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Rancher Hub: Open-Source Service Sync Manager for Rancher Clusters

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By thanhtunguet
2 min read
Rancher Hub: Open-Source Service Sync Manager for Rancher Clusters

Rancher Hub: Open-Source Service Sync Manager for Rancher Clusters

Managing multiple Kubernetes environments (Dev/Staging/Prod) is hard—especially when each environment lives in a different Rancher cluster/namespace and you need to keep services and ConfigMaps consistent.

Rancher Hub is an open-source Service Sync Manager for Rancher Clusters that helps you compare and synchronize services across environments, with an audit trail and built-in security features.

  • Home: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/
  • Getting Started: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/getting-started
  • Features: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/features

Why Rancher Hub?

If you’ve ever experienced “it works in staging but not in prod”, the root cause is often drift:

  • Different image tags (or different registries)
  • Different env/config values (ConfigMaps/variables)
  • Different replicas/settings between environments

Rancher Hub focuses on making drift visible and giving you safe workflows to sync the parts you intend to sync.

What you can do with Rancher Hub (highlights)

Based on the official feature documentation, Rancher Hub provides:

Authentication & user management

  • JWT-based authentication
  • Mandatory Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) (TOTP + QR setup)
  • Trusted devices (optional, up to 30 days; max 3 devices per user)
  • Basic user lifecycle & protected routes

Multi-site integration (Rancher + Harbor)

  • Connect to unlimited Rancher instances
  • Encrypted storage of Rancher API tokens
  • Connection testing/validation
  • Harbor registry integration: browse repos/tags, track deployments, see storage utilization insights

Environment & instance management

  • Create logical environments (Dev/Staging/Prod)
  • Map each environment to a cluster + namespace (app instance mapping)

Service management & synchronization

  • Auto-discover services from Rancher clusters
  • Real-time status + replica info
  • One-click sync and batch sync between environments
  • Audit trail with user attribution

ConfigMap comparison & sync

  • Side-by-side ConfigMap comparison (key-by-key with status indicators)
  • Sync individual keys or batch sync
  • Preview changes + copy-to-clipboard support

Monitoring & alerting

  • Scheduled health checks and real-time service status monitoring
  • Telegram notifications (including SOCKS5 proxy support)

Audit/history & API automation

  • Detailed sync history for services and ConfigMaps (timestamps + source/target)
  • REST API with Swagger docs + webhook support

Getting started (from the docs)

The official “Getting Started” guide lists two supported ways to run Rancher Hub.

Prerequisites:

  • Node.js >= 18.0.0
  • npm >= 8.0.0
  • Docker (optional)
  • Access to one or more Rancher clusters with API tokens

Run:

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git clone https://github.com/thanhtunguet/RancherHub.git
cd RancherHub

npm install

cp apps/backend/.env.example apps/backend/.env
cp apps/frontend/.env.example apps/frontend/.env

npm run dev

Endpoints:

  • Frontend: http://localhost:5173
  • Backend API: http://localhost:3000
  • API Docs: http://localhost:3000/api/docs

Option 2: Docker Compose (production images)

The docs include a Docker Compose setup using:

  • postgres:15-alpine
  • thanhtunguet/rancher-hub-backend:latest
  • thanhtunguet/rancher-hub-frontend:latest
  • nginx:stable-alpine (reverse proxy on port 8080)

Start services:

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docker-compose up -d

Access:

  • Frontend: http://localhost:8080
  • Backend API: http://localhost:8080/api
  • API Docs: http://localhost:8080/api/docs

First login & security notes

On first run, a default admin user is automatically created (per docs):

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin123

You’ll be required to set up 2FA at first login, and you should immediately:

  • Change the default password
  • Replace ENCRYPTION_KEY and JWT_SECRET with secure values (especially in production)

Suggested workflow (Dev → Staging → Prod)

One practical way to adopt Rancher Hub is:

  1. Connect Rancher Sites (each Rancher instance you manage)
  2. Create Environments (Dev/Staging/Prod)
  3. Create App Instances (map environment → cluster/namespace)
  4. Use Service + ConfigMap comparison to spot drift
  5. Sync changes intentionally with the audit trail on

Learn more

  • Docs home: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/
  • Quick start: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/getting-started
  • Feature reference: https://thanhtunguet.info/RancherHub/features
  • Source code: https://github.com/thanhtunguet/RancherHub
DevOps, Kubernetes
DevOps Kubernetes Rancher RancherHub OpenSource
This post is licensed under CC BY 4.0 by the author.