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Merge pull request kubernetes#363 from smarterclayton/serverside_get
Proposal: Server-side `kubectl get`
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# Expose `get` output from the server | ||
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Today, all clients must reproduce the tabular and describe output implemented in `kubectl` to perform simple lists | ||
of objects. This logic in many cases is non-trivial and condenses multiple fields into succinct output. It also requires | ||
that every client provide rendering logic for every possible type, including those provided by API aggregation or third | ||
party resources which may not be known at compile time. | ||
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This proposal covers moving `get` and `describe` to the server to reduce total work for all clients and centralize these | ||
core display options for better reuse and extension. | ||
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## Background | ||
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`kubectl get` is a simple tabular representation of one or more instances of a particular resource type. It is the primary | ||
listing mechanism and so must be implemented for each type. Today, we have a single generic implementation for unrecognized | ||
types that attempts to load information from the `metadata` field (assuming the object follows the metav1 Kubernetes API | ||
schema). `get` supports a `wide` mode that includes additional columns. Users can add additional columns for labels via a | ||
flag. Headers corresponding to the columns are optionally displayed. | ||
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`kubectl describe` shows a textual representation of individual objects that describes individual fields as subsequent | ||
lines and uses indendation and nested tables to convey deeper structure on the resource (such as events for a pod or | ||
each container). It sometimes retrieves related objects like events, pods for a replication controller, or autoscalers | ||
for a deployment. It supports no significant flags. | ||
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The implementation of both is modeled as a registered function that takes an object or list of objects and outputs | ||
semi-structured text. | ||
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## Goals | ||
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* Make it easy for a simple client to get a list of resources for a web UI or CLI output | ||
* Support all existing options, leave open the door for future extension and experimentation | ||
* Allow new API extensions and third party resources to be implemented server side, removing the need to version | ||
schemes for retrieving data from the server | ||
* Keep implementation of `get` and `describe` simple | ||
* Ease internationalization of `get` and `describe` output for all clients | ||
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## Non-Goals | ||
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* Deep customization of the returned output by the client | ||
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## Specification of server-side `get` | ||
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The server would return a `Table` object (working-name) that contains metadata for columns and one or more | ||
rows composed of cells for each column. Some additional data may be relevant for each row and returned by the | ||
server. Since every object should have a `Table` representation, treat this as part of content negotiation | ||
as described in [the alternative representations of objects proposal](alternate-api-representations.md). | ||
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Example request: | ||
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``` | ||
$ curl https://localhost:8443/api/v1/pods -H "Accept: application/json+vnd.kubernetes.as+meta.k8s.io+v1alpha1+Table" | ||
{ | ||
"kind": "Table", | ||
"apiVersion": "meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", | ||
"headers": [ | ||
{"name": "Name", "type": "string", "description": "The name of the pod, must be unique ..."}, | ||
{"name": "Status", "type": "string", "description": "Describes the current state of the pod"}, | ||
... | ||
], | ||
"items": [ | ||
{"cells": ["pod1", "Failed - unable to start", ...]}, | ||
{"cells": ["pod2", "Init 0/2", ...]}, | ||
... | ||
] | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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This representation is also possible to return from a watch. The watch can omit headers on subsequent queries. | ||
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``` | ||
$ curl https://localhost:8443/api/v1/pods?watch=1 -H "Accept: application/json+vnd.kubernetes.as+meta.k8s.io+v1alpha1+Table" | ||
{ | ||
"kind": "Table", | ||
"apiVersion": "meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", | ||
// headers are printed first, in case the watch holds | ||
"headers": [ | ||
{"name": "Name", "type": "string", "description": "The name of the pod, must be unique ..."}, | ||
{"name": "Status", "type": "string", "description": "Describes the current state of the pod"}, | ||
... | ||
] | ||
} | ||
{ | ||
"kind": "Table", | ||
"apiVersion": "meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", | ||
// headers are not returned here | ||
"items": [ | ||
{"cells": ["pod1", "Failed - unable to start", ...]}, | ||
... | ||
] | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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It can also be returned in CSV form: | ||
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``` | ||
$ curl https://localhost:8443/api/v1/pods -H "Accept: text/csv+vnd.kubernetes.as+meta.k8s.io+v1alpha1+Table" | ||
Name,Status,... | ||
pod1,"Failed - unable to start",... | ||
pod2,"Init 0/2",... | ||
... | ||
``` | ||
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To support "wide" format, columns may be marked with an optional priority field of increasing integers (default | ||
priority 0): | ||
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``` | ||
{ | ||
"kind": "Table", | ||
"apiVersion": "meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", | ||
"headers": [ | ||
... | ||
{"name": "Node Name", "type": "string", "description": "The node the pod is scheduled on, empty if the pod is not yet scheduled", "priority": 1}, | ||
... | ||
], | ||
... | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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To allow label columns, and to enable integrators to build effective UIs, each row may contain an `object` field that | ||
is either `PartialObjectMetadata` (a standard object containing only ObjectMeta) or the object itself. Clients may request | ||
this field be set by specifying `?includeObject=None|Metadata|Self` on the query parameter. | ||
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``` | ||
GET ...?includeObject=Metadata | ||
{ | ||
"kind": "Table", | ||
"apiVersion": "meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", | ||
"items": [ | ||
... | ||
{"cells": [...], "object": {"kind": "PartialObjectMetadata", "apiVersion":"meta.k8s.io/v1alpha1", "metadata": {"name": "pod1", "namespace": "pod2", "labels": {"a": "1"}, ...}}, | ||
... | ||
] | ||
} | ||
``` | ||
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The `Metadata` value would be the default. Clients that wish to print in an advanced manner may use `Self` to get the full | ||
object and perform arbitrary transformations. | ||
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All fields on the server side are candidates for translation and localization changes can be delivered more | ||
quickly and to all clients. | ||
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Third-party resources can more easily implement `get` in this fashion - instead of web dashboards and | ||
`kubectl` both implementing their own logic to parse a particular version of Swagger or OpenAPI, the server | ||
component performs the transformation. The server encapsulates the details of printing. Aggregated resources | ||
automatically provide this behavior when possible. | ||
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### Specific features in `kubectl get` | ||
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Feature | Implementation | ||
--- | --- | ||
sort-by | Continue to implement client-side (no server side sort planned) | ||
custom-column (jsonpath) | Implement client-side by requesting object `?includeObject=Self` and parsing | ||
custom-column (label) | Implement client-side by getting labels from metadata returned with each row | ||
show-kind | Implement client-side by using the discovery info associated with the object (rather than being returned by server) | ||
template | Implement client-side, bypass receiving table output and get raw objects | ||
watch | Request Table output via the watch endpoint | ||
export | Implement client-side, bypass receiving table output and get exported object | ||
wide | Server should indicate which columns are "additional" via a field on on the header column - client then shows those columns if it wants to | ||
color (proposed) | Rows which should be highlighted should have a semantic field on the row - e.g. `alert: [{type: Warning, message: "This pod has been deleted"}]`. Cells could be selected by adding an additional field `alert: [{type: Warning, ..., cells: [0, 1]}]`. | ||
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## Future considerations | ||
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* When we introduce server side paging, Table would be paged similar to how PodList or other types are paged. https://issues.k8s.io/2349 | ||
* More advanced output could in the future be provided by an external call-out or an aggregation API on the server side. | ||
* `describe` could be managed on the server as well, with a similar generic format, and external outbound links used to reference other objects. | ||
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## Migration | ||
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Old clients will continue retrieving the primary representation. Clients can begin using the optional `Accept` | ||
header to indicate they want the simpler version, and if they receive a Table perform the new path, otherwise | ||
fall back to client side functions. | ||
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Server side code would reuse the existing display functions but replace TabWriter with either a structured writer | ||
or the tabular form. | ||
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[![Analytics](https://kubernetes-site.appspot.com/UA-36037335-10/GitHub/docs/proposals/server-get.md?pixel)]() | ||
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