Stateless Kubernetes Control Plane for Storage Access and QoS Limits
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing container orchestration systems, such as Kubernetes, lack effective mechanisms for managing storage system resource access and Quality of Service (QoS) limitations, leading to potential unauthorized access and excessive resource consumption by Kubernetes clusters.
Innovation Solution
Implementing Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) for Role-based Access Control (RBAC) and QoS limitations using GitOps to manage and apply these rules, with an authorization proxy server acting as a central authority to enforce these policies, and using unique volume prefixes to track ownership without requiring stateful tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If Kubernetes clusters are allowed to access storage system resources without restrictions, then resource availability and ease of operation are improved, but security and resource control deteriorate leading to unauthorized access and excessive consumption
Solution Approach 1:
An authorization proxy server is introduced as an intermediary component between Kubernetes clusters and storage system resources. This proxy server validates RBAC permissions and QoS limits for each access request, preventing direct unauthorized access while maintaining ease of operation. The proxy acts as a gatekeeper that enforces security policies without requiring complex changes to the existing Kubernetes storage access mechanisms.
2Reliability
If RBAC and QoS limits are enforced through stateful tracking mechanisms, then access control and resource limitation are improved, but system complexity and computational overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the state management requirements from the authorization system by using external Git repositories to store RBAC and QoS policy definitions. Instead of maintaining state within the authorization proxy server, all policy information is extracted and stored externally in version-controlled repositories. This allows the proxy server to remain stateless while still enforcing complex access control and resource limitation policies by reading policy definitions from the external repositories for each request.
3Productivity
If multiple Kubernetes clusters share storage system resources without native RBAC mechanisms, then resource utilization and productivity are improved, but security control deteriorates allowing clusters to modify each other's resources
Solution Approach 1:
The authorization proxy server implements a feedback mechanism where each access request from a Kubernetes cluster to storage resources is validated against RBAC policies stored in Git repositories. The proxy server provides feedback by allowing or denying access based on the cluster's permissions, preventing unauthorized modifications while enabling legitimate resource sharing. This feedback loop ensures that productivity is maintained through resource sharing while security is enforced through policy validation.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems and methods for providing stateless management and storage system resource limitation of tenants of a container orchestration system, such as Kubernetes clusters in a Kubernetes orchestration system. The storage system resources accessible by the tenants are determined. Role-based Access Control (RBAC) and Quality of Service (QoS) limits of the tenants are defined and stored as files in a repository accessed by an authorization proxy server. The authorization proxy server through the files, verifies and authorizing the tenants to access the storage system resources.