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Cluster Map

The cluster map is a visual representation of your Kubernetes infrastructure that shows namespaces, deployments, services, and the traffic flowing between them. It gives you a real-time view of how your services communicate, making it easy to identify dependencies, spot traffic patterns, and launch captures or replays directly from the map.

Accessing the Cluster Map​

Navigate to the Infrastructure section in the Speedscale dashboard and select a connected cluster. The cluster map is available as a view alongside the existing Cluster Inspector tabular interface.

Cluster map topology view

Reading the Map​

The cluster map displays your infrastructure as an interactive graph:

  • Namespaces are shown as containing boundaries that group related workloads
  • Deployments and pods appear as nodes within their namespace
  • Services are shown with their associated endpoints
  • Traffic edges are lines connecting nodes, representing observed traffic flow between services

The thickness and color of traffic edges indicate volume and health:

  • Thicker lines represent higher traffic volume
  • Green edges indicate healthy traffic (low error rates)
  • Red or orange edges indicate elevated error rates on that path

Filtering the Map​

For large clusters, the full map can be noisy. Use filters to focus on what matters:

  • Namespace filter — show only workloads in specific namespaces
  • Label filter — filter by Kubernetes labels (e.g., team=payments, env=staging)
  • Service filter — search for a specific service by name to center the view on it and its immediate dependencies

Clicking Into a Node​

Click on any node in the map to see details:

  • Workload metadata — name, namespace, labels, replica count
  • Traffic summary — inbound and outbound request rates, error rates, and latency
  • Capture status — whether the workload is currently being captured (via sidecar or eBPF)
  • Recent snapshots — snapshots that include traffic from this workload

Launching Actions from the Map​

The cluster map isn't just for viewing — you can take action directly:

  • Start a capture — click a workload node and enable traffic capture without leaving the map
  • Launch a replay — select a workload and kick off a replay using an existing snapshot
  • Open in Traffic Viewer — jump directly to the Traffic Viewer filtered to a specific service

This makes the cluster map a natural starting point for exploratory testing workflows: see your services, pick one, capture traffic, and replay it.

Relationship to the Cluster Inspector​

The cluster map and the Cluster Inspector show the same underlying cluster data in different ways:

  • Cluster Inspector — tabular, detail-oriented. Best for managing sidecars, viewing logs, inspecting configuration
  • Cluster Map — visual, topology-oriented. Best for understanding service dependencies and traffic patterns

Both are available from the same Infrastructure section and complement each other.

Tips​

  • Start with a namespace filter when exploring large clusters — showing everything at once can be overwhelming
  • Use the cluster map to identify services with unexpected dependencies before setting up captures
  • The traffic edges update as new traffic is observed, so leave the map open during a test to watch traffic flow in real time