UI Service

Provides the collected manifest.json of services in a cluster as well as a list of dependencies for each source file. This information can be used to dynamically compile all ui components at runtime in the browser. Besides serving the information about all resources, this service can also function to provide snapshots of all the resources available at a specific point in time.

Requirements

• Redis (always required, for version coordination and pub/sub)
• For the S3 storage backend: an S3 compatible storage bucket (e.g. Minio)

Storage backend

Asset bytes (manifests, JS, CSS, assets) are stored in one of two backends, selected with storage.backend (see ADR 0010). Redis is required either way; the switch only decides where the files live.

• S3 (the strategic direction): an S3 compatible bucket is the source of truth for all UI files. Recommended for scalable, multi-replica, and multi-site setups.
• Redis: asset bytes are kept in Redis (compatibility mode for operators who cannot run S3). Redis memory then scales with total asset volume across retained versions.

storage.backend defaults to auto, which resolves to S3 when S3 is configured (s3.endpoint set, or minio.enabled: true) and to Redis otherwise. An unchanged 2.x values file (no S3 configured) therefore keeps running on the Redis backend after an upgrade, while a fresh install that supplies S3 gets the S3 path. Set storage.backend to s3 or redis to force the choice.

Redis default setup

For setups where scaling of the UI middleware is not necessary you can use the default values of the helm chart, which will deploy a redis server as a sidecar container.

Minio setup

In cases where no external S3 storage is available or desired, you can use a Minio deployment that is part of this helm chart by setting minio.enabled: true. This deploys an in-cluster S3 and makes the storage backend resolve to S3. We are referencing the bitnami/minio chart for this purpose, so please refer to their documentation for all available options. We recommend to at least enable persistence for the Minio deployment, as the UI Service will store all files in the S3 bucket and those should not be lost when the Minio pod is restarted.

So there are three options to run the S3 storage backend for the UI Service:

1. Use an external S3 storage (preferred for production and multi-site setups)
2. Use the Minio deployment with persistence (should also work for simple production environments)
3. Use the Minio deployment without persistence (for development and testing)

Generally we advise to use an external S3 storage for production setups instead of the integrated Minio deployment.

The integrated Bitnami MinIO chart requires a rootPassword to be set in your values.yaml file. If this value is not set, MinIO will generate a random password during the initial installation, which can cause future upgrades to fail. Due to Minio's password policy, the password must be at least 8 characters long.

minio:
  auth:
    rootPassword: "myrootpassword"

Minio Resources

In standalone mode, Minio requests 2G memory by default. Therefore we configure memory limits to match this, by default. In practice we have seen this working with much less memory (like 256Mi), so you might want to adjust this value to your needs.

Configuration Parameters

Deployment Configuration

Basic Kubernetes deployment settings for the UI middleware service.

Pod Configuration

Security and runtime configuration for pods.

Service Configuration

Kubernetes service configuration for network access.

Resource Management

CPU and memory resource limits and requests.

Scheduling & Placement

Node selection and pod placement controls.

Health Probes

Kubernetes liveness and readiness probe configuration.

Server Configuration

Network binding and port settings for the Fastify server.

UI Middleware Configuration

Core service behavior and UI serving settings.

Logging Configuration

Structured JSON logging via Pino.

Caching & Performance

Cache TTL and performance optimization settings.

Compression Configuration

Response compression settings for HTTP responses.

Performance Monitoring

Request performance tracking and alerting.

Key Prefix Configuration

Namespace isolation for Redis keys and S3 paths.

Storage Backend Selection

Selects where asset bytes (manifests, JS, CSS, assets) are stored. See ADR 0010. Redis is required either way for version coordination and pub/sub; this switch only decides where the files live.

In auto mode the backend resolves to s3 when an S3 endpoint or the internal MinIO is configured (s3.endpoint set, or minio.enabled: true), and to redis otherwise. This keeps an unchanged 2.x values file (no S3 configured) running on the Redis storage backend after an upgrade, while a fresh install that supplies S3 gets the S3 path. Set s3 or redis to force the choice.

Note: With the Redis backend, asset bytes live in Redis, so Redis memory scales with total asset volume across retained versions.

Redis Configuration

Redis connection settings for distributed caching and pub/sub.

S3 Storage Configuration

S3-compatible storage settings (source of truth for UI files).

Required S3 Permissions

The UI Service requires the following S3 permissions on the bucket:

• s3:ListBucket
• s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads
• s3:ListMultipartUploadParts
• s3:PutObject
• s3:AbortMultipartUpload
• s3:GetBucketLocation
• s3:GetObject

If s3.createBucket is enabled, also add: s3:CreateBucket

Example S3 Policy

{
 "Version": "2012-10-17",
 "Statement": [
  {
   "Effect": "Allow",
   "Action": [
    "s3:ListBucket",
    "s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads",
    "s3:ListMultipartUploadParts",
    "s3:PutObject",
    "s3:AbortMultipartUpload",
    "s3:GetBucketLocation",
    "s3:GetObject"
   ],
   "Resource": [
    "arn:aws:s3:::<BUCKETNAME>/*"
   ]
  }
 ]
}

MinIO Sub-chart Configuration

DEPRECATED: the bundled MinIO sub-chart is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. It remains only as a development/testing convenience. For real storage, point s3.endpoint at an external S3-compatible service (the in-cluster Garage operator is recommended for preview/test clusters) or use the Redis storage backend (storage.backend: redis). See ADR 0010.

Integrated MinIO deployment settings (for development/testing). Opt-in: enabling it deploys an in-cluster S3 and makes storage.backend: auto resolve to S3.

For additional MinIO configuration options, see the bitnami/minio chart documentation.

Version Updater Configuration

Version update propagation and update job settings.

Kubernetes Auto-Discovery

Automatic discovery of UI services in the same namespace.

Services can optionally specify a custom base path using the annotation: appsuite.ox.io/ui-base-path: "/"

Monitoring & Observability

Prometheus metrics and monitoring integration.

CORS Configuration

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing settings.

Note: This configuration is only available via environment variable, not through Helm values.

Upgrading

To 4.0.0

The UI Service has been updated to use S3 storage instead of Redis for storing the manifests and assets. Redis is still in use for propagating updates to the UI Service.

Migrating from redis storage to S3 storage

Notice that the previous versions stored in redis will be lost when migrating to S3 storage, as the UI Service will not be able to access the redis storage anymore and only use redis to propagate updates after this. If you are using an external S3 storage, you should either create a new bucket on your S3 storage or use an existing one. You can also let the UI Service create the bucket for you by setting s3.createBucket to true. Additionally redis.prefix is used for the folder name inside the bucket.

If you want to migrate from redis storage to S3 storage, you can use the following steps:

1. Use at least chart version 4.0.5 and image version latest for the UI Service.

2. Set a minio root password in your values.yaml file if you use the integrated Minio deployment (like in the example of the previous section). Otherwise disable the internal Minio deployment and configure an external S3 storage, e.g.:

   minio:
     enabled: false
   s3:
     bucketName: "your-bucket-name"
     endpoint: https://your-s3-endpoint
     auth:
       user: example-user
       password: example-password
   

3. Deploy the updated helm chart.

4. Wait until everything is up and running.

The UI Service will now use the S3 storage.

Migration Guide

Renaming redis.prefix to keyPrefix

The redis.prefix configuration parameter has been renamed to keyPrefix and moved to the top level to better reflect that it's used for both Redis keys and S3 folder paths, not just Redis.

What changed:

• Helm value: redis.prefix → keyPrefix (top-level)
• Environment variable: REDIS_PREFIX → KEY_PREFIX
• The prefix is used for both Redis keys AND S3 folder structure

Backwards compatibility: The old redis.prefix parameter is still supported for backwards compatibility. If redis.prefix is set, it will be used. Otherwise, the new keyPrefix will be used.

Migration steps:

1. Update your values.yaml or Helm command:

   Before:

   redis:
     prefix: my-custom-prefix
   

   After:

   keyPrefix: my-custom-prefix
   

2. Deploy the updated chart - no service interruption required since backwards compatibility is maintained.

3. After confirming everything works, remove the old redis.prefix from your configuration.

Note: If you don't have a custom prefix configured, the default value "ui-service" will be used automatically.