Show Notes
Bret explores the spectrum of user interfaces and tools available for managing Kubernetes clusters as of Autumn 2024.
😇 My new GitHub Security workshop has launched! A free 2-hour workshop with hands-on labs to harden your repos and your workflows from common supply chain attacks. I'll cover how attackers are getting in, and then we'll lock down a sample repo so you know what needs to be done to protect your code. You'll leave with a deep understanding of risks and mitigations as well as a list of helpful tools to keep your repos safe, including my new "gasa" tool for scanning your repos and orgs. This solo episode touches on both paid and open-source options, looking at their features, benefits, and drawbacks. Key tools covered include Lens, Aptakube, K8Studio, Visual Studio Code's Kubernetes extension, K9S, Portainer, and Meshery. Bret also discusses specialized tools like Headlamp and the Argo CD dashboard, and their specific use cases and advantages. ★Topics★ Lens Aptakube K8Studio K9s Kubernetes Dashboard Portainer Meshery Headlamp
Creators & Guests
Cristi Cotovan - Editor
Beth Fisher - Producer
Bret Fisher - Host
(00:00) - Intro
(01:43) - Paid UI Offerings
(02:22) - Lens
(03:42) - Aptakube and K8Studio
(04:30) - Free and Open Apps
(05:42) - K9s
(06:45) - SaaS Offerings
(07:32) - Web Dashboards
(08:08) - Portainer
(09:08) - Meshery
(11:14) - Headlamp
(13:28) - Argo CD's Web Dashboard
You can also support this podcast by subscribing to my YouTube channel and my monthly newsletter at bret.news! Grab the best coupons for my GitHub, Agents, Docker, and Kubernetes courses. Join my cloud native DevOps community on Discord. Grab some merch at Bret's Loot Box Homepage bretfisher.com
★ Support this podcast ★
More from DevOps and Docker Talk: Cloud Native Interviews and Tooling
Control Plane CEO Doron Grinstein joins me to discuss how they’ve created an AI-native cloud API that virtualizes multi-cloud and hybrid cloud to simplify management and ship faster. Watch the video of this episode.
What does an AI-native CI look like? The Semaphore team joins me to talk about their focus on making your agent harness the gateway to testing, fixing, and deploying your code. Video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/HzXAdtVrW70
OpenChoreo is a “batteries included”, AI-native Kubernetes platform stack for Platform Engineers that combines GitOps, Observability, AI Agents, and Workflows into a custom K8s distribution “super pack” that is managed via Backstage, CLI, API, or MCP. Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/AqGWjxEfj2g
Michael Irwin of Docker joins me to run through Gordon AI improvements, Docker Hardened Images and what's now free, Docker Sandboxes for running agents in proper isolation, Model Runner updates including MLX support on Mac, MCP Toolkit dynamic discovery, and the newly renamed Docker Agent with its GitHub Action for automating PR reviews and docs checks. Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/dTF3b36Bq6w
Bret is joined by the founders of Plakar - Julien Mangeard and Gilles Chehade - to nerd out over backup engineering. The kind where you're building your own file formats and cryptographic layers, not just wiring up cron jobs. We get into how Plakar deduplicates and encrypts at the source so your cloud provider never sees your keys. Also, their snapshot model has no chain dependencies, which means you can delete any backup without breaking the others. We had a fun hour of backup horror stories, ransomware pragmatism, where I'm lobbying hard for a Docker volume integration. Check out the video podcast version here: https://youtu.be/OPRK5osKQHI