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Deploying Periscope on Kubernetes

The supported deploy artifact is the Helm chart at [`deploy/helm/periscope/`](../../deploy/helm/periscope/). This guide walks through the install, the choices you'll make on the way, and how to verify the result.

setup9 min read

The supported deploy artifact is the Helm chart at deploy/helm/periscope/. This guide walks through the install, the choices you'll make on the way, and how to verify the result.

For IdP setup that produces the auth.* values, see docs/setup/auth0.md or docs/setup/okta.md.

1. Prerequisites

A Kubernetes cluster (1.27+). EKS preferred — the keyless-auth path uses Pod Identity / IRSA — but any K8s cluster works for the OIDC side.
helm 3.x (or 4.x).
kubectl configured for the target cluster.
For EKS: AWS CLI to set up Pod Identity associations or IAM roles.
IdP tenant configured per docs/setup/{auth0,okta}.md.

2. Quickstart

Option A — install from the OCI registry (recommended)

The chart is published to ghcr.io as an OCI artifact and signed with cosign. No helm repo add step needed.

code

# 1. Write a values file (see section 3 below for the minimum shape)
$EDITOR my-values.yaml

# 2. Apply your OIDC client secret (default secrets.mode=existing)
kubectl create namespace periscope
kubectl -n periscope create secret generic periscope-oidc \
  --from-literal=OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET='<the-secret-from-your-IdP>'

# 3. Install (find the latest version at
#    https://artifacthub.io/packages/helm/periscope/periscope)
helm install periscope \
  oci://ghcr.io/gnana997/charts/periscope \
  --version <VERSION> \
  --namespace periscope \
  --values my-values.yaml

# 4. Reach it
kubectl -n periscope port-forward svc/periscope 8080:8080
open http://localhost:8080/

To verify the chart signature before install:

code

cosign verify oci://ghcr.io/gnana997/charts/periscope:<VERSION> \
  --certificate-identity-regexp=https://github.com/gnana997/periscope \
  --certificate-oidc-issuer=https://token.actions.githubusercontent.com

Option B — install from a local clone (development)

code

git clone https://github.com/gnana997/periscope
cd periscope
helm install periscope ./deploy/helm/periscope \
  --namespace periscope \
  --values my-values.yaml

Use this when you're iterating on the chart itself or want to test unreleased changes.

3. Minimum values file

Paste this into my-values.yaml and edit:

code

auth:
  oidc:
    issuer: https://your-tenant.us.auth0.com/        # or https://your-org.okta.com/oauth2/default
    clientID: <your-client-id>
    redirectURL: https://periscope.your-corp.com/api/auth/callback
    postLogoutRedirect: https://periscope.your-corp.com/api/auth/loggedout
    audience: ""                                      # Auth0 only; "" for Okta
  authorization:
    groupsClaim: https://periscope/groups             # Auth0; "groups" for Okta
    allowedGroups: [periscope-users]

clusters:
  - name: prod-eu-west-1
    backend: eks
    region: eu-west-1
    arn: arn:aws:eks:eu-west-1:222222222222:cluster/prod-eu-west-1

# Pick one: see 5
secrets:
  mode: existing
  existing:
    name: periscope-oidc

# Pick one: see 4
podIdentity:
  enabled: true        # set to false and use the IRSA path instead
# or:
# serviceAccount:
#   annotations:
#     eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn: arn:aws:iam::111111111111:role/periscope-base

ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: alb       # or nginx / etc.
  host: periscope.your-corp.com
  tls:
    enabled: true
    secretName: periscope-tls

4. AWS auth: Pod Identity vs IRSA

Pod Identity (recommended for new EKS). No SA annotation. Run once after the chart is installed:

code

aws eks create-pod-identity-association \
  --cluster-name <hosting-cluster> \
  --namespace periscope \
  --service-account periscope \
  --role-arn arn:aws:iam::111111111111:role/periscope-base

The role's trust policy:

code

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Principal": { "Service": "pods.eks.amazonaws.com" },
    "Action": ["sts:AssumeRole", "sts:TagSession"]
  }]
}

Set podIdentity.enabled=true in values.

IRSA (fallback / non-EKS / older clusters). Annotate the SA:

code

serviceAccount:
  annotations:
    eks.amazonaws.com/role-arn: arn:aws:iam::111111111111:role/periscope-base

The role's trust policy uses the cluster's OIDC provider:

code

{
  "Version": "2012-10-17",
  "Statement": [{
    "Effect": "Allow",
    "Principal": { "Federated": "arn:aws:iam::111111111111:oidc-provider/<oidc-issuer>" },
    "Action": "sts:AssumeRoleWithWebIdentity",
    "Condition": {
      "StringEquals": {
        "<oidc-issuer>:sub": "system:serviceaccount:periscope:periscope",
        "<oidc-issuer>:aud": "sts.amazonaws.com"
      }
    }
  }]
}

Periscope code is identical for both. Pick whichever your platform team already runs.

4.5. Single-cluster install (in-cluster backend)

When Periscope is deployed into the same cluster it should manage — the most common single-cluster install (kind, minikube, single-cluster prod) — register that cluster with backend: in-cluster:

code

# my-values.yaml
clusters:
  - name: in-cluster
    backend: in-cluster

The chart auto-detects this and binds Periscope's ServiceAccount to the impersonator role on the cluster — no separate kubectl apply step. See cluster-rbac.md for the rendered RBAC details and how impersonation flows through.

Skips the AWS / Pod Identity / IRSA path entirely (in-cluster auth uses the SA token mounted by the kubelet). Skip section 4 above when this is your only cluster.

Combining in-cluster with managed eks clusters in the same registry works — each cluster is independent. Common pattern:

code

clusters:
  - name: periscope-host
    backend: in-cluster
  - name: prod-eu-west-1
    backend: eks
    region: eu-west-1
    arn: arn:aws:eks:eu-west-1:111111111111:cluster/prod-eu-west-1

5. Secret modes

Pick the row that matches how you already manage secrets in the cluster.

`existing` — default

You apply the K8s Secret out-of-band; the chart references it. Any GitOps tool (ArgoCD ApplicationSet, SealedSecrets, SOPS, etc.) can manage the Secret independently.

code

secrets:
  mode: existing
  existing:
    name: periscope-oidc
    key: OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET    # default

code

kubectl -n periscope create secret generic periscope-oidc \
  --from-literal=OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET='<your client secret>'

`plain` — quick start / demo only

Chart renders a kind: Secret with stringData from your values. Secret value lives in your values file; never check that file in.

code

secrets:
  mode: plain
  plain:
    clientSecret: <your client secret>

`external` — External Secrets Operator

You run External Secrets Operator with a ClusterSecretStore already pointed at AWS Secrets Manager / SSM / Vault. Chart renders an ExternalSecret (api external-secrets.io/v1) that ESO syncs into a K8s Secret; the Deployment reads from there.

code

secrets:
  mode: external
  external:
    storeName: aws-secretsmanager-prod
    storeKind: ClusterSecretStore         # or SecretStore
    refreshInterval: 1h
    remoteKey: prod/periscope/oidc        # the upstream secret name
    remoteProperty: client_secret         # if the upstream is JSON-shaped; "" otherwise

`native` — no K8s Secret at all

Periscope's resolver fetches the secret directly at startup using the pod's Pod Identity / IRSA credentials. There's no K8s Secret artifact in the cluster. Set auth.oidc.clientSecret to a scheme URL:

code

secrets:
  mode: native
auth:
  oidc:
    clientSecret: aws-secretsmanager://prod/periscope/oidc#client_secret
    # or: aws-ssm:///prod/periscope/oidc-client-secret

The pod's IAM role needs:

secretsmanager:GetSecretValue on the specific secret ARN, or
ssm:GetParameter (with WithDecryption=true) plus kms:Decrypt on the key

This is the lowest-trust mode — there's no plaintext secret stored in etcd. Rotation = restart in v1; auto-refresh is a v1.x concern.

6. Ingress / TLS

The chart renders a vanilla networking.k8s.io/v1 Ingress when ingress.enabled=true. Class and annotations are passthrough so it works with whichever controller your cluster runs (ALB, NGINX, Traefik, Istio Gateway via ingress-class adapter, …).

code

ingress:
  enabled: true
  className: alb
  annotations:
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/scheme: internal
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/target-type: ip
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/listen-ports: '[{"HTTPS":443}]'
  host: periscope.your-corp.com
  path: /
  pathType: Prefix
  tls:
    enabled: true
    secretName: periscope-tls   # cert-manager Certificate target, or whatever your cert pipeline produces

The IdP's allowed callback URL must be https://<host>/api/auth/callback exactly. The redirectURL in your auth values must match.

7. Verify

After helm install:

code

# Pod is healthy
kubectl -n periscope rollout status deploy/periscope

# /healthz inside the pod
kubectl -n periscope exec deploy/periscope -- wget -qO- http://localhost:8080/healthz
# expects: ok

# /api/auth/whoami requires a session — first hit returns 401, that's correct
kubectl -n periscope port-forward svc/periscope 8080:8080
curl -i http://localhost:8080/api/auth/whoami
# expects: HTTP/1.1 401

# Open the dashboard, click "sign in with okta" (label is generic),
# complete the IdP flow, end up at /. Click your avatar — popover
# should show your email and an `oidc` badge.
open http://localhost:8080/

For EKS, also confirm the AssumeRole hops in CloudTrail:

code

aws cloudtrail lookup-events \
  --lookup-attributes AttributeKey=EventName,AttributeValue=AssumeRole \
  --max-results 5
# Look for RoleSessionName=periscope/<oidc-sub>

8. Upgrades

code

helm upgrade periscope ./deploy/helm/periscope \
  --namespace periscope \
  --values my-values.yaml

Notes:

auth.yaml and clusters.yaml are mounted from ConfigMaps. The Deployment carries checksum/auth and checksum/clusters annotations so values changes auto-roll the pods.
strategy: Recreate (not RollingUpdate) — the in-memory session store is per-replica; rolling-update overlap would orphan sessions on the outgoing pod. Users see a one-second blip during upgrades.
HA / multi-replica session store is a v1.x concern.

9. Common pitfalls

401 unauthenticated everywhere after install. That's the correct unauthenticated state — the SPA shows the LoginScreen at / and the IdP flow takes it from there. If the LoginScreen doesn't appear, check your Ingress is sending requests to the Service (kubectl -n periscope describe ingress periscope).
CrashLoopBackOff immediately on install. Almost always a missing Secret in existing mode. Check kubectl -n periscope describe pod for secret … not found.
Login bounces forever. Your IdP's allowed callback URL doesn't match auth.oidc.redirectURL exactly (trailing slashes, scheme, port). Both the IdP and auth.yaml must agree.
AssumeRole denied when adding a cluster. The per-cluster role's trust policy doesn't allow periscope-base to assume it, or the EKS Access Entry isn't in place. The per-cluster RBAC walkthrough lives in docs/setup/cluster-rbac.md.

10. Feature configuration

The minimum values file in 3 only covers auth, clusters, and secrets. The chart also exposes pod exec, audit, NetworkPolicy, and PDB knobs — each has its own dedicated guide, summarised here.

10.1 Pod exec

Pod exec is on by default for every cluster. Tune the global defaults under exec: (idle/heartbeat/cap settings) and override per-cluster under clusters[].exec:. To disable exec on a specific cluster, set clusters[<i>].exec.enabled: false. There is no global "off" switch by design.

code

exec:
  serverIdleSeconds: 600       # 10 min
  maxSessionsPerUser: 5
  probeClustersOnBoot: false   # pre-warm cold clusters

clusters:
  - name: prod
    backend: eks
    arn: arn:aws:eks:us-east-1:111:cluster/prod
    exec:
      serverIdleSeconds: 1800  # 30 min for prod debugging

Full operator guide: docs/setup/pod-exec.md.

10.2 Audit log persistence

Off by default — events go to stdout (one JSON line per privileged action). Turn on persistence to enable the in-app audit query view at GET /api/audit:

code

audit:
  enabled: true
  retentionDays: 30
  maxSizeMB: 1024
  storage:
    type: pvc        # or emptyDir for kind/minikube
    size: 5Gi

Full operator guide: docs/setup/audit.md.

10.3 Helm release browser

The chart deploys a read-only Helm release browser. No values to set — the SPA shows it under each cluster's "Helm" sidebar group. RBAC follows the impersonated user (the browser auto-detects whether the cluster uses the secret or configmap storage driver).

Full guide: docs/setup/helm-releases.md.

10.4 Multi-cluster fleet view

GET /api/fleet aggregates per-cluster status (nodes ready, pods by phase, hot signals) across every registered cluster. The home page uses it to render a fleet card grid. The endpoint runs each cluster under the user's impersonation in parallel; per-cluster failures become per-card error states without breaking the whole page.

There is no helm config for the fleet endpoint — it's automatic once clusters are registered.

10.5 Real-time list updates (watch streams)

Periscope's resource list pages update in real time via SSE for 21+ kinds spanning workloads, networking, storage, cluster-scoped, and core resources. Every registered kind is on by default; the SPA falls back to polling when the EventSource fails. The watchStreams: helm block lets operators opt out (e.g. behind a proxy that mishandles long-lived connections), restrict to a subset, or use group aliases to subscribe to a whole API surface at once:

code

watchStreams:
  # Empty / "all" / "off" / "none" / comma list
  # Per-kind tokens: pods, events, deployments, statefulsets, …
  # Group aliases:  core, workloads, networking, storage, cluster
  kinds: ""
  perUserLimit: 60    # concurrent SSE streams per OIDC subject

Full operator guide: docs/setup/watch-streams.md. Contributor / architecture view (the watchKind[T,S] primitive, how to add a kind): docs/architecture/watch-streams.md.

10.6 NetworkPolicy

Off by default. Every cluster has different ingress controller plumbing and IdP egress targets, so a templated default would either be too loose or too tight to use anywhere. Enable when you know your environment:

code

networkPolicy:
  enabled: true
  ingress:
    fromNamespaces:
      - kubernetes.io/metadata.name: ingress-nginx

Full guide: docs/setup/networkpolicy.md.

10.7 Pod Disruption Budget

On by default with maxUnavailable: 1 (single-replica v1 topology; the PDB makes the drain semantics explicit in cluster audit). Set pdb.enabled: false to skip. When HA support lands in v1.x, switch to minAvailable per replicaCount.

← previous

RFC 0004 — Exec over the agent tunnel: validation harness

Per-cluster K8s RBAC for Periscope

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Deploying Periscope on Kubernetes

1. Prerequisites

2. Quickstart

Option A — install from the OCI registry (recommended)

Option B — install from a local clone (development)

3. Minimum values file

4. AWS auth: Pod Identity vs IRSA

4.5. Single-cluster install (in-cluster backend)

5. Secret modes

existing — default

plain — quick start / demo only

external — External Secrets Operator

native — no K8s Secret at all

6. Ingress / TLS

7. Verify

8. Upgrades

9. Common pitfalls

10. Feature configuration

10.1 Pod exec

10.2 Audit log persistence

10.3 Helm release browser

10.4 Multi-cluster fleet view

10.5 Real-time list updates (watch streams)

10.6 NetworkPolicy

10.7 Pod Disruption Budget

`existing` — default

`plain` — quick start / demo only

`external` — External Secrets Operator

`native` — no K8s Secret at all