Network Console (Network Observer)

The Network Console is a web-based observability UI deployed separately via Helm. It collects flow data from the Skupper router and provides visualizations.

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Network Observer Pod               │
│                                      │
│  ┌──────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  │
│  │ Observer      │  │ Prometheus   │  │
│  │ (flow data)   │  │ (metrics)    │  │
│  └──────┬───────┘  └─────────────┘  │
│         │                            │
│  ┌──────┴───────┐                   │
│  │ Web Console   │                   │
│  └──────────────┘                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
         │
    AMQPS → skupper-router

Installation

helm install skupper-network-observer \
  oci://quay.io/skupper/helm/network-observer \
  --version 2.2.1

Access

# Port forward
kubectl port-forward svc/skupper-network-observer 8443:443

# Get password (default user: skupper)
kubectl get secret skupper-network-observer-users \
  -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d

What It Shows

View	Content
Topology	Visual map of sites and links
Services	Services exposed on the network
Sites	Site status and health
Components	Application components
Processes	Running workloads

Site Selection for Deployment

Consider:

• Firewall position — deploy inside/outside based on access needs
• Traffic proximity — deploy near the site with most traffic
• Resource cost — deploy where resources are cheapest

Authentication Options

Strategy	Platform	Details
basic	Any K8s	Auto-generated username/password
openshift	OpenShift	OAuth integration
none	Any	No auth (development only)

Key Helm Configuration

Category	Options
External access	Ingress (nginx, generic), OpenShift Route
TLS	Skupper-issued, OpenShift Service CA, or external
Persistence	PVC for Prometheus time-series data
Metrics	Dedicated metrics endpoint on port 9000
Resources	CPU/memory limits for observer, prometheus, proxy containers

OpenShift Route Example

route:
  enabled: true
  subdomain: network-observer
auth:
  strategy: openshift
  openshift:
    createCookieSecret: true
    serviceAccount:
      create: true
tls:
  openshiftIssued: true

Uninstall

helm uninstall skupper-network-observer
# PVCs not auto-deleted:
kubectl delete pvc skupper-network-observer-prometheus