Authentication and authorization
1. Authentication and authorization
Within Kubernetes, user access falls into two categories: individual user accounts and Kubernetes service accounts. Whereas normal user accounts represent human users, Kubernetes service accounts manage credentials for applications running within the cluster. In GKE, user accounts are typically defined through a Cloud Identity domain, which provides centralized management and fine-grained control, as compared to using individual consumer Google accounts. But then there is also Identity and Access Management, or IAM, which is a core Google Cloud service that lets you link permissions to user accounts and groups. We’ll explore this in more detail soon. To simplify managing service accounts in GKE clusters, Google Cloud offers Workload Identity, a feature that bridges the gap between Kubernetes service accounts and IAM service accounts in Google Cloud, which enables access to other Google Cloud services for applications that run within your cluster. Workload Identity offers a secure way to authenticate Pods by keeping service account credentials outside the pods themselves. This prevents attackers from accessing these credentials even if a Pod is compromised. Once a Pod starts, it automatically receives its service account credentials from the GKE metadata server, allowing it to authenticate itself to other Google Cloud services securely. The GKE metadata server is a subset of the Compute Engine metadata server endpoints required for Kubernetes workloads. Furthermore, Workload Identity simplifies Pod authentication by eliminating the need to manage credentials within the Pods. This enhances both security and convenience for Kubernetes deployments and makes it a best practice for any deployment requiring access to other Google Cloud services. Now once an account is authenticated, there are two main ways to authorize which actions it can perform: with IAM and Kubernetes role-based access control, or RBAC. Think of IAM as the gatekeeper for Google Cloud resources beyond your Kubernetes clusters. It lets you define precise permissions for individual users or groups, which allows them to perform specific actions at the project or cluster level. Kubernetes RBAC controls access within your cluster, offering fine-tuned roles with granular permissions for resources at the cluster and namespace levels. To ensure comprehensive access control within your GKE environment, it’s essential to have a synchronized approach involving both IAM and Kubernetes RBAC. IAM acts as the outermost layer of security and defines who can access and modify the overall configurations of your GKE clusters, whereas Kubernetes RBAC governs who can interact with the individual Kubernetes objects residing within a cluster. It’s also crucial to adhere to the principle of least privilege, a cornerstone of security best practices. This means granting each user or group only the minimum set of permissions necessary to perform their specific tasks, minimizing potential risks. Now your workloads might get requests from outside the cluster, and each request must be authenticated before it’s acted upon. In Kubernetes, the API server listens for remote requests by using HTTPS on port 443. GKE manages end-user authentication for you. It will authenticate users to Google Cloud, set up the Kubernetes configuration, get an OAuth access token for the cluster, and keep the access token up-to-date. In Google Cloud, it’s best practice to authenticate using OpenID connect tokens.2. Let's practice!
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