Application Deployment to EKS Cluster Using Kubernetes Plugin

Objective

The goal of this tutorial is to deploy manifest files on an Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) cluster through FlexDeploy using the Kubernetes Plugin. For this tutorial, we will be setting up an automated deployment of an Nginx Application using the manifest yaml files which are present in a Git repository. The steps will include:

Configuring properties e.g. config file path, cloud account, and CLI path
Cloning the manifest files from a Git repository
Deploying the Nginx Application to an EKS cluster
Verifying the application is successfully created on the EKS cluster

We will walk through each of the FlexDeploy features that will be created/configured to accomplish this goal and have the Nginx Application deployed on the EKS cluster in a very short amount of time.

Checklist

Checklist	Description
AWS Access Key	AWS Access Key of the user.
AWS Secret Key	Password for the Access Key
AWS Default Region	Default region can be set. eg. ap-south-1
AWS CLI installation	AWS CLI needs to be installed where the plugin operation shall run (FlexDeploy server)
AWS CLI in class path	AWS CLI should be added to class path on the FlexDeploy Server. Else the path can also be set under FlexDeploy environment level property
EKS Setup	EKS cluster should be created in AWS and a kubeconfig file should be present with the context of the cluster.

Configure Cloud account

To connect with EKS cluster, we required to configure Cloud account, with credentials details. Configure AWS Cloud Account under Integration. FlexDeploy will connect to the EKS cluster and deploy the Nginx Application.

Navigate to the Integrations
Select Cloud from the left-hand pane
Create a new Cloud account with the “+” button. Create a new Cloud account of provider type “AWS”

It should have a AWS Access Key and AWS Secret Key. The user must have relevant access to do the deployment on EKS cluster.

AWS Secret Key is a password field and hence needs to be kept hidden. To update the same click on the pencil icon as shown below
Update the AWS Secret Key value under Secret Text. This is to make sure no one else can retrieve the password

After configuration we would be able to use the Cloud Account as a drop down from the list.

Git Repository Structure

The Git repository should contain the manifest file.

A sample Git repository structure is given below.

Prerequisites

Configure IAM user

To access the EKS cluster we need to create an AWS IAM account with required permissions.

To create the AWS IAM user navigate to the AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) service page, and click on the Add users option. Next assign the required permission to access the cluster. Once user is created, AWS secret key can be generated, this key we have to configure in Cloud account.

For more information about IAM user please ref. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/IAM/latest/UserGuide/id_users.html

Assign user to relevant group so that it has relevant access to cluster

kubectl edit -n kube-system configmap/aws-auth

Ref: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/add-user-role.html

Configure kubeconfig file

A Kubeconfig is a YAML file with the details to connect to Kubernetes Cluster using certificate/secret tokens to authenticate the cluster. This is essential for Kubernetes Plugin to connect to target EKS cluster.

CLI installation

AWS CLI should be installed in the m/c where the plugin is to be executed. Preferably add AWS CLI path in m/c classpath.

Build and Deploy Workflows

Navigate to Workflows and create a workflow using the button as highlighted below.

Create one Build and one Deploy workflow.

Build Workflow

Below given is a sample build workflow to copy the file from a Git repository.

Step-i: Clone Git Repository
This step will clone the Git repository codebase into the project execution working directory. The Git URL will be retrieved from Source Control configured under Project Configuration.

Step-ii: Copy the manifest file
The below step will copy the manifest file to the artifact directory. Also check the Produces Artifact option to save the files as Artifact so that can be used from Deploy workflow.

Deploy Workflow

Below given is a sample deploy workflow to deploy an application on the EKS cluster.

Step-i: deploy the application

This step will deploy the Nginx application, using the manifest on the EKS cluster. Context must be provided to apply changes. The context should be present inside kubeconfig file.

Project Configuration

Navigate to the Project tab and create a Project with a logical name(Kubernetes in this case)

Configure the Build and Deploy workflow that has been created in previous steps as shown below.

Source Control

Configure the Source SCM repository under Source Control as shown below.

To configure Project specific Source Control one first need to navigate to the Project Configuration tab.
Next, expand the SOURCE CONTROL option from the left-hand pane.
Select SOURCES for configuring the Source Repository
Select the appropriate Source Control Type
Configure Source Repository. For detailed steps of Source Control configuration please refer to Configure Source Control in FlexDeploy

Target Properties

Select Topology from the menu and then select Targets from menu. Select the target group and environment, provide the properties detail, according to the description.

Properties	Mandatory field	Description
Cloud Account	Optional	Select the Cloud Account to connect cluster.
CLI Path	Optional	Directory where Cloud CLI is installed.
Kubeconfig File Path	Optional	Absolute path of kubeconfig file
Kubernetes home path	Optional	Directory of Kubernetes home path
GIT Path	Optional	Path to the Git executable. Required only if Git is not on PATH.

Below given are the environment-specific values which need to be updated.

Cloud Account

The AWS Cloud account needs to be set here from the drop-down. It will show all Cloud Accounts configured under Topology, which we have already mentioned earlier.

Kubeconfig file path

Absolute path of config file can be set as environment property, if path is not set then by default plugin look for config file in user directory.

CLI path

AWS CLI path can be set as environment property, if it’s not set then by default plugin use classpath.

Kubernetes Home Path

Kubernetes home path can be set as environment property, plugin check for kubectl on the given directory.

Override properties at Project level

Let assume a scenario, where we want to change Cloud account for any specific project. Apart from setting at environment level, it can also be set at project properties by using Override Property. Please check below mentioned steps.

Navigate to the Project Configuration tab as shown above.
Next, select the PROPERTIES option from the left-hand pane.
Click on the OVERRIDE option.
Select the Cloud Account option from Property.
Select the Environment from the drop down list.
Select the Target Group from the drop down list.

We can do the same for other properties as well.

Build Execution

For detailed steps on how to initiate deploy operation using Kubernetes plugin, please refer to Deploy through FlexDeploy for Kubernetes plugin

Post deployment

Post deployment success from plugin it can take a little while for the deployment and running.

Once deployment successfully completed, we can see the related details on EKS cluster by using AWS console.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed the Nginx Application deployment.

Now that you have configured FlexDeploy for deployment operation using Kubernetes plugin, it is extremely easy to replicate the same for other Cloud Provider. Simply use the Copy Project feature and a new project will be created with all of the configuration completed already. You just need to make the necessary configuration changes.