Kubeconfigs in CKS

Learn about creating Kubeconfig files in CKS Clusters through Managed Auth

In Kubernetes, Kubeconfig files are YAML configuration files used to manage access to Kubernetes clusters by specifying the details required to authenticate and interact with the cluster's API server. It allows you to execute commands without needing to repeatedly specify cluster connection details or credentials.

Using Managed Auth, CKS Kubeconfig files are generated for you from the Cloud Console. These Kubeconfig files follow the permissions configured for their related tokens, and embed the related API Access Token automatically with the Kubeconfig.

Here is an example of a Kubeconfig file generated using Managed Auth via the Cloud Console.

Example

apiVersion: v1
clusters:
- cluster:
    server: https://api-server.url.com
  name: my-cluster
contexts:
- context:
    cluster: my-cluster
    namespace: my-namespace
    user: token
  name: my-cluster
current-context: my-cluster
kind: Config
preferences: {}
users:
- name: token
  user:
    token: REDACTED

Generated Kubeconfig files also contain the following values, and they may contain additional values:

Field	Description
apiVersion	The API group version
clusters	Connection settings for the target cluster, including the API server addresses
clusters.cluster.server	API server addresses
clusters.cluster.name	The cluster name
contexts	The Kubernetes context containing the related cluster, user, and namespace name
contexts.context.cluster	The cluster associated with the context
contexts.context.namespace	The namespace associated with the context
contexts.context.user	The user associated with the context, in this case an API Access Token token (token)
users	A list of "users" associated with the context, in this case the API Access Token (token)
users.name	The name of the user, in this case the Access Token, token
users.user.token	The actual Access Token value

Next up

• Learn how to create and manage CKS Kubeconfig files.
• Learn about API Access Tokens in CKS.