Linux Kubernetes Operations Center - Advanced

Linux Kubernetes Operations Center - Advanced (LKOC) is an open-source, terminal-native Kubernetes operations console for Linux administrators who want a fast operational view of one or more Kubernetes clusters without installing a separate in-cluster management agent.

It provides a custom ANSI/Unicode TUI, standard CLI commands for automation, multi-context navigation, workload and storage visibility, events, logs, safe operational actions, Helm inventory, and optional Velero backup/restore integration.

Current release: 1.0.0
License: MIT
Designed and Development by : antonios.mortos@outlook.com

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Overview

LKOC uses the same kubeconfig and Kubernetes identity that kubectl already uses.

                         ┌─────────────────────────────┐
                         │   ANSI TUI / CLI - LKOC    │
                         └──────────────┬──────────────┘
                                        │
                               existing kubeconfig
                                        │
                                  ┌─────▼─────┐
                                  │  kubectl  │
                                  └─────┬─────┘
                                        │
          ┌─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┐
          │                             │                             │
     Cluster inventory             Operations                 Optional tools
          │                             │                             │
   Nodes / Pods / NS          Logs / Scale / Restart            Helm / Velero
   Workloads / Storage         Apply / Events / RBAC
   Services / Ingress          NetworkPolicies / Jobs

LKOC does not bypass Kubernetes RBAC, does not copy cluster credentials into its own configuration, and does not require an LKOC agent or daemon inside your cluster.

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Main capabilities

Multi-cluster / context management

• Reads contexts directly from kubeconfig
• Shows the currently selected context
• Lets the operator switch cluster context inside LKOC
• Passes the selected context explicitly to kubectl --context
• Does not rewrite kubeconfig current-context during an LKOC session

Cluster operations views

• Nodes and Ready/NotReady state
• Namespaces
• Pods across all namespaces
• Deployments
• StatefulSets
• DaemonSets
• Services
• Ingress resources
• PersistentVolumeClaims
• StorageClasses
• Jobs
• CronJobs
• recent Kubernetes Events
• RBAC summary
• NetworkPolicy inventory
• operational warning view

Operational actions

• Pod log viewing
• Deployment scaling
• Deployment rollout restart
• Kubernetes manifest apply
• Velero backup creation
• Velero restore creation

Optional integrations

• Helm — list releases across namespaces
• Velero — list/create backups and create restores

---

ANSI terminal interface

LKOC is intentionally terminal-native. It does not use image assets, browser pages, or a desktop GUI.

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ ◆ LINUX KUBERNETES OPERATIONS CENTER - ADVANCED                              v1.0.0  22:00:00     ║
║   Current cluster context: prod-cluster                                                              ║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║┌─ DASHBOARD ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐║
║│ CONTEXT                    NODES     PODS      NAMESPACES    DEPLOYMENTS    HEALTH                 │║
║│ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │║
║│ prod-cluster               5         42        8             14             ● HEALTHY              │║
║└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘║
║                                                                                                      ║
║┌─ MAIN MENU ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐║
║│  ▶  Dashboard                                                                                     │║
║│     Clusters / Contexts                                                                           │║
║│     Nodes                                                                                         │║
║│     Namespaces                                                                                    │║
║│     Pods                                                                                          │║
║│     Deployments                                                                                   │║
║│     StatefulSets                                                                                  │║
║│     DaemonSets                                                                                    │║
║│     Services                                                                                      │║
║│     Ingress                                                                                       │║
║│     Storage (PVC / StorageClasses)                                                                │║
║│     Helm Releases                                                                                 │║
║│     Recent Events                                                                                 │║
║│     Logs                                                                                          │║
║│     Scale Deployment                                                                              │║
║│     Rollout Restart                                                                               │║
║│     Apply Manifest                                                                                │║
║│     Backup & Restore (Velero)                                                                     │║
║│     Security & RBAC                                                                               │║
║│     Network Policies                                                                              │║
║│     Jobs & CronJobs                                                                               │║
║│     Alerts                                                                                        │║
║│     Doctor / Diagnostics                                                                          │║
║│     Exit                                                                                          │║
║└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘║
╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣
║ ↑/↓ Navigate  ENTER Select  ESC Back  F1 Help  F5 Refresh                             ● READY       ║
║ Designed and Development by : antonios.mortos@outlook.com                                           ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

The renderer measures visible text width after removing ANSI escape sequences, clips oversized values, pads every row to a deterministic width, and only then draws the right-hand border. This keeps the side borders aligned even when status fields use terminal colors or Kubernetes resource names are long.

Recommended terminal:

UTF-8 terminal
120 columns or wider
35 rows or taller
TERM=xterm-256color recommended

---

Installation

Requirements

Required:

• Linux
• Python 3.10 or newer
• kubectl
• working kubeconfig
• network access to the Kubernetes API server

Optional:

• helm for Helm release inventory
• velero for backup and restore features
• jq for administrator-side JSON inspection

Your Kubernetes cluster can be local, remote, bare-metal, VM-based, managed Kubernetes, or any environment that standard kubectl can access.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/antonismor/Linux-Kubernetes-Operations-Center-advanced.git
cd Linux-Kubernetes-Operations-Center-advanced

Install LKOC

sudo ./install.sh

The installer places:

/opt/lkoc/             application package
/usr/local/bin/lkoc    command wrapper

The installer does not modify your kubeconfig or Kubernetes resources.

Verify

lkoc --version
lkoc doctor

Expected version:

lkoc 1.0.0

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Before the first run

Confirm that your Kubernetes client works independently of LKOC:

kubectl config get-contexts
kubectl config current-context
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

If these commands do not work, fix kubeconfig, networking, certificates, or RBAC first.

Then launch:

lkoc

Normal LKOC operation does not require root. Permissions come from your Kubernetes credentials and RBAC.

---

Keyboard navigation

↑ / ↓       Move through menus
ENTER       Select
ESC         Back / leave menu
q / Q       Back / leave menu where supported
Ctrl+C      Emergency exit

---

Cluster contexts

List contexts from the CLI:

lkoc contexts

Inside the TUI choose:

Clusters / Contexts

Selecting a context inside LKOC does not permanently overwrite kubeconfig current-context. LKOC passes the context to individual commands explicitly.

This is useful when an administrator has, for example:

prod-cluster
dev-cluster
test-cluster
customer-a
customer-b

in the same kubeconfig.

---

Read-only inventory

The following views are intended primarily for inspection:

Nodes
Namespaces
Pods
Deployments
StatefulSets
DaemonSets
Services
Ingress
Storage (PVC / StorageClasses)
Helm Releases
Recent Events
Security & RBAC
Network Policies
Jobs & CronJobs
Alerts

CLI examples follow.

Nodes

lkoc --context prod-cluster get nodes

Pods

lkoc --context prod-cluster get pods

Namespaces

lkoc --context prod-cluster get namespaces

Deployments

lkoc --context prod-cluster get deployments

StatefulSets

lkoc --context prod-cluster get statefulsets

DaemonSets

lkoc --context prod-cluster get daemonsets

Services

lkoc --context prod-cluster get services

Ingresses

lkoc --context prod-cluster get ingresses

PVCs

lkoc --context prod-cluster get pvcs

Events

lkoc --context prod-cluster get events

CLI query output is JSON so that it can also be piped into other tools.

---

Pod logs

From the TUI:

Logs
  → select Pod
  → display recent log lines

From CLI:

lkoc --context prod-cluster logs production web-7fd89c --tail 300

LKOC delegates access to kubectl logs; normal Kubernetes permissions still apply.

---

Scaling deployments

TUI:

Scale Deployment
  → select deployment
  → enter replica count

CLI:

lkoc --context prod-cluster scale production api 5

Equivalent Kubernetes operation:

kubectl --context prod-cluster -n production scale deployment api --replicas 5

---

Rollout restart

TUI restart requires the operator to type:

YES

before LKOC submits the action.

CLI:

lkoc --context prod-cluster restart production api

This maps to a Kubernetes deployment rollout restart.

---

Apply a manifest

TUI:

Apply Manifest
  → enter manifest path
  → type APPLY

CLI:

lkoc --context prod-cluster apply deployment.yaml

Review manifests before applying them to production clusters.

---

Helm integration

If Helm is installed:

helm version
helm list -A

LKOC exposes Helm Releases and shows release name, namespace, revision, status, chart and application version where available.

LKOC 1.0.0 does not automatically install Helm.

---

Velero backup & restore

Velero support is optional.

Before using it in LKOC, Velero should already work:

velero version
velero backup-location get

The TUI supports:

Backup & Restore (Velero)
├── List Backups
├── Create Backup
└── Create Restore

Backup creation requires explicit confirmation:

BACKUP

Restore creation requires:

RESTORE

LKOC does not install or configure Velero automatically. Backup locations, credentials, snapshot plugins, object storage and retention remain part of the administrator's Velero deployment.

---

Security and RBAC

LKOC does not elevate Kubernetes permissions.

The selected kubeconfig identity remains authoritative.

Inspect permissions with:

kubectl auth can-i --list
kubectl auth can-i list pods -A
kubectl auth can-i patch deployments -n production

The Security & RBAC view summarizes:

• ClusterRoles
• ClusterRoleBindings
• namespaced Roles
• namespaced RoleBindings

LKOC deliberately does not print Secret resource payloads.

Recommended production practices:

• use least-privilege RBAC
• protect kubeconfig files and private keys
• prefer short-lived authentication where available
• keep production contexts clearly named
• audit cluster-admin use
• review manifests before apply operations
• treat scale/restart/restore operations as production changes

---

NetworkPolicy inventory

Choose:

Network Policies

to inspect existing NetworkPolicy resources across namespaces.

The view includes:

• namespace
• policy name
• pod selector
• policy types

Version 1.0.0 is inspection-focused; it does not provide a NetworkPolicy rule editor.

---

Alerts

The initial built-in warning view combines:

• pods whose state is not Running or Succeeded
• recent Kubernetes Warning Events
• dashboard visibility of NotReady nodes

This is an operational overview, not a replacement for Prometheus/Alertmanager.

A future backend can integrate metrics and alerting systems while preserving the same ANSI interface.

---

Doctor / diagnostics

Run:

lkoc doctor

It reports:

• Linux platform
• Python version
• kubeconfig path
• kubectl availability
• Helm availability
• Velero availability
• optional jq availability

A typical troubleshooting sequence is:

lkoc doctor
kubectl config current-context
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A

---

Common troubleshooting

kubectl not found

command -v kubectl

Install kubectl through the installation method supported by your Kubernetes platform or Linux distribution.

No contexts

kubectl config get-contexts
echo "$KUBECONFIG"

Check the default ~/.kube/config as well.

Forbidden

A Kubernetes error such as:

Error from server (Forbidden)

usually means the selected identity lacks RBAC permissions.

Check:

kubectl auth can-i --list

TLS / certificate failures

Verify kubeconfig server and CA configuration. LKOC does not silently disable Kubernetes TLS validation.

Helm screen empty

helm version
helm list -A

Velero unavailable

velero version
velero backup-location get

Terminal layout problems

tput cols
tput lines
echo "$TERM"

Use UTF-8 and preferably:

TERM=xterm-256color
>= 120 columns

---

CLI reference

lkoc
lkoc tui
lkoc --version
lkoc doctor
lkoc contexts

lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get nodes
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get pods
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get namespaces
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get events
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get deployments
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get statefulsets
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get daemonsets
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get services
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get ingresses
lkoc [--context CONTEXT] get pvcs

lkoc --context CONTEXT logs NAMESPACE POD --tail 200
lkoc --context CONTEXT scale NAMESPACE DEPLOYMENT REPLICAS
lkoc --context CONTEXT restart NAMESPACE DEPLOYMENT
lkoc --context CONTEXT apply MANIFEST

A dedicated reference is also available in docs/CLI_REFERENCE.md.

---

Project structure

Linux-Kubernetes-Operations-Center-advanced/
├── .github/
│   └── workflows/
│       └── ci.yml
├── bin/
│   └── lkoc
├── docs/
│   ├── CLI_REFERENCE.md
│   ├── MANUAL.md
│   └── TROUBLESHOOTING.md
├── lkoc/
│   ├── __init__.py
│   ├── ansi.py
│   ├── cli.py
│   ├── core.py
│   ├── dashboard.py
│   ├── doctor.py
│   └── kube.py
├── tests/
│   ├── test_ansi.py
│   └── test_core.py
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
├── LICENSE
├── README.md
├── SECURITY.md
├── install.sh
└── uninstall.sh

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Development and tests

Compile:

python3 -m compileall -q lkoc

Run tests:

PYTHONPATH=. python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -v

Check shell syntax:

bash -n install.sh
bash -n uninstall.sh

CLI smoke test:

PYTHONPATH=. python3 -m lkoc.cli --version

The test suite includes an ANSI alignment regression test: after terminal color escape sequences are removed, every rendered frame line must have the same visible width.

GitHub Actions runs compile, unit tests, shell syntax checks and a CLI smoke test on pushes and pull requests.

---

Uninstall

From the repository:

sudo ./uninstall.sh

The uninstaller removes:

/usr/local/bin/lkoc
/opt/lkoc

It does not remove kubeconfig and does not delete Kubernetes resources.

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Current design boundaries

Version 1.0.0 is an operational Kubernetes console, not a replacement for every Kubernetes ecosystem component.

It intentionally relies on established tools where appropriate:

• kubectl for Kubernetes API operations
• helm for Helm inventory
• velero for Kubernetes-aware backup/restore

It does not currently provide:

• an in-cluster agent
• a web dashboard
• Prometheus metric ingestion
• Alertmanager integration
• a manifest editor
• a NetworkPolicy editor
• automated cluster upgrades
• secret-value browsing

Those can be added as isolated modules without changing the base TUI architecture.

---

Production note

Test state-changing operations against a non-production cluster before using them in critical environments.

A healthy LKOC dashboard indicates the Kubernetes state visible through the selected identity. It is not by itself proof of application availability or recoverability.

For production clusters, combine LKOC with:

• Kubernetes-native monitoring
• centralized logs
• tested backups
• RBAC
• change control
• external availability monitoring
• documented disaster-recovery procedures

---

Documentation

Additional documentation:

• Administrator Manual
• CLI Reference
• Troubleshooting
• Security Policy
• Contributing
• Changelog

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License

MIT License. See LICENSE.

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Author

Antonios Mortos

Designed and Development by : antonios.mortos@outlook.com