Governance and Compliance

Troubleshooting Governance and Compliance in Kubernetes

The Story: Your Kubernetes Kingdom Needs Rules! 👑

Imagine you’re the ruler of a magical kingdom called Kubernetes Land. In your kingdom, you have many houses (pods), roads (services), and citizens (containers). But here’s the problem—without rules, chaos happens!

• Someone might build a house in the wrong place 🏠❌
• Old roads might crumble and nobody notices 🛣️💥
• Citizens might use expired permits and cause trouble 📜⚠️

That’s where Governance and Compliance comes in. It’s like having wise advisors and rule books that keep your kingdom safe and running smoothly!

🎯 What We’ll Learn

1. Kyverno Policies – Your kingdom’s rule enforcers
2. Kubernetes Release Lifecycle – Understanding when roads and houses get upgraded
3. Deprecation Handling – Knowing when old things stop working

1. Kyverno Policies: The Rule Enforcers 🛡️

What is Kyverno?

Think of Kyverno as a security guard standing at the gates of your Kubernetes kingdom. Before anyone can create, change, or do anything, Kyverno checks:

“Does this follow our rules?”

If yes ✅ → “Come on in!” If no ❌ → “Sorry, you can’t do that!”

Why Do We Need Kyverno?

Without rules, bad things happen:

• Someone creates a pod without resource limits (greedy pod eats all memory!)
• Someone forgets to add labels (finding things becomes impossible!)
• Someone uses an unsafe container image (security nightmare!)

How Kyverno Works

graph TD
    A["User Wants to Create Pod"] --> B["Kyverno Checks Rules"]
    B --> C{Follows Rules?}
    C -->|Yes| D["Pod Created ✅"]
    C -->|No| E["Request Denied ❌"]
    E --> F["User Gets Error Message"]

Real Example: Requiring Labels

Let’s say you want a rule: “Every pod MUST have a team label.”

Kyverno Policy:

apiVersion: kyverno.io/v1
kind: ClusterPolicy
metadata:
  name: require-team-label
spec:
  validationFailureAction: Enforce
  rules:
  - name: check-team-label
    match:
      resources:
        kinds:
        - Pod
    validate:
      message: "Every pod needs a team label!"
      pattern:
        metadata:
          labels:
            team: "?*"

What happens:

• Pod WITH team: backend → ✅ Created!
• Pod WITHOUT team label → ❌ Rejected!

Types of Kyverno Policies

Troubleshooting Kyverno: Common Problems

Problem 1: “My pod won’t create and I don’t know why!”

# Check what policies exist
kubectl get clusterpolicies

# See detailed policy info
kubectl describe clusterpolicy require-team-label

# Check policy reports
kubectl get policyreport -A

Problem 2: “Policy exists but doesn’t seem to work”

Check these:

1. Is validationFailureAction set to Enforce? (not Audit)
2. Does the match section target the right resources?
3. Is Kyverno running?

# Check Kyverno pods
kubectl get pods -n kyverno

2. Kubernetes Release Lifecycle: The Upgrade Calendar 📅

What is the Release Lifecycle?

Imagine Kubernetes as a video game that gets new versions every few months. Each version:

• Adds cool new features 🎮
• Fixes bugs 🐛
• Eventually becomes “old” and unsupported 👴

The Version Numbers Explained

Kubernetes uses semantic versioning: v1.28.3

v1.28.3
  │  │  │
  │  │  └── Patch (bug fixes only)
  │  └───── Minor (new features, every ~4 months)
  └──────── Major (big changes, rarely changes)

Release Timeline

graph LR
    A["New Release v1.30"] --> B["Support Period 14 months"]
    B --> C["End of Life ☠️"]
    C --> D["No More Updates!"]

Simple Rule: Kubernetes supports the 3 most recent minor versions.

Why This Matters for Troubleshooting

Scenario: Your cluster is on v1.26, but the latest is v1.30.

Problem: v1.26 is no longer supported!

What this means:

• No security patches 🔓
• No bug fixes 🐛
• Your cluster could have known vulnerabilities!

How to Check Your Version

# See your cluster version
kubectl version

# Output shows:
# Server Version: v1.28.4

Upgrade Strategy Tips

1. Read release notes before upgrading
2. Test in staging first
3. Upgrade one minor version at a time (v1.27 → v1.28, not v1.27 → v1.30)
4. Check API deprecations (more on this next!)

3. Deprecation Handling: When Old Stuff Stops Working 🏚️

What is Deprecation?

Imagine your favorite toy store announces:

“We’re stopping production of red toy cars. In 2 years, you can’t buy them anymore!”

That’s deprecation. The old thing still works NOW, but it will STOP working SOON.

Why Does Kubernetes Deprecate Things?

• Better ways to do things exist
• Old APIs had problems
• Simplifying the system

The Deprecation Timeline

graph TD
    A["Feature Announced as Deprecated"] --> B["Warning Period 🔶"]
    B --> C["Feature Removed ❌"]
    C --> D["Your Stuff Breaks! 💔"]

Real Example:

v1.22: "extensions/v1beta1 Ingress" deprecated
v1.22: Warning messages appear
v1.25: "extensions/v1beta1 Ingress" REMOVED
v1.25+: Old configs stop working!

How to Find Deprecated APIs in Your Cluster

Tool 1: kubectl with warnings

# Apply a file and see deprecation warnings
kubectl apply -f my-deployment.yaml
# Warning: batch/v1beta1 CronJob is
# deprecated in v1.21+, use batch/v1

Tool 2: kubent (Kube No Trouble)

# Install kubent
brew install kubent

# Scan for deprecated APIs
kubent

# Output shows what will break!

Tool 3: Pluto

# Scan your cluster
pluto detect-all-in-cluster

# Scan YAML files
pluto detect-files -d ./my-manifests/

Common Deprecated APIs and Fixes

Before/After Example

❌ Old (Deprecated):

apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  rules:
  - host: app.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        backend:
          serviceName: my-service
          servicePort: 80

✅ New (Current):

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: my-app
spec:
  rules:
  - host: app.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: my-service
            port:
              number: 80

Troubleshooting Deprecations Checklist

• [ ] Run deprecation scanning tools regularly
• [ ] Subscribe to Kubernetes release notes
• [ ] Update manifests BEFORE upgrading clusters
• [ ] Test in staging with newer API versions
• [ ] Set up CI/CD checks for deprecated APIs

🧩 Putting It All Together

Here’s how Kyverno, Release Lifecycle, and Deprecations work together:

graph TD
    A["You Write K8s Manifest"] --> B{Kyverno Check}
    B -->|Fails Policy| C["Fix Issues"]
    B -->|Passes| D{Deprecated API?}
    D -->|Yes| E["Update to New API"]
    D -->|No| F{Cluster Version OK?}
    F -->|Outdated| G["Plan Upgrade"]
    F -->|Current| H["Deploy! 🚀"]

Golden Rules for Governance & Compliance

1. Use Kyverno to enforce policies automatically
2. Keep clusters updated within supported versions
3. Scan for deprecations before every upgrade
4. Test everything in staging first
5. Document your policies so everyone understands the rules

🎉 You Did It!

You now understand:

• ✅ How Kyverno acts as your policy guardian
• ✅ Why Kubernetes versions matter and how the lifecycle works
• ✅ What deprecation means and how to handle it

Your Kubernetes kingdom is safer, more organized, and ready for the future!

Remember: Good governance isn’t about restriction—it’s about freedom within safe boundaries. When everyone follows the rules, the whole kingdom thrives! 🏰✨