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CD for Inventory App

Extending the Inventory Micro app to include Continuous Delivery to Test.

Guide

This Micro App guidance continues to build upon the micro-services that were built in the Inventory Micro App guide. Make sure you have complete Inventory Application or deployed the working Inventory Solution.

  • We implemented the three tiers in the Inventory Mico App and deployed the app to the dev namespace/project.

  • We will take that app and make these additions.

  • Deploy the app to the test namespace/project using CD techniques and ArgoCD

Using CD to deploy to Test

ArgoCD is a tool that provides continuous delivery for projects and applications. For this exercise, we are going to use ArgoCD to push the Inventory app from dev to test. If you have already completed the Inventory Micro App, then it can be used for the ArgoCD process. If you haven't completed the exercise, you can start from the solution repositories to perform the ArgoCD steps.

Set up the GitOps repo

Let's get started with using Argo CD.

  • Create a new repo from the ArgoCD Code Pattern, name it something like inv-app-gitops-{your initials}.

  • On the Web Terminal, clone the repository you have just created: 

    git clone https://github.com/{organization}/inv-app-gitops-{your initials}
cd inv-app-gitops-{your initials}

  • Create a branch named test: 

    git checkout -b test

  • Push the branch to the remote 

    git push -u origin test

  • Hook the CI pipeline to the CD pipeline, using the test branch of the current gitops repository: 

    igc gitops

    Note

    What just happened?: The igc gitops command creates a secret git-credentials and a configmap named gitops-repo in the OpenShift project. These contain the url, username, password, and branch information for the GitOps repository. You can verify the secret was created by running: 

    oc get configmap/gitops-repo -n dev-{initials} -o yaml
oc get secret/git-credentials -n dev-{initials} -o yaml

  • Manually trigger the pipeline for the Inventory Management service by going to the last pipeline run and click Action, then Rerun. When the pipeline has finished you will see a new folder on the test branch of the GitOps repo.

  • Create the test namespace with the CLI by running oc sync test-{initials}

Grant required access to the service account of the test namespace

Openshift Image registry is being used for storing docker images.Hence,permission needs to be given to the service account of the test namespace to be able to pull images from dev namespace where the docker image of application is stored.

oc policy add-role-to-group system:image-puller system:serviceaccounts:${TEST_NAMESPACE} -n {DEV_NAMESPACE}

Register the GitOps repo in ArgoCD

Now that the repository has been created, we need to tell ArgoCD where it is.

  • Log into ArgoCD using the Cluster Argo CD console link on the top menu of the OpenShift console.

  • Click on the gear icon on the left menu to access the Settings options

    ArgoCD config

  • Select the Repositories option

  • Click either the Connect Repo using HTTPS or Connect Repo using SSH button at the top and provide the information for the GitOps repo you just created.

Create a project in ArgoCD (Optional)

In ArgoCD terms, each deployable component is an Application and applications are grouped into Projects. Projects are not required for ArgoCD to be able to deploy applications but it helps to organize applications and provide some restrictions on what can be done for applications that make up a project.

To create a project, do the following:

  • Log into ArgoCD using the Cluster Argo CD console link on the top menu of the OpenShift console.

  • Click on the gear icon on the left menu to access the Settings options

    ArgoCD config

  • Select the Projects option

  • Click the New Project button at the top of the page.

  • Provide the following values then press Create:

    • name - the name for the project (provide `inventory-management)
    • description - a brief description of the project
    • sources - click add source and pick the Git repository from the list that was added previously
    • destinations
      • Add https://kubernetes.default.svc for the cluster url and test-{initials} for the namespace

    Note: Initially, the only cluster that is available is the one in which ArgoCD is - https://kubernetes.default.svc. By adding the two destinations we have allowed the project to be deployed to both the test-{initials} namespaces within the current cluster.

Add an application in ArgoCD for the Inventory Management service

The last step in the process is to define the application(s) within ArgoCD that should be managed. This consists of connecting the config within the Git repo to the cluster and namespace.

  • Log into ArgoCD

  • Click New Application and provide the following values:

    • application name - test-inv-svc
    • project - inventory-management
    • sync-policy - Automatic
    • repository url - The url of the GitOps repository you created earlier
    • revision - test
    • path - inv-svc-{initials}
    • destination cluster - The cluster url for the deployment
    • destination namespace - test-{initials}
    • values file - values.yaml

  • Click Create

  • Click on the newly created application. The app should be synchronizing and a graph of kubernetes resources should be shown if everything is configured correctly.

Repeat for BFF and UI components

Manually trigger rerun of BFF and UI pipelines and when it's finished repeat this last step to create applications for BFF and UI.