Merge pull request #209 from arangodb/docs/dashboard

Dashboard design concept

Author: ewoutp

docs/design/dashboard.md

@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+# Deployment Operator Dashboard
+
+To inspect the state of an `ArangoDeployment` you can use `kubectl get ...` to inspect
+the `status` of the resource itself, but to get the entire "picture" you also
+must inspect the status of the `Pods` created for the deployment, the `PersistentVolumeClaims`,
+the `PersistentVolumes`, the `Services` and some `Secrets`.
+
+The goal of the operator dashboard is to simplify this inspection process.
+
+The deployment operator dashboard provides:
+
+- A status overview of all `ArangoDeployments` it controls
+- A status overview of all resources created by the operator (for an `ArangoDeployment`)
+- Run the arangoinspector on deployments
+- Instructions for upgrading deployments to newer versions
+
+It does not provide:
+
+- Direct access to the deployed database
+- Anything that can already be done in the web-UI of the database or naturaly belongs there.
+
+The dashboard is a single-page web application that is served by the operator itself.
+
+## Design decisions
+
+### Leader only
+
+Since only the operator instance that won the leader election has the latest state of all
+deployments, only that instance will serve dashboard requests.
+
+For this purpose, a `Service` is created when deploying the operator.
+This service uses a `role=leader` selector to ensure that only the right instance
+will be included in its list of endpoints.
+
+### Exposing the dashboard
+
+By default the `Service` that selects the leading operator instance is not exposed outside the Kubernetes cluster.
+Users must use `kubectl expose service ...` to add additional `Services` of type `LoadBalancer`
+or `NodePort` to expose the dashboard if and how they want to.
+
+### Readonly behavior
+
+The dashboard only provides readonly functions.
+When modifications to an `ArangoDeployment` are needed (e.g. when upgrading to a new version), the dashboard
+will provide instructions for doing so using `kubectl` commands.
+
+In doing so, the requirements for authentication & access control of the dashboard itself remain limited,
+while all possible authentication & access control features of Kubernetes are still available to ensure
+a secure deployment.
+
+### Authentication
+
+The dashboard requires a username+password to gain access, unless it is started with an option to disable authentication.
+This username+password pair is stored in a standard basic authentication `Secret` in the Kubernetes cluster.
+
+### Frontend technology
+
+The frontend part of the dashboard will be built with React.
+This aligns with future developments in the context of the web-UI of the database itself.
+
+### Backend technology
+
+The backend of the dashboard contains an HTTPS server that serves the dashboard webpage (including all required web resources)
+and all API methods it needs.