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Install ArgoCD on K8s

argocd-redis-example.png

Introduction

ArgoCD is a popular tool used for continuous delivery of Kubernetes applications. With ArgoCD, you can deploy your applications to Kubernetes clusters with ease. In this blog post, we will guide you through the process of setting up ArgoCD from scratch and deploying your first app.

Install ArgoCD

kubectl create namespace argocd
kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

## Change the argocd-server service type to LoadBalancer
kubectl patch svc argocd-server -n argocd -p '{"spec": {"type": "LoadBalancer"}}'

## Get the external IP
kubectl get svc argocd-server

## Visit the ArgoCD UI from the browser with external IP above

## Login
argocd admin initial-password -n argocd

## Get password
kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

## CLI login
argocd login <ARGOCD_SERVER>

## Change password
argocd account update-password

## Create user
argocd login <ARGOCD_SERVER> --username <USERNAME> --password <PASSWORD>
argocd account list

# if you are managing users as the admin user, <current-user-password> should be the current admin password.
argocd account update-password --account <name> --current-password <current-user-password> --new-password <new-user-password>

Create your first APP from Web

Cloud use bitnami Helm repo as Source to quickly get started (https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami).

Create your first APP from CLI

argocd login --core
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=argocd
argocd app create guestbook --repo https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps.git --path guestbook --dest-server https://kubernetes.default.svc --dest-namespace default

argocd app get guestbook
argocd app sync guestbook

Accessing Argo CD UI

Port forward

kubectl port-forward svc/argocd-server -n argocd 8080:443

ALB Ingress

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: argocd-ingress
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/actions.ssl-redirect: '{"Type": "redirect", "RedirectConfig":{ "Protocol": "HTTPS", "Port": "443", "StatusCode": "HTTP_301"}}'
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: HTTPS
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/certificate-arn: arn:aws:acm:us-east-1:<account-id>:certificate/<certificate-id>
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/group.name:  prodalb
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/listen-ports: '[{"HTTP": 80}, {"HTTPS": 443}]'
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/load-balancer-name: shared-load-balacer-name
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/scheme: internet-facing
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/tags: Environment=dev,Team=Cool Product, name=ALB
      Dev , UsedIN=EKS
    alb.ingress.kubernetes.io/target-type: ip

  finalizers:
   - ingress.k8s.aws/resources


spec:
    ingressClassName: alb
    rules:
    - host: argocd.example.net
      http:
        paths:
        - path: /
          backend:
            service:
              name: argocd-server
              port:
                number: 443
          pathType: Prefix

kubectl apply -f argocd-ingress.yaml

Best Practices for Using ArgoCD

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when using ArgoCD:

  1. Always use version control for your Kubernetes manifests.
  2. Use ArgoCD’s built-in validation to catch errors before deploying.
  3. Use ArgoCD’s rollback functionality to quickly revert changes if necessary.

Setting up an HA installation

  • API server: Handles all external interactions. Whether you’re using the CLI, UI, or creating a client, you’ll communicate with the API. The HA manifests set up two instances of this pod.
  • Repository server: Responsible for creating the final manifests to apply to the cluster. Manifest generation is complex due to Argo CD’s support for various templating systems like Helm 2 or 3, Kustomize, and Jsonnet. The HA manifests provide two replicas.
  • Application controller: Initiates work, implements the control loop, and manages application sync. While initially limited to one instance, it now supports one instance per cluster shard. The HA manifests use a single controller instance.
  • Redis cache: Stores generated manifests to avoid expensive recalculations. If the cache fails, it can be rebuilt, but expect a performance hit. The HA setup introduces significant changes here, adding an HAProxy deployment and three Redis replicas—one master and two slaves.
  • Dex server: Handles user authentication for external identity providers such as SAML, OIDC, or LDAP. It’s optional but necessary if you want to connect services like GitHub or Google accounts to Argo CD.
argo-cd:
  crds:
    install: false # Set to false if argo-cd was installed previously
    keep: false
  configs:
    params:
      reposerver.parallelism.limit: 4
      controller.status.processors: 20 # Set as needed
      controller.operation.processors: 10 # Set as needed
      controller.repo.server.timeout.seconds: 60 # If managing many repositories, consider increasing this value
      timeout.reconciliation: 180s # Polling time
  repoServer:
    replicas: 2
    autoscaling:
      enabled: true
      minReplicas: 2
      maxReplicas: 5
    env:
      - name: ARGOCD_GIT_ATTEMPTS_COUNT
        value: "3"
      - name: ARGOCD_EXEC_TIMEOUT
        value: "2m30s"
    extraArgs:
      - --repo-cache-expiration=1h
  controller:
    replicas: 2 # Consider increasing deployment size if managing many repositories
    env: 
      - name: WORKQUEUE_BUCKET_SIZE
        value: "500"
      - name: ARGOCD_RECONCILIATION_JITTER
        value: "60"
      - name: ARGO_CD_UPDATE_CLUSTER_INFO_TIMEOUT
        value: "60" # In seconds
      - name: ARGOCD_CLUSTER_CACHE_LIST_PAGE_SIZE
        value: "500"
      - name: ARGOCD_CLUSTER_CACHE_LIST_PAGE_BUFFER_SIZE
        value: "5"
  server:
    autoscaling:
      enabled: true
      minReplicas: 2 # Should not be 1
      maxReplicas: 5
    env:
      - name: ARGOCD_API_SERVER_REPLICAS
        value: "2" # Recommended to be consistent with minReplicas, not less than minReplicas
      - name: ARGOCD_GRPC_MAX_SIZE_MB
        value: "200"
  dex: # Argo's own in-memory storage component, HA mode will cause data inconsistency, can set replica count to 1
    enabled: true
  redis-ha:
    enabled: true

Access Control

Admin and local users

kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d
argocd account list

add new user

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: argocd-cm
data:
  accounts.alina: apiKey, login

argocd account update-password --account alina --current-password pOLpcl9ah90dViCD --new-password k8pL-xzE3WMexWm3cT8tmn
kubectl get secret argocd-secret -n argocd -o yaml

Service accounts

WIP

Single sign-on

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Conclusion

Setting up ArgoCD and deploying your first app may seem daunting at first, but with this guide, you should be able to do it with ease. Remember to follow best practices when using ArgoCD to ensure a smooth deployment process. Happy deploying!

Reference

  • https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/getting_started/
  • argocd CLI: https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/tag/v2.7.8
  • https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps
  • https://medium.com/@megaurav25/argocd-ha-setup-for-production-da38cbb8be
  • https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/release-2.5/operator-manual/high_availability/
  • https://docs.daocloud.io/en/amamba/quickstart/argo-cd-HA/
  • https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/operator-manual/high_availability/
  • https://github.com/PacktPublishing/ArgoCD-in-Practice
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