Using Helm Dashboard and Intents-Based Access Control for Pain-Free Network Segmentation

The blog post explores the use of the Helm Dashboard and Intents-Based Access Control as tools for managing network segmentation in Kubernetes environments, specifically addressing the challenges of implementing network policies as recommended by the OWASP Kubernetes Top 10. Helm Dashboard, an open-source project, offers a graphical interface to visualize Helm charts and Kubernetes resources, simplifying the management of revisions and rollbacks. The Intents operator allows for the declaration of network policies by client intent, facilitating easier coordination among teams managing different Helm charts without affecting each other. The article provides an example of network policy implementation, highlighting the complexities involved when multiple teams must coordinate labels and policies for interconnected services. It demonstrates how the Intents operator can streamline this process by allowing each client to declare its access requirements independently, which then automatically generates the corresponding network policies. The blog also mentions the Otterize tool, which can map existing traffic to autogenerate client intents, further simplifying network management. The post concludes by promoting the open-source nature of these tools and hints at future announcements from Komodor and Otterize.