Configuration

The Sensor and Cluster Manager are shipped with default configurations that should be suitable for most installations, but can be customized by setting values in the Upwind Operator chart.

Using Kubernetes Secret for Upwind Operator clientId and clientSecret

The Upwind Operator requires a clientId and clientSecret to authenticate with the Upwind API. These credentials can be provided as a Kubernetes Secret, which is then referenced in the Upwind Operator configuration.

The Secret convention is as follows:

clientId=$CLIENT_ID
clientSecret=$CLIENT_SECRET

For example, you can create it with the following command:

kubectl create secret generic --namespace upwind upwind-secret \
        --from-literal=clientId=$CLIENT_ID \
        --from-literal=clientSecret=$CLIENT_SECRET

To reference the Secret in the Upwind Operator configuration, you must use the following configuration:

credentials:
  create: false
  name: upwind-secret

Configure with Prometheus

Prometheus is a monitoring system commonly used with Kubernetes, which gathers metrics (e.g. CPU usage) from various sources and stores them. You can then query them with a tool like Grafana, which lets you display a graph of the CPU usage of your pods.

The Prometheus PodMonitor resource in Kubernetes is defined by the following:

apiVersion: monitoring.coreos.com/v1
kind: PodMonitor
metadata:
  name: monitoring-upwind-agents
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: upwind-agent
spec:
  podMetricsEndpoints:
    - honorLabels: true
      path: /metrics
      port: agent-metrics
      scheme: http
      scrapeTimeout: 30s
  jobLabel: upwind-agent
  namespaceSelector:
    matchNames:
      - upwind
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app.kubernetes.io/instance: upwind-agent
      app.kubernetes.io/name: agent
The Prometheus ServiceMonitor resource in Kubernetes is defined by the following:

apiVersion: monitoring.coreos.com/v1
kind: ServiceMonitor
metadata:
  name: upwind-cluster-agent
spec:
  jobLabel: upwind-cluster-agent
  selector:
    matchExpressions:
      - key: app.kubernetes.io/name
        values:
          - cluster-agent
        operator: In
  namespaceSelector:
    matchNames:
      - upwind
  endpoints:
    - port: metrics
      interval: 30s

Purpose of the Cluster Manager and Sensor ClusterRole

Upwind creates and utilizes the upwind-cluster-agent ClusterRole, configured to monitor and audit key Kubernetes resources. This role is tailored for observing and reporting on the state and configuration of various Kubernetes objects, necessary for ensuring a comprehensive security and operational overview.

The upwind-cluster-agent ClusterRole is defined with the following rules:

Core API Group (apiGroups: [""]):
Resources: Services, namespaces, nodes and pods.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Apps API Group: ["apps"]:
Resources: Deployments, replicasets, daemonsets, and statefulsets.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Networking API Group: ["networking.k8s.io"]:
Resources: Network policies and ingresses.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Batch API Group: ["batch"]:
Resources: Jobs and cronjobs.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

CustomResouceDefinition API Group ["apiextensions.k8s.io"]:
Resources: CustomResourceDefinitions
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Additionally, Upwind creates and uses the upwind-agent ClusterRole with the following configuration:

Core API Group (apiGroups: [""]):
Resources: Services, namespaces, nodes and pods.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Apps API Group: ["apps"]:
Resources: Deployments, replicasets, daemonsets, and statefulsets.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

Batch API Group: ["batch"]:
Resources: Jobs and cronjobs.
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

CustomResouceDefinition API Group ["apiextensions.k8s.io"]:
Resources: CustomResourceDefinitions
Actions Allowed: ["watch", "list", "get"]

The Upwind Cluster Manager and Sensor ClusterRole are configured to access specific types of resources within designated API groups, focusing on services, namespaces, various workload controllers, and networking configurations. The verbs watch, list, and get provide read-only access, allowing Upwind to observe and report on resource states without modifying them. The ClusterRole adheres to the principle of least privilege by limiting its scope to specific resource types, reducing potential security risks.

Tuning the Sensor and Cluster Manager

The Sensor pods will use memory roughly in proportion to the level of network and process activity on the node the Sensor is running on, and is not dependent on the overall size of the Kubernetes cluster. Most of the memory the Sensor uses is dedicated to internal caches of data related to active network connections. Depending on your specific environment, it may be beneficial to adjust the size or expiration time of these caches by configuring the Sensor daemonset by modifying agent.values.agent.config.connCache or agent.values.agent.config.connTrackCache. Increasing the cache sizes will allow the sensor to monitor more concurrent network connections. Reducing the size of the caches or the expiration time can reduce memory usage.

The Cluster Manager will use memory roughly in proportion to the size of the cluster it is running in and the amount of network traffic in the cluster. For clusters larger than 50 nodes or with more than 1 GB/s of network traffic, it's recommended to increase the memory requests and limits for the Cluster Manager.

Configuration Library

Key	Type	Default	Description
agent.values	object	`{"tolerations":[{"operator":"Exists"}]}`	custom values will be added to the Sensor.
agent.values.env	list	`[]`	Additional common environment variables added to the Upwind Sensor pod.
agent.values.agent.config. connCache.expiry	int	`7260`	Expiration duration from connection cache in seconds.
agent.values.agent.config. connCache.size	int	`30000`	Maximum connection cache capacity.
agent.values.agent.config. connTrackCache.expiry	int	`7260`	Expiration duration from connection cache in seconds.
agent.values.agent.config. connTrackCache.size	int	`30000`	Maximum conntrack cache capacity.
agent.values.agent.config. logLevel	string	`"INFO"`	Logging level for the network agent container.
agent.values.agent.resources	object	`{` `"limits":` `{"cpu":"500m","memory":"1000Mi"},` `"requests":` `{"cpu":"50m","memory":"100Mi"}` `}`	Specifies the resource requests and limits for the Upwind Sensor network agent container.
agent.values.networkAggregation. enabled	bool	`true`	Enables aggregation of network reports in the Cluster Manager.
agent.values.podSecurityPolicy. enabled	bool	`true`	Enables creation of a PodSecurityPolicy for the sensor. Must be set to false before upgrading a cluster from Kubernetes 1.24 to Kubernetes 1.25.
agent.values.scanAgent.config. logLevel	string	`"INFO"`	Logging level for the scanning agent container.
agent.values.scanAgent.enabled	bool	`true`	Whether to enable the scanning agent container.
agent.values.scanAgent.resources	object	`{` `"limits":` `{"cpu":"500m","memory":"500Mi"},` `"requests":` `{"cpu":"50m","memory":"50Mi"}` `}`	Specifies the resource requests and limits for the Upwind Sensor scan agent container
agent.values.scanHost.enabled	bool	`false`	Whether to enable the CronJob to scan the node filesystem.
agent.values.scanHost.resources	object	`{` `"limits":` `{"cpu":"500m","memory":"1000Mi"},` `"requests":` `{"cpu":"50m","memory":"250Mi"}` `}`	Specifies the resource requests and limits for the CronJob.
agent.values.scanHost.schedule	string	`"38 * * * *"`	Schedule for running the CronJob.
agent.values.tolerations	list	`[{"operator":"Exists"}]`	Specifies the tolerations for the Upwind Sensor daemonset.
agent.version	string	`nil`	pins the version of the Sensor component to a specific release.
clusterAgent.values	object	`{}`	custom values will be added to the ClusterAgent spec
clusterAgent.values.env	object	`{}`	Custom environment variables to add to the Cluster Manager pod.
clusterAgent.values.resources	object	`{` `"limits":` `{"cpu":"1500m","memory":"2Gi"},` `"requests":` `{"cpu":"1000m","memory":"2Gi"}` `}`	Specifies the resource requests and limits for the Cluster Manager.
clusterAgent.version	string	`nil`	pins the version of the ClusterAgent component.
credentials.clientId	string	`nil`	`[Required]` Specifies the application's Client ID.
credentials.clientSecret	string	`nil`	`[Required]` Specifies the application's Client Secret.
operator.logLevel	string	`"info"`	Set the log level for the Upwind Operator.
resources.limits.cpu	string	`"500m"`	Sets CPU limits for the Upwind Operator.
resources.limits.memory	string	`"256Mi"`	Sets memory limits for the Upwind Operator.
resources.requests.cpu	string	`"10m"`	Sets CPU requests for the Upwind Operator.
resources.requests.memory	string	`"64Mi"`	Sets memory requests for the Upwind Operator.

Configuration

Using Kubernetes Secret for Upwind Operator clientId and clientSecret​

Configure with Prometheus​

Purpose of the Cluster Manager and Sensor ClusterRole​

Tuning the Sensor and Cluster Manager​

Configuration Library​

Using Kubernetes Secret for Upwind Operator clientId and clientSecret

Configure with Prometheus

Purpose of the Cluster Manager and Sensor ClusterRole

Tuning the Sensor and Cluster Manager

Configuration Library