar'
    11.     text: example for linux
    12.   - href: 'https://www.example.com/public/example.mac.zip'
    13.     text: example for mac
    14.   - href: 'https://www.example.com/public/example.win.zip'
    15.     text: example for windows

  4. Click the Save button.

Adding YAML examples to Kubernetes resources

You can dynamically add YAML examples to any Kubernetes resources at any time.

Prerequisites

  • You must have cluster administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. From Administration → Custom Resource Definitions, click on ConsoleYAMLSample.

  2. Click YAML and edit the file:

    1. apiVersion: console.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: ConsoleYAMLSample
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: example
    5. spec:
    6.   targetResource:
    7.     apiVersion: batch/v1
    8.     kind: Job
    9.   title: Example Job
    10.   description: An example Job YAML sample
    11.   yaml: |
    12.     apiVersion: batch/v1
    13.     kind: Job
    14.     metadata:
    15.       name: countdown
    16.     spec:
    17.       template:
    18.         metadata:
    19.           name: countdown
    20.         spec:
    21.           containers:
    22.           - name: counter
    23.             image: centos:7
    24.             command:
    25.             - "bin/bash"
    26.             - "-c"
    27.             - "for i in 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ; do echo $i ; done"
    28.           restartPolicy: Never

    Use spec.snippet to indicate that the YAML sample is not the full YAML resource definition, but a fragment that can be inserted into the existing YAML document at the user’s cursor.

  3. Click Save.

Customizing user perspectives

The OKD web console provides two perspectives by default, Administrator and Developer. You might have more perspectives available depending on installed console plugins. As a cluster administrator, you can show or hide a perspective for all users or for a specific user role. Customizing perspectives ensures that users can view only the perspectives that are applicable to their role and tasks. For example, you can hide the Administrator perspective from unprivileged users so that they cannot manage cluster resources, users, and projects. Similarly, you can show the Developer perspective to users with the developer role so that they can create, deploy, and monitor applications.

You can also customize the perspective visibility for users based on role-based access control (RBAC). For example, if you customize a perspective for monitoring purposes, which requires specific permissions, you can define that the perspective is visible only to users with required permissions.

Each perspective includes the following mandatory parameters, which you can edit in the YAML view:

  • id: Defines the ID of the perspective to show or hide

  • visibility: Defines the state of the perspective along with access review checks, if needed

  • state: Defines whether the perspective is enabled, disabled, or needs an access review check

By default, all perspectives are enabled. When you customize the user perspective, your changes are applicable to the entire cluster.

Customizing a perspective using YAML view

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective, navigate to Administration → Cluster Settings.

  2. Select the Configuration tab and click the Console (operator.openshift.io) resource.

  3. Click the YAML tab and make your customization:

    1. To enable or disable a perspective, insert the snippet for Add user perspectives and edit the YAML code as needed:

      1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
      2. kind: Console
      3. metadata:
      4.   name: cluster
      5. spec:
      6.   customization:
      7.     perspectives:
      8.       - id: admin
      9.         visibility:
      10.           state: Enabled
      11.       - id: dev
      12.         visibility:
      13.           state: Enabled

    2. To hide a perspective based on RBAC permissions, insert the snippet for Hide user perspectives and edit the YAML code as needed:

      1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
      2. kind: Console
      3. metadata:
      4.   name: cluster
      5. spec:
      6.   customization:
      7.     perspectives:
      8.       - id: admin
      9.         requiresAccessReview:
      10.           - group: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      11.             resource: clusterroles
      12.             verb: list
      13.       - id: dev
      14.         state: Enabled

    3. To customize a perspective based on your needs, create your own YAML snippet:

      1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
      2. kind: Console
      3. metadata:
      4.   name: cluster
      5. spec:
      6.   customization:
      7.     perspectives:
      8.       - id: admin
      9.         visibility:
      10.           state: AccessReview
      11.           accessReview:
      12.             missing:
      13.               - resource: deployment
      14.                 verb: list
      15.             required:
      16.               - resource: namespaces
      17.                 verb: list
      18.       - id: dev
      19.         visibility:
      20.           state: Enabled

  4. Click Save.

Customizing a perspective using form view

Prerequisites

  • You must have administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective, navigate to Administration → Cluster Settings.

  2. Select the Configuration tab and click the Console (operator.openshift.io) resource.

  3. Click Actions → Customize on the right side of the page.

  4. In the General settings, customize the perspective by selecting one of the following options from the dropdown list:

    • Enabled: Enables the perspective for all users

    • Only visible for privileged users: Enables the perspective for users who can list all namespaces

    • Only visible for unprivileged users: Enables the perspective for users who cannot list all namespaces

    • Disabled: Disables the perspective for all users

      A notification opens to confirm that your changes are saved.

      customizing user perspective

      When you customize the user perspective, your changes are automatically saved and take effect after a browser refresh.

Developer catalog and sub-catalog customization

As a cluster administrator, you have the ability to organize and manage the Developer catalog or its sub-catalogs. You can enable or disable the sub-catalog types or disable the entire developer catalog.

The developerCatalog.types object includes the following parameters that you must define in a snippet to use them in the YAML view:

  • state: Defines if a list of developer catalog types should be enabled or disabled.

  • enabled: Defines a list of developer catalog types (sub-catalogs) that are visible to users.

  • disabled: Defines a list of developer catalog types (sub-catalogs) that are not visible to users.

You can enable or disable the following developer catalog types (sub-catalogs) using the YAML view or the form view.

  • Builder Images

  • Templates

  • Devfiles

  • Samples

  • Helm Charts

  • Event Sources

  • Event Sinks

  • Operator Backed

Customizing a developer catalog or its sub-catalogs using the YAML view

You can customize a developer catalog by editing the YAML content in the YAML view.

Prerequisites

  • An OpenShift web console session with cluster administrator privileges.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective of the web console, navigate to Administration → Cluster Settings.

  2. Select the Configuration tab, click the Console (operator.openshift.io) resource and view the Details page.

  3. Click the YAML tab to open the editor and edit the YAML content as needed.

    For example, to disable a developer catalog type, insert the following snippet that defines a list of disabled developer catalog resources:

    1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
    2. kind: Console
    3. metadata:
    4.   name: cluster
    5. ...
    6. spec:
    7.   customization:
    8.     developerCatalog:
    9.       categories:
    10.       types:
    11.         state: Disabled
    12.         disabled:
    13.           - BuilderImage
    14.           - Devfile
    15.           - HelmChart
    16. ...

  4. Click Save.

By default, the developer catalog types are enabled in the Administrator view of the Web Console.

Customizing a developer catalog or its sub-catalogs using the form view

You can customize a developer catalog by using the form view in the Web Console.

Prerequisites

  • An OpenShift web console session with cluster administrator privileges.

  • The Developer perspective is enabled.

Procedure

  1. In the Administrator perspective, navigate to Administration → Cluster Settings.

  2. Select the Configuration tab and click the Console (operator.openshift.io) resource.

  3. Click Actions → Customize.

  4. Enable or disable items in the Pre-pinned navigation items, Add page, and Developer Catalog sections.

    Verification

    After you have customized the developer catalog, your changes are automatically saved in the system and take effect in the browser after a refresh.

    odc customizing developer catalog

As an administrator, you can define the navigation items that appear by default for all users. You can also reorder the navigation items.

You can use a similar procedure to customize Web UI items such as Quick starts, Cluster roles, and Actions.

Example YAML file changes

You can dynamically add the following snippets in the YAML editor for customizing a developer catalog.

Use the following snippet to display all the sub-catalogs by setting the state type to Enabled.

  1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
  2. kind: Console
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: cluster
  5. ...
  6. spec:
  7.   customization:
  8.     developerCatalog:
  9.       categories:
  10.       types:
  11.         state: Enabled

Use the following snippet to disable all sub-catalogs by setting the state type to Disabled:

  1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
  2. kind: Console
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: cluster
  5. ...
  6. spec:
  7.   customization:
  8.     developerCatalog:
  9.       categories:
  10.       types:
  11.         state: Disabled

Use the following snippet when a cluster administrator defines a list of sub-catalogs, which are enabled in the Web Console.

  1. apiVersion: operator.openshift.io/v1
  2. kind: Console
  3. metadata:
  4.   name: cluster
  5. ...
  6. spec:
  7.   customization:
  8.     developerCatalog:
  9.       categories:
  10.       types:
  11.         state: Enabled
  12.         enabled:
  13.           - BuilderImage
  14.           - Devfile
  15.           - HelmChart
  16.           - ...