README.md

KubExporter

KubExporter allows you to export resources from kubernetes as yaml/json files.

The configuration allows customization on which resources and which fields to exclude.

Install

Download the latest binary from https://github.com/bakito/kubexporter/releases.

Use as kubectl plugin

Rename the binary to kubectl-exporter.

kubectl exporter ...

Usage

Usage:
  kubexporter [flags]

Flags:
      --as string                      Username to impersonate for the operation. User could be a regular user or a service account in a namespace.
      --as-group stringArray           Group to impersonate for the operation, this flag can be repeated to specify multiple groups.
      --as-uid string                  UID to impersonate for the operation.
      --cache-dir string               Default cache directory (default "/home/bakito/.kube/cache")
      --certificate-authority string   Path to a cert file for the certificate authority
  -c, --clear-target                   If enabled, the target dir is deleted before running the new export
      --client-certificate string      Path to a client certificate file for TLS
      --client-key string              Path to a client key file for TLS
      --cluster string                 The name of the kubeconfig cluster to use
      --config string                  config file
      --context string                 The name of the kubeconfig context to use
      --created-within duration        The max allowed age duration for the resources
      --disable-compression            If true, opt-out of response compression for all requests to the server
  -e, --exclude-kinds strings          Do not export excluded kinds
  -h, --help                           help for kubexporter
  -i, --include-kinds strings          Export only included kinds, if included kinds are defined, excluded will be ignored
      --insecure-skip-tls-verify       If true, the server's certificate will not be checked for validity. This will make your HTTPS connections insecure
      --kubeconfig string              Path to the kubeconfig file to use for CLI requests.
  -l, --lists                          If enabled, all resources are exported as lists instead of individual files
  -n, --namespace string               If present, the namespace scope for this CLI request
  -o, --output string                  Output format. One of: (json, yaml). (default "yaml")
  -p, --progress string                Progress mode bar|simple|none (default bar)  (default "bar")
  -q, --quiet                          If enabled, output is prevented
      --request-timeout string         The length of time to wait before giving up on a single server request. Non-zero values should contain a corresponding time unit (e.g. 1s, 2m, 3h). A value of zero means don't timeout requests. (default "0")
  -s, --server string                  The address and port of the Kubernetes API server
      --show-managed-fields            If true, keep the managedFields when printing objects in JSON or YAML format.
      --summary                        If enabled, a summary is printed
  -t, --target string                  Set the target directory (default exports) (default "exports")
      --tls-server-name string         Server name to use for server certificate validation. If it is not provided, the hostname used to contact the server is used
      --token string                   Bearer token for authentication to the API server
      --user string                    The name of the kubeconfig user to use
  -v, --verbose                        If enabled, errors during export are listed in summary
      --version                        version for kubexporter
  -w, --worker int                     The number of worker to use for the export (default 1)

Config

KubExporter exports by default all resources and allows to exclude unwanted resources. The benefit is that new custom resource definitions are automatically considered in the export.

Example configuration

# print a summary
summary: true
# print progress (bar|simple|none)
progress: bar
# create an archive
archive: true
# define a single namespace (default all)
namespace:
# define the number of parallel worker
worker: 1
# export as lists
asLists: false
# enable pagination on queries (only supported when asLists = false)
#queryPageSize: 1000
# clear the target directory before exporting
clearTarget: true
excluded:
  # list all kinds to be excluded
  kinds:
    - Binding
    - ComponentStatus
    - Endpoints
    - Event
    - LimitRange
    - LocalSubjectAccessReview
    - PersistentVolume
    - Pod
    - ReplicationController
    - ReplicationControllerDummy
    - RoleBindingRestriction
    - apps.ReplicaSet
    - batch.Job
    - events.k8s.io.Event
    - extensions.ReplicaSet
  # list fields that should be removed for all resources before exported; slices are also traversed
  fields:
    - [ status ]
    - [ metadata, uid ]
    - [ metadata, selfLink ]
    - [ metadata, resourceVersion ]
    - [ metadata, creationTimestamp ]
    - [ metadata, generation ]
    - [ metadata, annotations, "kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration" ]
  # kind specific excluded fields
  kindFields:
    Service:
      - [ spec, clusterIP ]
  # allows to exclude single instances with certain field values
  kindByField:
    Service:
      - field: [ metadata, name ]
        # the value is compared to the string representation of the actual kind value
        values: [ exclude-me-1, exclude-me-2 ]
    Secret:
      - field: [ type ]
        # exclude helm secrets
        values: [ 'helm.sh/release', 'helm.sh/release.v1' ]
# excludes resources if the owner reference kind is excluded
considerOwnerReferences: false
# mask certain fields 
masked:
  # the replacement string to be used for masked fields (default '***')
  replacement: '***'
  # generate a checksum from the value to be masked value instead of the replacement. (supported 'md5', 'sha1', 'sha256')  
  checksum: ''
  # kind specific fields that should be masked
  kindFields:
    Secret:
      - [ data ]
# encrypt certain fields 
#encrypted:
#  # the aes key to use to encrypt the field values. The key can also be provided via env variable 'KUBEXPORTER_AES_KEY'
#  aesKey: '***'
#  # kind specific fields that should be encrypted. NOTE: if the same fields or a parent branch is also masked, masking wins over encryption.
#  kindFields:
#    Secret:
#      - [ data ]

# sort the slice field value before exporting
sortSlices:
  User:
    - [ roles ]

Update Owner References

Allows updating Owner references against a running cluster.

kubexporter update-owner-references

 FILE                                                                                 OWNER KIND  OWNER NAME                                 UID FROM                              UID TO                               
 cert-manager/cilium.io.CiliumEndpoint.cert-manager-cainjector-7fd8f6bbbf-9nlf2.yaml  Pod         cert-manager-cainjector-7fd8f6bbbf-9nlf2   1d494969-hhhh-4c79-96d4-25d31c66c895  1d494969-db54-4c79-96d4-25d31c66c895 
 cert-manager/cilium.io.CiliumEndpoint.cert-manager-webhook-787cd749dc-7sfvq.yaml     Pod         cert-manager-webhook-787cd749dc-7sfvq-XXX  eeeb48d9-751c-4aa9-9389-6aab845dba1e  <NOT FOUND>      

Decrypt encrypted values

Exported files with encrypted values can be decrypted with the decrypt command.

The aes key can b provided via arg --aes-key, env variable KUBEXPORTER_AES_KEY. If not provided the key can be entered via password prompt.

1 - n file paths are defined via command arguments.

kubexporter decrypt exports/argocd/Secret.argocd-secret.yaml

 FILE                                      NAMESPACE  KIND    NAME           DECRYPTED FIELDS
 exports/argocd/Secret.argocd-secret.yaml  argocd     Secret  argocd-secret                 5

Decrypt multiple files

kubexporter decrypt $(ls exports/argocd/Secret*)