Application Topology for Kubernetes

Visualize the deployment status and related resources of your applications deployed on any Kubernetes cluster.

Topology plugin for Backstage

The Topology plugin enables you to visualize the workloads such as Deployment, Job, Daemonset, Statefulset, CronJob, and Pods powering any service on the Kubernetes cluster.

For administrators

Installation

Prerequisites

The Kubernetes plugins including @backstage/plugin-kubernetes and @backstage/plugin-kubernetes-backend are installed and configured by following the installation and configuration guides.
The Kubernetes plugin is configured and connects to the cluster using a ServiceAccount.
The ClusterRole must be granted to ServiceAccount accessing the cluster. If you have the Backstage Kubernetes plugin configured, then the ClusterRole is already granted.

The following must be added incustomResources component in the app-config.yaml file to view the OpenShift route as well:

  kubernetes:
    ...
    customResources:
      - group: 'route.openshift.io'
        apiVersion: 'v1'
        plural: 'routes'

Also, ensure that the route is granted a ClusterRole. You can use the following code to grant the ClusterRole to the route :

  apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
  kind: ClusterRole
  metadata:
    name: backstage-read-only
  rules:
    ...
    - apiGroups:
        - route.openshift.io
      resources:
        - routes
      verbs:
        - get
        - list

The following permission must be granted to the ClusterRole to be able to view the pod logs:

  apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
  kind: ClusterRole
  metadata:
    name: backstage-read-only
  rules:
    ...
    - apiGroups:
        - ''
      resources:
        - pods
        - pods/log
      verbs:
        - get
        - list
        - watch

The following code must be added incustomResources component in the app-config.yaml file to view the Tekton PipelineRuns list in the side panel and to view the latest PipelineRun status in the Topology node decorator:

  kubernetes:
    ...
    customResources:
      - group: 'tekton.dev'
        apiVersion: 'v1beta1'
        plural: 'pipelines'
      - group: 'tekton.dev'
        apiVersion: 'v1beta1'
        plural: 'pipelineruns'
      - group: 'tekton.dev'
        apiVersion: 'v1beta1'
        plural: 'taskruns'

Also, ensure that the Pipeline, PipelineRun, and TaskRun are granted a ClusterRole. You can use the following code to grant the ClusterRole to Pipeline, PipelineRun, and TaskRun:

  ...
  apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
  kind: ClusterRole
  metadata:
    name: backstage-read-only
  rules:
    ...
    - apiGroups:
        - tekton.dev
      resources:
        - pipelines
        - pipelineruns
        - taskruns
      verbs:
        - get
        - list

The following configuration must be added incustomResources component in the app-config.yaml file to view the edit code decorator:

  kubernetes:
    ...
    customResources:
      - group: 'org.eclipse.che'
        apiVersion: 'v2'
        plural: 'checlusters'

Also, ensure that the CheCluster is granted a ClusterRole as shown in the following example code:

  ...
  apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
  kind: ClusterRole
  metadata:
    name: backstage-read-only
  rules:
    ...
    - apiGroups:
        - org.eclipse.che
      resources:
        - checlusters
      verbs:
        - get
        - list

The following annotations are added to workload resources, such as Deployments to navigate to the Git repository of the associated application using the edit code decorator:
deployment.yaml
```
annotations:
  app.openshift.io/vcs-uri: <GIT_REPO_URL>
```
You can also add the following annotation to navigate to a specific branch:
deployment.yaml
```
annotations:
  app.openshift.io/vcs-ref: <GIT_REPO_BRANCH>
```
Note: If Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces is installed and configured and git URL annotations are also added to the workload YAML file, then clicking on the edit code decorator redirects you to the Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces instance.
Note: When you deploy your application using the OCP Git import flows, then you do not need to add the labels as import flows do that. Otherwise, you need to add the labels manually to the workload YAML file.
The labels are not similar to backstage.io/edit-url annotations as it points to the catalog entity metadata source file and is applied to Backstage catalog entity metadata YAML file, but not Kubernetes resources.
Tip: You can also add the app.openshift.io/edit-url annotation with the edit URL that you want to access using the decorator.
Tip: You can use the prepared manifest for a read-only ClusterRole, providing access for both Kubernetes plugin and Topology plugin.
The following annotation is added to the entity's catalog-info.yaml file to identify whether an entity contains the Kubernetes resources:
catalog-info.yaml
```
annotations:
  backstage.io/kubernetes-id: <BACKSTAGE_ENTITY_NAME>
```
The following label is added to the resources so that the Kubernetes plugin gets the Kubernetes resources from the requested entity:
```
labels:
  backstage.io/kubernetes-id: <BACKSTAGE_ENTITY_NAME>`
```
NOTE
When using the label selector, the mentioned labels must be present on the resource.
You can also add the backstage.io/kubernetes-namespace annotation to identify the Kubernetes resources using the defined namespace.
catalog-info.yaml
```
annotations:
  backstage.io/kubernetes-namespace: <RESOURCE_NS>
```
The Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces instance is not accessible using the edit code decorator if the backstage.io/kubernetes-namespace annotation is added to the catalog-info.yaml file.
To retrieve the instance URL, CheCluster Custom Resource (CR) is required. The instance URL is not retrieved if the namespace annotation value is different from openshift-devspaces as CheCluster CR is created in openshift-devspaces namespace.
A custom label selector is added, which Backstage uses to find the Kubernetes resources. The label selector takes precedence over the ID annotations.
catalog-info.yaml
```
annotations:
  backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector: 'app=my-app,component=front-end'
```
If you have multiple entities while Red Hat Dev Spaces is configured and want multiple entities to support the edit code decorator that redirects to the Red Hat Dev Spaces instance, you can add the backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector annotation to the catalog-info.yaml file for each entity.
catalog-info.yaml
```
annotations:
  backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector: 'component in (<BACKSTAGE_ENTITY_NAME>,che)'
```
If you are using the previous label selector, ensure that you add the following labels to your resources so that the Kubernetes plugin gets the Kubernetes resources from the requested entity:
checluster.yaml
```
labels:
  component: che # add this label to your che cluster instance
```
```
labels:
  component: <BACKSTAGE_ENTITY_NAME> # add this label to the other resources associated with your entity
```
You can also write your own custom query for the label selector with unique labels to differentiate your entities. However, you need to ensure that you add those labels to the resources associated with your entities including your CheCluster instance.
The following label is added to workload resources, such as Deployments to display runtime icon in the topology nodes:
deployment.yaml
```
labels:
  app.openshift.io/runtime: <RUNTIME_NAME>
```
As another option, you can include the following label to display the runtime icon:
deployment.yaml
```
labels:
  app.kubernetes.io/name: <RUNTIME_NAME>
```
Supported values of <RUNTIME_NAME> include:
- django
- dotnet
- drupal
- go-gopher
- golang
- grails
- jboss
- jruby
- js
- nginx
- nodejs
- openjdk
- perl
- phalcon
- php
- python
- quarkus
- rails
- redis
- rh-spring-boot
- rust
- java
- rh-openjdk
- ruby
- spring
- spring-boot
Other values result in icons not being rendered for the node.
The following label is added to display the workload resources such as Deployments and Pods in a visual group:
catalog-info.yaml
```
labels:
  app.kubernetes.io/part-of: <GROUP_NAME>
```
The following annotation is added to display the workload resources such as Deployments and Pods with a visual connector:
catalog-info.yaml
```
annotations:
  app.openshift.io/connects-to: '[{"apiVersion": <RESOURCE_APIVERSION>,"kind": <RESOURCE_KIND>,"name": <RESOURCE_NAME>}]'
```
For more information about the labels and annotations, see Guidelines for labels and annotations for OpenShift applications.

Procedure

Install the Topology plugin using the following command:

yarn workspace app add @janus-idp/backstage-plugin-topology

Enable TOPOLOGY tab in packages/app/src/components/catalog/EntityPage.tsx:

packages/app/src/components/catalog/EntityPage.tsx
import { TopologyPage } from '@janus-idp/backstage-plugin-topology';

const serviceEntityPage = (
  <EntityPageLayout>
    {/* ... */}
    <EntityLayout.Route path="/topology" title="Topology">
      <TopologyPage />
    </EntityLayout.Route>
  </EntityPageLayout>
);

For users

Using the Topology plugin in Backstage

Topology is a front-end plugin that enables you to view the workloads as nodes that power any service on the Kubernetes cluster.

Prerequisites

Your Backstage application is installed and running.
You have installed the Topology plugin. For the installation process, see Installation.

Procedure

Open your Backstage application and select a component from the Catalog page.
Go to the TOPOLOGY tab and you can view the workloads such as Deployments, Pods as nodes.
Select a node and a pop-up appears on the right side, which contains two tabs: Details and Resources.
The Details and Resources tab contain the associated information and resources of the node.
Click on the Open URL button on the top of a node.
When you click on the open URL button, it allows you to access the associated Ingresses and runs your application in a new tab.

Application Topology for Kubernetes

Topology plugin for Backstage

For administrators​

Installation​

Prerequisites​

Procedure​

For users​

Using the Topology plugin in Backstage​

Prerequisites​

Procedure​

For administrators

Installation

Prerequisites

Procedure

For users

Using the Topology plugin in Backstage

Prerequisites

Procedure