RCONnect – Kubernetes Deployment (GHCR)

This fork adds first-class Kubernetes support for running RCONnect as a lightweight, in-cluster service using GitHub Container Registry (GHCR).

The application is deployed as a single Pod with two containers:

• web: Next.js UI
• api: Node.js backend (RCON API, port 6304)

Both containers run in the same Pod and communicate via localhost.

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Architecture Overview

flowchart LR
    User["Browser / Admin"]
        -->|"HTTP :80"| SVC["Service\nrcon.minecraft.svc.cluster.local"]

    subgraph K8S["Kubernetes Namespace: minecraft"]
        SVC --> POD

        subgraph POD["Pod: rconnect"]
            WEB["Web UI\nNext.js\n:3000"]
            API["Backend API\nNode.js\n:6304"]

            WEB -->|"localhost:6304"| API
        end
    end

    API -->|"RCON"| MC["Minecraft Server\nRCON Port"]

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Key Design Decisions

• Single Deployment, two containers

  • No process supervisors
  • Independent health probes per component

• ClusterIP Service

  • In-cluster access via:

    rcon.minecraft.svc.cluster.local
    

• Stateless backend

  • No persistent volume required

• GHCR-based images

  • Simple build and distribution
  • CI/CD ready

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Container Images

Images are built and pushed to GitHub Container Registry:

ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-web:latest
ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-api:latest

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Build Images Locally

From the repository root:

docker build -f Dockerfile.web -t ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-web:latest .
docker build -f Dockerfile.api -t ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-api:latest .

Authenticate once (required for push):

echo $GITHUB_TOKEN | docker login ghcr.io -u gotthub --password-stdin

Push images:

docker push ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-web:latest
docker push ghcr.io/gotthub/rconnect-api:latest

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Kubernetes Deployment

Prerequisites

• Running Kubernetes cluster
• Namespace minecraft exists
• Images are public or an imagePullSecret is configured

Apply manifest

kubectl apply -f k8s/rcn.yaml

Verify rollout:

kubectl -n minecraft rollout status deployment/rconnect
kubectl -n minecraft get pods,svc

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Service Endpoints

Web UI

http://rcon.minecraft.svc.cluster.local

Backend API (optional direct access)

http://rcon.minecraft.svc.cluster.local:6304

Inside the Pod, the web UI communicates with the backend via:

http://127.0.0.1:6304

Configured through the environment variable:

env:
  - name: RCONNECT_BACKEND_URL
    value: "http://127.0.0.1:6304"

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Configuration Notes

Backend Port

The backend API listens on port 6304 and is configured via:

- name: PORT
  value: "6304"

RCON Target

RCON host, port, and password are currently configured through the UI. They can be externalized later using Kubernetes Secret resources if required.

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Health Checks

Both containers expose TCP-based health probes:

• Web UI: port 3000
• Backend API: port 6304

This allows Kubernetes to restart either container independently if needed.

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Security Considerations

• The Service is ClusterIP only and not exposed externally

• For external access, consider:

  • Ingress with authentication
  • Temporary kubectl port-forward for admin use

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