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Kubewatch

Watch k8s events and trigger Handlers

Install / Use

/learn @vmware-archive/Kubewatch
About this skill

Quality Score

0/100

Supported Platforms

Universal

README

WARNING: Kubewatch is no longer actively maintained by VMware.

VMware has made the difficult decision to stop driving this project and therefore we will no longer actively respond to issues or pull requests. The project will be externally maintained in the following fork: https://github.com/robusta-dev/kubewatch

Thank You.

<p align="center"> <img src="./docs/kubewatch-logo.jpeg"> </p>

Build Status Go Report Card GoDoc License

kubewatch is a Kubernetes watcher that currently publishes notification to available collaboration hubs/notification channels. Run it in your k8s cluster, and you will get event notifications through webhooks.

Usage

$ kubewatch -h

Kubewatch: A watcher for Kubernetes

kubewatch is a Kubernetes watcher that publishes notifications
to Slack/hipchat/mattermost/flock channels. It watches the cluster
for resource changes and notifies them through webhooks.

supported webhooks:
 - slack
 - hipchat
 - mattermost
 - flock
 - webhook
 - smtp

Usage:
  kubewatch [flags]
  kubewatch [command]

Available Commands:
  config      modify kubewatch configuration
  resource    manage resources to be watched
  version     print version

Flags:
  -h, --help   help for kubewatch

Use "kubewatch [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Install

Cluster Installation

Using helm:

When you have helm installed in your cluster, use the following setup:

helm install --name kubewatch bitnami/kubewatch --set='rbac.create=true,slack.channel=#YOUR_CHANNEL,slack.token=xoxb-YOUR_TOKEN,resourcesToWatch.pod=true,resourcesToWatch.daemonset=true'

You may also provide a values file instead:

rbac:
  create: true
resourcesToWatch:
  deployment: false
  replicationcontroller: false
  replicaset: false
  daemonset: false
  services: true
  pod: true
  job: false
  node: false
  clusterrole: true
  serviceaccount: true
  persistentvolume: false
  namespace: false
  secret: false
  configmap: false
  ingress: false
slack:
  channel: '#YOUR_CHANNEL'
  token: 'xoxb-YOUR_TOKEN'

And use that:

$ helm upgrade --install kubewatch bitnami/kubewatch --values=values-file.yml

Using kubectl:

In order to run kubewatch in a Kubernetes cluster quickly, the easiest way is for you to create a ConfigMap to hold kubewatch configuration.

An example is provided at kubewatch-configmap.yaml, do not forget to update your own slack channel and token parameters. Alternatively, you could use secrets.

Create k8s configmap:

$ kubectl create -f kubewatch-configmap.yaml

Create the Pod directly, or create your own deployment:

$ kubectl create -f kubewatch.yaml

A kubewatch container will be created along with kubectl sidecar container in order to reach the API server.

Once the Pod is running, you will start seeing Kubernetes events in your configured Slack channel. Here is a screenshot:

slack

To modify what notifications you get, update the kubewatch ConfigMap and turn on and off (true/false) resources:

resource:
  deployment: false
  replicationcontroller: false
  replicaset: false
  daemonset: false
  services: true
  pod: true
  job: false
  node: false
  clusterrole: false
  serviceaccount: false
  persistentvolume: false
  namespace: false
  secret: false
  configmap: false
  ingress: false

Working with RBAC

Kubernetes Engine clusters running versions 1.6 or higher introduced Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). We can create ServiceAccount for it to work with RBAC.

$ kubectl create -f kubewatch-service-account.yaml

If you do not have permission to create it, you need to become an admin first. For example, in GKE you would run:

$ kubectl create clusterrolebinding cluster-admin-binding --clusterrole=cluster-admin --user=REPLACE_EMAIL_HERE

Edit kubewatch.yaml, and create a new field under spec with serviceAccountName: kubewatch, you can achieve this by running:

$ sed -i '/spec:/a\ \ serviceAccountName: kubewatch' kubewatch.yaml

Then just create pod as usual with:

$ kubectl create -f kubewatch.yaml

Local Installation

Using go package installer:

# Download and install kubewatch
$ go get -u github.com/bitnami-labs/kubewatch

# Configure the notification channel
$ kubewatch config add slack --channel <slack_channel> --token <slack_token>

# Add resources to be watched
$ kubewatch resource add --po --svc
INFO[0000] resource svc configured
INFO[0000] resource po configured

# start kubewatch server
$ kubewatch
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-service
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-pod
INFO[0000] Processing add to service: default/kubernetes  pkg=kubewatch-service
INFO[0000] Processing add to service: kube-system/tiller-deploy  pkg=kubewatch-service
INFO[0000] Processing add to pod: kube-system/tiller-deploy-69ffbf64bc-h8zxm  pkg=kubewatch-pod
INFO[0000] Kubewatch controller synced and ready         pkg=kubewatch-service
INFO[0000] Kubewatch controller synced and ready         pkg=kubewatch-pod

Using Docker:

To Run Kubewatch Container interactively, place the config file in $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml location and use the following command.

docker run --rm -it --network host -v $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml:/root/.kubewatch.yaml -v $HOME/.kube/config:/opt/bitnami/kubewatch/.kube/config --name <container-name> bitnami/kubewatch

Example:

$ docker run --rm -it --network host -v $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml:/root/.kubewatch.yaml -v $HOME/.kube/config:/opt/bitnami/kubewatch/.kube/config --name kubewatch-app bitnami/kubewatch

==> Writing config file...
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-service
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-pod
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-deployment
INFO[0000] Starting kubewatch controller                 pkg=kubewatch-namespace
INFO[0000] Processing add to namespace: kube-node-lease  pkg=kubewatch-namespace
INFO[0000] Processing add to namespace: kube-public      pkg=kubewatch-namespace
INFO[0000] Processing add to namespace: kube-system      pkg=kubewatch-namespace
INFO[0000] Processing add to namespace: default          pkg=kubewatch-namespace
....

To Demonise Kubewatch container use

$ docker run --rm -d --network host -v $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml:/root/.kubewatch.yaml -v $HOME/.kube/config:/opt/bitnami/kubewatch/.kube/config --name kubewatch-app bitnami/kubewatch

Configure

Kubewatch supports config command for configuration. Config file will be saved at $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml

$ kubewatch config -h

config command allows admin setup his own configuration for running kubewatch

Usage:
  kubewatch config [flags]
  kubewatch config [command]

Available Commands:
  add         add webhook config to .kubewatch.yaml
  test        test handler config present in .kubewatch.yaml
  view        view .kubewatch.yaml

Flags:
  -h, --help   help for config

Use "kubewatch config [command] --help" for more information about a command.

Example:

slack:

  • Create a slack Bot

  • Edit the Bot to customize its name, icon and retrieve the API token (it starts with xoxb-).

  • Invite the Bot into your channel by typing: /invite @name_of_your_bot in the Slack message area.

  • Add Api token to kubewatch config using the following steps

    $ kubewatch config add slack --channel <slack_channel> --token <slack_token>
    

    You have an altenative choice to set your SLACK token, channel via environment variables:

    $ export KW_SLACK_TOKEN='XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX'
    $ export KW_SLACK_CHANNEL='#channel_name'
    

flock:

  • Create a flock bot.

  • Add flock webhook url to config using the following command.

    $ kubewatch config add flock --url <flock_webhook_url>
    

    You have an altenative choice to set your FLOCK URL

    $ export KW_FLOCK_URL='https://api.flock.com/hooks/sendMessage/XXXXXXXX'
    

Testing Config

To test the handler config by send test messages use the following command.

$ kubewatch config test -h

Tests handler configs present in .kubewatch.yaml by sending test messages

Usage:
  kubewatch config test [flags]

Flags:
  -h, --help   help for test

Example:

$ kubewatch config test

Testing Handler configs from .kubewatch.yaml
2019/06/03 12:29:23 Message successfully sent to channel ABCD at 1559545162.000100

Viewing config

To view the entire config file $HOME/.kubewatch.yaml use the following command.

$ kubewatch config view
Contents of .kubewatch.yaml

handler:
  slack:
    token: xoxb-xxxxx-yyyy-zzz
    channel: kube-watch
  hipchat:
    token: ""
    room: ""
    url: ""
  mattermost:
    channel: ""
    url: ""
    username: ""
  flock:
    url: ""
  webhook:
    url: ""
resource:
  deployment: false
  replicationcontroller: false
  replicaset: false
  daemonset: false
  services: false
  pod: true
  job: false
  node: false
  clusterrole: false
  

Related Skills

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GitHub Stars2.4k
CategoryDevelopment
Updated11d ago
Forks437

Languages

Go

Security Score

100/100

Audited on Mar 17, 2026

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