Argo CD

Argo CD is a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. Argo CD aligns with the GitOps principles, ensuring that the deployment of groundcover is always in sync with the predefined configurations in your Git repository. This means that any changes made to the deployment configurations are automatically applied to the cluster, streamlining updates and ensuring that all instances of groundcover are consistent across different environments.

Argo CD’s multi-environment support ensures that groundcover can be deployed consistently across various Kubernetes clusters, whether they are designated for development, testing, or production.

To deploy groundcover through Argo CD, use the following steps.

The steps below require a user with admin permissions

Create the groundcover namespace

groundcover requires setting up secrets in the installation namespace prior to creating the ArgoCD application. For that reason we will start by creating the groundcover namespace:

kubectl create namespace groundcover

Create the Ingestion Key Secret

Step 1 - Fetch the Ingestion key

Read more about ingestion keys here:Ingestion Keys

1. Open the Ingestion Keys page

2. Create an Ingestion Key of type Sensor

3. Copy the value of the key created

Step 2 - Create the spec file

Create the spec file for the secret in the groundcover namespace using the following snippet:

Make sure to replace the <ingestion-key> value below with the value fetched in the previous step

cat << EOF > groundcover_ingestionkey_secret.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: groundcover-ingestion-key
  namespace: groundcover
stringData:
  INGESTION_KEY: <ingestion-key>
type: Opaque
EOF

Step 3 - Create the secret

Apply the spec file from above:

kubectl apply -f groundcover_ingestionkey_secret.yaml

Create the Argo CD Application Manifest

Make sure to set the following values in the manifest:

• <project-name> - to match your environment

• <targetRevision> - set the deployment version. EIther a specific groundcover chart version, or use ">= 1.0.0" for auto upgrades. You can use the following commands to fetch the latest chart version:

  • helm repo update

  • helm search repo groundcover/groundcover

The <cluster-name> value in the values part in the manifest can be any name you wish to assign to the cluster where the platform is installed. In multi-cluster installations, make sure to change it according to the cluster being installed.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: groundcover
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  project: <project-name>
  source:
    chart: groundcover
    repoURL: https://helm.groundcover.com
    targetRevision: <groundcover-version>
    helm:
      releaseName: groundcover
      values: |
        clusterId: <cluster-name>
        global:
          groundcoverPredefinedTokenSecret:
            secretKey: INGESTION_KEY
            secretName: groundcover-ingestion-key
  destination:
    server: "https://kubernetes.default.svc"
    namespace: groundcover
  # avoid OutOfSync state on secrets with random-data.
  # https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/en/stable/user-guide/helm/#random-data
  syncPolicy:
    syncOptions:
    - CreateNamespace=true
    - RespectIgnoreDifferences=true
  ignoreDifferences:
  - kind: Secret
    jsonPointers:
    - /data
    - /stringData
  - group: apps
    kind: '*'
    jsonPointers:
    - /spec/template/metadata/annotations/checksum~1secret
  - group: admissionregistration.k8s.io
    kind: ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
    jqPathExpressions:
    - '.webhooks[]?.clientConfig.caBundle'

Inspect the groundcover namespace

After creating the manifest above the groundcover deployments will start spinning up in the namespace. When all pods are running you will start seeing data in the platform.

If you encounter any issues in the installation let us know over Slack.