Validator

The Palette CLI has built-in support for the open-source Validator framework and its plugins ecosystem. You can use the Validator to verify your environment is ready for an installation of self-hosted Palette, VerteX, or for deployment of Kubernetes clusters through Palette.

Subcommands

The validator command exposes the following subcommands.

describe - Describe the Validator results in a Kubernetes cluster.
install - Install the Validator framework and configure Validator plugins.
uninstall - Uninstall the Validator framework and remove all Validator plugins.
upgrade - Upgrade Validator & reconfigure validator plugins.

Prerequisites

The Validator requires the following dependencies.

Docker - The Validator requires Docker.

warning

Credentials and other permissions may be required depending on the Validator plugins you use. For example, the AWS plugin requires AWS credentials with elevated permissions to validate your AWS environment. Refer to the Validator GitHub repository for more information about the Validator and its plugins.

Install

Use the install subcommand to install the Validator framework and configure Validator plugins. An interactive wizard will guide you through the installation process. You can also use a configuration file to install the Validator.

info

A kind cluster will be deployed as part of the Validator installation. The name of the kind cluster is validator-kind-cluster. You can find the kind binary installed in the $HOME/.palette/bin directory. You can install the Validator into an existing Kubernetes cluster by using the Helm chart. Refer to the Validator Helm Install steps for more information.

The install subcommand accepts the following flags.

Short Flag	Long Flag	Description	Type
`-f`	`--config-file`	Install the Validator using a configuration file (optional). Provide the file path to the configuration file.	string
`-o`	`--config-only`	Generate a configuration file without proceeding with an actual install. Default: false	boolean
`-h`	`--help`	Help with any command.	-
`-r`	`--reconfigure`	Reconfigure Validator and plugins prior to installation. The `--config-file` flag must be included. Default: false.	boolean
`-p`	`--password`	Update credentials provided in the configuration file. This does not proceed with installation. The `--config-file` flag must be included. Default: false.	boolean

Examples

Below are some examples of using the install subcommand and its supported workflows.

Interactive Install

palette validator install

Install using a configuration file

palette validator install \
--config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml

Generate a configuration file without proceeding with an actual installation

palette validator install --config-only

Update credentials provided in the configuration file. This does proceed with installation but will prompt for new credentials.

palette validator install --password --config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml

Configuration Files

After the install wizard completes, the Validator will generate a configuration file. You can use the generated configuration file to install the Validator using with the same configuration you specified in the wizard. You also need this configuration file to uninstall the Validator.

Once Validator is installed, the configuration file is located in the $HOME/.palette/validator directory and is named validator.yaml.

The install output displays the location of the configuration file. In the example below, the configuration file is located at /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml. The output is truncated for brevity.

validator configuration file saved: /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml
Creating cluster "validator-kind-cluster" ...
 ✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.24.7) 🖼
 • Preparing nodes 📦   ...
 • Writing configuration 📜  ...
 ✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
 • Installing CNI 🔌  ...
 ✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
Set kubectl context to "kind-validator-kind-cluster"
You can now use your cluster with:
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-validator-kind-cluster --kubeconfig /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/kind-cluster.kubeconfig

The kubeconfig file to the kind cluster is also located in the $HOME/.palette/validator directory and is named kind-cluster.kubeconfig. Its location is displayed in the install output.

Review Validation Results

The Validator generates a report after the validation process is complete. All validations are stored as a Custom Resource (CR) in the validator namespace. Each plugin you specified during installation will have its own CR. Additionally, the Validator creates a CR containing all the validation results and Validator configurations.

tip

The kind cluster's kubeconfig file is located in the $HOME/.palette/validator directory and is named kind-cluster.kubeconfig. Its location is displayed in the install output. You can use this kubeconfig file to access the kind cluster and view the CRs.

Example: /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/kind-cluster.kubeconfig

Below is example output of the CRs the Validator creates after a successful validation process. Two plugins were used in this example: the aws plugin and the network plugin.

NAME                                             CREATED AT
awsvalidators.validation.spectrocloud.labs       2023-11-09T21:02:41Z
networkvalidators.validation.spectrocloud.labs   2023-11-09T21:02:45Z
validationresults.validation.spectrocloud.labs   2023-11-09T21:02:12Z
validatorconfigs.validation.spectrocloud.labs    2023-11-09T21:02:12Z

You can use the kubectl command to view the validation results. To review all the results collectively, use the describe command to display the validationresults CR.

tip

Use the validator describe command to view the validation results. The validator describecommand provides a more user-friendly output of the validation results. Refer to the Describe section for more information.

kubectl describe validationresults --namespace validator

Name:         validator-plugin-aws-aws-validator-spectro-cloud-base
Namespace:    validator
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
API Version:  validation.spectrocloud.labs/v1alpha1
Kind:         ValidationResult
Metadata:
  Creation Timestamp:  2023-11-09T21:03:14Z
  Generation:          1
  Resource Version:    721
  UID:                 766f0465-8867-48e9-89e5-a6f819795b17
Spec:
  Plugin:  AWS
Status:
  Conditions:
    Failures:
      v1alpha1.IamRoleRule SpectroCloudRole missing action(s): [s3:DeleteObject s3:PutBucketOwnershipControls s3:PutBucketPolicy s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock s3:PutObjectAcl s3:PutObject] for resource arn:*:s3:::* from policy Controllers Policy
    Last Validation Time:  2023-11-09T21:03:14Z
    Message:               One or more required IAM permissions was not found, or a condition was not met
    Status:                False
    Validation Rule:       validation-SpectroCloudRole
    Validation Type:       aws-iam-role-policy
  State:                   Failed
Events:                    <none>


Name:         validator-plugin-aws-validator-plugin-aws
Namespace:    validator
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
API Version:  validation.spectrocloud.labs/v1alpha1
Kind:         ValidationResult
Metadata:
  Creation Timestamp:  2023-11-09T21:03:12Z
  Generation:          1
  Resource Version:    713
  UID:                 73e2f1c6-feb0-493b-bf8a-161e662e02b5
Spec:
  Plugin:  AWS
Status:
  Conditions:
    Details:
      EC2-VPC Elastic IPs: quota: 10, buffer: 5, max. usage: 0, max. usage entity: us-east-1
    Last Validation Time:  2023-11-09T21:03:12Z
    Message:               Usage for all service quotas is below specified buffer
    Status:                True
    Validation Rule:       validation-ec2
    Validation Type:       aws-service-quota
  State:                   Succeeded
Events:                    <none>


Name:         validator-plugin-aws-validator-plugin-network
Namespace:    validator
Labels:       <none>
Annotations:  <none>
API Version:  validation.spectrocloud.labs/v1alpha1
Kind:         ValidationResult
Metadata:
  Creation Timestamp:  2023-11-09T21:03:12Z
  Generation:          1
  Resource Version:    734
  UID:                 256006fb-5729-4b44-a4e1-58b7d32068b9
Spec:
  Plugin:  Network
Status:
  Conditions:
    Details:
      nc [-w 3 google.com 443] succeeded
    Last Validation Time:  2023-11-09T21:03:17Z
    Status:                True
    Validation Rule:       default
    Validation Type:       network-tcp-conn
  State:                   Failed
Events:                    <none>

Success

The State field in the Status section of the ValidationResult CR indicates if the validation was successful or not. If the validation was successful, the State field is set to Succeeded.

In the example below, the State field is set to Succeeded for the validator-plugin-aws-validator-plugin-aws CR. This check was successful because the usage for all service quotas is below the specified buffer. The output is truncated for brevity.

Name:         validator-plugin-aws-validator-plugin-aws
...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Details:
      EC2-VPC Elastic IPs: quota: 10, buffer: 5, max. usage: 0, max. usage entity: us-east-1
    Last Validation Time:  2023-11-09T21:03:12Z
    Message:               Usage for all service quotas is below specified buffer
    Status:                True
    Validation Rule:       validation-ec2
    Validation Type:       aws-service-quota
  State:                   Succeeded

Fail

If the validation is not successful, the State field is set to Failed. The Conditions.Failures section contains additional information about the failure. In this example, several IAM permissions are missing for the SpectroCloudRole IAM role. The output is truncated for brevity.

Name:         validator-plugin-aws-aws-validator-spectro-cloud-base
...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Failures:
      v1alpha1.IamRoleRule SpectroCloudRole missing action(s): [s3:DeleteObject s3:PutBucketOwnershipControls s3:PutBucketPolicy s3:PutBucketPublicAccessBlock s3:PutObjectAcl s3:PutObject] for resource arn:*:s3:::* from policy Controllers Policy
    Last Validation Time:  2023-11-09T21:03:14Z
    Message:               One or more required IAM permissions was not found, or a condition was not met
    Status:                False
    Validation Rule:       validation-SpectroCloudRole
    Validation Type:       aws-iam-role-policy
  State:                   Failed

Use the error output to help you address the failure. In this example, you would need to add the missing IAM permissions to the SpectroCloudRole IAM role. Other failures may require you to update your environment to meet the validation requirements.

Resolve Failures

Each plugin may have its own set of failures. Resolving failures will depend on the plugin and the failure. Use the error output to help you address the failure. Below are some tips to help you resolve failures.

Plugin	Failure Scenario	Guidance
AWS	Missing IAM permissions	The IAM role used by Palette is missing one or more required IAM permissions. Refer to Required IAM Policies for a comprehensive list of required IAM permissions and attach the missing permissions or policies.
AWS	Insufficient Service Quota Buffer	The usage quota for a service or multiple service quotas is above the specified buffer. Refer to AWS Service Quotas documentation to review the default limits. Use the Service Quotas console to request an increase to your account, or remove resources to reduce the usage.
Network	TCP connection error	The Validator could not establish a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to the specified host and port. Ensure the host and port are accessible from the Validator's current network. If the current network is not in scope, ensure you conduct the test from a network in scope. Refer to the Network Ports resource for a list of Palette required ports.
Network	Unable to connect	This could be caused by several issues. If you require network connections to use a proxy server, specify the usage of a network proxy and provide the required proxy server information.
Network	Unable to resolve DNS	The Validator was unable to resolve the specified DNS name. Ensure the DNS name is valid and accessible from the Validator's current network default DNS resolver. Use network tools such as `dig` and `nslookup` to debug DNS issues.
Network	Insufficient IP Addresses	The Validator was unable to find a sufficient number of IP addresses in the specified IP range. Ensure the IP range is valid and has enough IP addresses to satisfy the Validator's requirements. Discuss these findings with your network administrator.
vSphere	Missing permissions	The user account used by Palette or VerteX is missing one or more required permissions. Refer to Palette Required vSphere Permissions, or the VerteX Required vSphere Permissions resource for information about required permissions.
vSphere	Missing tags	Kubernetes regions and zone tags are missing from the vSphere environment. Refer to Palette Required vSphere Tags, or the VerteX Required vSphere Tags resource for information about zone tags.
vSphere	Folder missing or not accessible	The `spectro-templates` folder is missing or not accessible. Ensure the folder exists and the user account used by Palette or VerteX has read access to the folder. The `spectro-templates` folder is used by Palette and VerteX to download OVAs during the install.

Every 30 seconds, the Validator will continuously re-issue a validation and update the ValidationResult CR with the result of the validation. The validation results are hashed, and result events are only emitted if the result has changed. Once you resolve the failure, the Validator will update the ValidationResult CR with the new result.

Use the kubectl describe command to view the validation results.

tip

Use the validator describe command to view the validation results. The validator describe command provides a more user-friendly output of the validation results. Refer to the Describe section for more information.

kubectl describe validationresults --namespace validator

Uninstall

Use the uninstall subcommand to uninstall the Validator framework and remove all Validator plugins. To remove the Validator, you must specify the --config-file flag.

The uninstall subcommand accepts the following flags.

Short Flag	Long Flag	Description	Type
`-f`	`--config-file`	Uninstall the Validator using a configuration file (required). Provide the file path to the configuration file.	string
`-d`	`--delete-cluster`	Delete the Validator kind cluster. This does not apply if using a preexisting Kubernetes cluster. Default: true.	bool
`-h`	`--help`	Help with any command.	-

Examples

Remove the Validator, its plugins, and the kind cluster.

palette validator uninstall  \
--config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml \
--delete-cluster

Remove the Validator, its plugins, but not the kind cluster.

palette validator uninstall  \
--config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml \
--delete-cluster=false

Describe

Use the describe subcommand to describe the Validator results in a Kubernetes cluster. The describe subcommand prints out the validation results in a user-friendly format.

The describe subcommand accepts the following flags.

Short Flag	Long Flag	Description	Type
`-f`	`--config-file`	File path to the configuration file. This flag is required. Refer to the Configuration Files section to learn more about configuration files.	string
`-h`	`--help`	Help with any command.	-

Examples

The following example uses the describe subcommand to display the validation results in a user-friendly format.

palette validator describe \
 --config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml

Using kubeconfig from validator configuration file: /home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311151646/kind-cluster.kubeconfig

=================
Validation Result
=================

Plugin:            AWS
Name:              validator-plugin-aws-validator-plugin-aws-iam-base
Namespace:         validator
State:             Failed
Sink State:        N/A

------------
Rule Results
------------

Validation Rule:        validation-SpectroCloudRole
Validation Type:        aws-iam-role-policy
Status:                 False
Last Validated:         2024-03-11T15:20:58Z
Message:                One or more required SCP permissions was not found, or a condition was not met

--------
Failures
--------
- Action: autoscaling:DescribeAutoScalingGroups is denied due to an Organization level SCP policy for role: SpectroCloudRole
- Action: autoscaling:DescribeInstanceRefreshes is denied due to an Organization level SCP policy for role: SpectroCloudRole
- Action: ec2:AllocateAddress is denied due to an Organization level SCP policy for role: SpectroCloudRole
- Action: ec2:AssociateRouteTable is denied due to an Organization level SCP policy for role: SpectroCloudRole
- Action: ec2:AttachInternetGateway is denied due to an Organization level SCP policy for role: SpectroCloudRol

Upgrade

Use the upgrade subcommand to upgrade Validator and reconfigure the Validator plugins. The upgrade subcommand requires the Validator configuration file. Use the --config-file flag to specify the configuration file.

The upgrade subcommand accepts the following flags.

Short Flag	Long Flag	Description	Type
`-f`	`--config-file`	Upgrade using a configuration file. Refer to the Configuration Files section to learn more about configuration files.	string
`-h`	`--help`	Help for the upgrade command.	-

Examples

In the following example, the Validator version is upgraded. The configuration file located at /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml was updated to use Validator version v0.0.36 from version v0.0.30.

helmRelease:
  chart:
    name: validator
    repository: https://validator-labs.github.io/validator
    version: v0.0.36
    insecureSkipVerify: true
  values: ""
helmReleaseSecret:

Once the configuration file is updated, use the upgrade subcommand to upgrade the Validator.

palette validator upgrade \
--config-file /Users/demo/.palette/validator/validator-20231109135306/validator.yaml

==== Installing/upgrading validator Helm chart ====
helm upgrade validator validator --repo https://validator-labs.github.io/validator --version v0.0.36 --insecure-skip-tls-verify --kubeconfig /tmp/2773008921 --namespace validator --install --create-namespace --values /tmp/1655869680

==== Kubectl Command ====
/home/ubuntu/.palette/bin/kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=600s deployment/validator-controller-manager -n validator --kubeconfig=/home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig
deployment.apps/validator-controller-manager condition met
Pausing for 20s for validator to establish a lease & begin plugin installation

==== Kubectl Command ====
/home/ubuntu/.palette/bin/kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=600s deployment/validator-plugin-aws-controller-manager -n validator --kubeconfig=/home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig
deployment.apps/validator-plugin-aws-controller-manager condition met

validator and validator plugin(s) installed successfully

==== Applying AWS plugin validator(s) ====

==== Kubectl Command ====
/home/ubuntu/.palette/bin/kubectl apply -f /home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311154338/manifests/rules.yaml --kubeconfig=/home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig
awsvalidator.validation.spectrocloud.labs/rules unchanged

==== Kubectl Command ====
/home/ubuntu/.palette/bin/kubectl apply -f /home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311154338/manifests/awsvalidator-iam-role-spectro-cloud-base.yaml --kubeconfig=/home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig
awsvalidator.validation.spectrocloud.labs/validator-plugin-aws-iam-base unchanged

Plugins will now execute validation checks.

You can list validation results via the following command:
kubectl -n validator get validationresults --kubeconfig /home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig

And you can view all validation result details via the following command:
kubectl -n validator describe validationresults --kubeconfig /home/ubuntu/.palette/validator/validator-20240311153652/kind-cluster.kubeconfig

Subcommands​

Prerequisites​

Install​

Examples​

Configuration Files​

Review Validation Results​

Success​

Fail​

Resolve Failures​

Uninstall​

Examples​

Describe​

Examples​

Upgrade​

Examples​

Subcommands

Prerequisites

Install

Examples

Configuration Files

Review Validation Results

Success

Fail

Resolve Failures

Uninstall

Examples

Describe

Examples

Upgrade

Examples