Install & Configure Argo CD on kind Kubernetes cluster
Learn how to get started with an Argo CD installation on a kind Kubernetes cluster in simple steps.
Introduction
What is Argo CD? It is a Continuous Delivery (CD) tool for Kubernetes applications. It is also declarative, which means you can declare your application’s desired state, e.g a specific version in Git or any version control system & Argo CD will ensure that your Kubernetes application is always in that desired state. It has both a UI & CLI so you get the best of both worlds.
In this post, I will explain how to install Argo CD on a kind cluster and configure it to automatically deploy new versions of Kubernetes applications. Please note that Argo CD works with any Kubernetes cluster including bare metal ones. So, if you’re not using kind, you can still follow the steps & should face no problems at all. The steps are exactly the same.
My setup looks like the below.
- Argo CD version — argocd: v2.4.8+844f79e.dirty
- Kind version — kind v0.14.0 go1.18.2 darwin/arm64
- Kubernetes version — 1.24.3
Important — Since this setup is based on Mac M1, my Docker image references arm64 variant of Nginx. This image is also pulled (via Argo CD using k8s/mymusicstats-deployment.yml file) from its specific Docker registry.
If you’re using an Intel-based machine, please modify the Dockerfile — this line(FROM nginx:1.21-alpine) & use this Docker registry in the manifest file.
Requirements
- A Kubernetes cluster. This article is based on kind, but any K8s cluster will do; Minikube, EKS, AKS, etc.
- A Git repository with a dedicated folder that contains Kubernetes manifest files. Argo CD looks at Kubernetes manifest files to maintain the desired state.
Steps to follow
1. Start your kind or any Kubernetes cluster if it is not running already
2. Deploy Argo CD
kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yamlThis will deploy a bunch of Kubernetes resources inside argocd namespace. Create this namespace if it’s not created.
shashanksrivastava@mbp ~/C/J/mymusicstats.github.io (master)> kubectl get ns
NAME STATUS AGE
argocd Active 6d21h
default Active 35d
kube-node-lease Active 35d
kube-public Active 35d
kube-system Active 35d
local-path-storage Active 35d3. Modify the service
The Argo CD UI is served by argocd-server service. By default, argocd-server is of type ClusterIP.
shashanksrivastava@mbp ~/C/J/mymusicstats.github.io (master)> kubectl get svc -n argocd
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
argocd-applicationset-controller ClusterIP 10.96.90.252 <none> 7000/TCP,8080/TCP 25s
argocd-dex-server ClusterIP 10.96.150.89 <none> 5556/TCP,5557/TCP,5558/TCP 24s
argocd-metrics ClusterIP 10.96.252.198 <none> 8082/TCP 24s
argocd-notifications-controller-metrics ClusterIP 10.96.109.206 <none> 9001/TCP 24s
argocd-redis ClusterIP 10.96.45.30 <none> 6379/TCP 24s
argocd-repo-server ClusterIP 10.96.36.90 <none> 8081/TCP,8084/TCP 24s
argocd-server ClusterIP 10.96.155.41 <none> 80/TCP,443/TCP 24s
argocd-server-metrics ClusterIP 10.96.38.188 <none> 8083/TCP 24sYou have multiple options to access the UI. The easiest way to access the UI on macOS is forwarding the Argo CD server HTTPS port 443 to a different port.
shashanksrivastava@mbp ~/C/J/mymusicstats.github.io (master)> kubectl port-forward -n argocd service/argocd-server 8443:443
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8443 -> 8080
Forwarding from [::1]:8443 -> 8080
Handling connection for 8443
Handling connection for 8443As you can see above, I port-forwarded the service to 8443.
Of course, you can edit the service & change it to NodePort or you can also access the UI via Ingress.
4. Grab the password to login to the dashboard
kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d && echoThe default username is admin.
5. Login to the dashboard
Navigate to https://localhost:8443/ if you forwarded the port to 8443 or if you specified any other port/NodePort then use that one.
The default username is admin. Login using the password you obtained in the last step. You can update the password by navigating to the User Info section (see below) & then hitting the UPDATE PASSWORD button.
6. Create a new Application in Argo CD
Click the CREATE APPLICATION button.
Fill out the details. Remember that Application Name should be a valid name that conforms to Kubernetes nomenclature. It means, the name should not contain any capital letters or space.
Leave Project Name to default & also leave other settings as it is.
Under SOURCE, enter the Git repo. The Path is important. This path is the folder inside your Git repo where Kubernetes manifest files are present.
To follow this tutorial, please use my GitHub repo https://github.com/shashank-ssriva/mymusicstats.github.io.git. It has a folder called k8s where I have put my Kubernetes deployment & service manifest files.
Under DESTINATION, use https://kubernetes.default.svc as the Cluster URL. Under Namespace, type in the name of any namespace where you want Argo CD to deploy your application.
Once the details have been filled in, press the CREATE button.
After you’re done creating the application, it should be visible as a tile. Below is what a tile looks like.
7. Deploy your Kubernetes application
Let’s deploy the first version of our application using Argo CD. You may use any Git repo but please make sure that you specified the same repo while you created the application in Argo CD (step #6). I am using my own repo https://github.com/shashank-ssriva/mymusicstats.github.io.git here.
It is a simple but fully functional JavaScript web application. Another big advantage is that it’s a very lightweight application & its Docker image is roughly 10 MB. Feel free to use any repo, but please ensure that it has a folder with its Kubernetes manifest files.
Go back to Argo CD UI & open the application that you created a few minutes back. Now click the SYNC button & then SYNCHRONIZE. It will deploy the application to Kubernetes cluster.
The tile should now show the current Status.
You can see that Argo CD has deployed the application.
shashanksrivastava@192 ~> kubectl get po
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
mymusicstats-deployment-fc7c5c4f9-c7sjh 1/1 Running 0 5m7sTo access the application, you can again use port-forwarding. Here, I forwarded the application port 80 to 2211.
shashanksrivastava@192 ~> kubectl port-forward service/mymusicstats 2211:80
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:2211 -> 80
Forwarding from [::1]:2211 -> 80Below is what my application UI looks like.
8. Update the application & deploy automatically via Argo CD
Now it's time to update our app. Below are the steps that I followed. If you’re using your own application or some other repo, please modify the steps accordingly.
I edited the index.html file in my application & changed the message on the homepage. After that I built the new Docker image & pushed it to Docker Registry. Then I modified k8s/mymusicstats-deployment.yml file & changed the Docker image tag.
Now, to deploy the new version, just select the application on Argo CD UI & click the SYNC button & then SYNCHRONIZE (similar to step #7). It will then deploy the latest version.
If you open the application tile, you’ll see something like the below.
You can see that thenew version of the application has been successfully deployed & the application UI reflects the same.
And that’s it! We have successfully set up Argo CD on a Kubernetes cluster & deployed the applications automatically.
You might also like my other Medium posts on Kubernetes.
I hope you liked this post. Please feel free to suggest edits. Your feedback is quite important & I look forward to writing more such articles on Medium.
