# Next steps *Alright, how do I get started and containerize my apps?* -- Suggested containerization checklist: .checklist[ - write a Dockerfile for one service in one app - write Dockerfiles for the other (buildable) services - write a Compose file for that whole app - make sure that devs are empowered to run the app in containers - set up automated builds of container images from the code repo - set up a CI pipeline using these container images - set up a CD pipeline (for staging/QA) using these images ] And *then* it is time to look at orchestration! --- ## Options for our first production cluster - Get a managed cluster from a major cloud provider (AKS, EKS, GKE...) (price: $, difficulty: medium) - Hire someone to deploy it for us (price: $$, difficulty: easy) - Do it ourselves (price: $-$$$, difficulty: hard) --- ## One big cluster vs. multiple small ones - Yes, it is possible to have prod+dev in a single cluster (and implement good isolation and security with RBAC, network policies...) - But it is not a good idea to do that for our first deployment - Start with a production cluster + at least a test cluster - Implement and check RBAC and isolation on the test cluster (e.g. deploy multiple test versions side-by-side) - Make sure that all our devs have usable dev clusters (whether it's a local minikube or a full-blown multi-node cluster) --- ## Namespaces - Namespaces let you run multiple identical stacks side by side - Two namespaces (e.g. `blue` and `green`) can each have their own `redis` service - Each of the two `redis` services has its own `ClusterIP` - CoreDNS creates two entries, mapping to these two `ClusterIP` addresses: `redis.blue.svc.cluster.local` and `redis.green.svc.cluster.local` - Pods in the `blue` namespace get a *search suffix* of `blue.svc.cluster.local` - As a result, resolving `redis` from a pod in the `blue` namespace yields the "local" `redis` .warning[This does not provide *isolation*! That would be the job of network policies.] --- ## Relevant sections - [Namespaces](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-namespaces) - [Network Policies](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-network-policies) - [Role-Based Access Control](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-authentication-and-authorization) (covers permissions model, user and service accounts management ...) --- ## Stateful services (databases etc.) - As a first step, it is wiser to keep stateful services *outside* of the cluster - Exposing them to pods can be done with multiple solutions: - `ExternalName` services
(`redis.blue.svc.cluster.local` will be a `CNAME` record) - `ClusterIP` services with explicit `Endpoints`
(instead of letting Kubernetes generate the endpoints from a selector) - Ambassador services
(application-level proxies that can provide credentials injection and more) --- ## Stateful services (second take) - If we want to host stateful services on Kubernetes, we can use: - a storage provider - persistent volumes, persistent volume claims - stateful sets - Good questions to ask: - what's the *operational cost* of running this service ourselves? - what do we gain by deploying this stateful service on Kubernetes? - Relevant sections: [Volumes](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-volumes) | [Stateful Sets](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-stateful-sets) | [Persistent Volumes](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-highly-available-persistent-volumes) - Excellent [blog post](http://www.databasesoup.com/2018/07/should-i-run-postgres-on-kubernetes.html) tackling the question: “Should I run Postgres on Kubernetes?” --- ## HTTP traffic handling - *Services* are layer 4 constructs - HTTP is a layer 7 protocol - It is handled by *ingresses* (a different resource kind) - *Ingresses* allow: - virtual host routing - session stickiness - URI mapping - and much more! - [This section](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-exposing-http-services-with-ingress-resources) shows how to expose multiple HTTP apps using [Træfik](https://docs.traefik.io/user-guide/kubernetes/) --- ## Logging - Logging is delegated to the container engine - Logs are exposed through the API - Logs are also accessible through local files (`/var/log/containers`) - Log shipping to a central platform is usually done through these files (e.g. with an agent bind-mounting the log directory) - [This section](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-centralized-logging) shows how to do that with [Fluentd](https://docs.fluentd.org/v0.12/articles/kubernetes-fluentd) and the EFK stack --- ## Metrics - The kubelet embeds [cAdvisor](https://github.com/google/cadvisor), which exposes container metrics (cAdvisor might be separated in the future for more flexibility) - It is a good idea to start with [Prometheus](https://prometheus.io/) (even if you end up using something else) - Starting from Kubernetes 1.8, we can use the [Metrics API](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/debug-application-cluster/core-metrics-pipeline/) - [Heapster](https://github.com/kubernetes/heapster) was a popular add-on (but is being [deprecated](https://github.com/kubernetes/heapster/blob/master/docs/deprecation.md) starting with Kubernetes 1.11) --- ## Managing the configuration of our applications - Two constructs are particularly useful: secrets and config maps - They allow to expose arbitrary information to our containers - **Avoid** storing configuration in container images (There are some exceptions to that rule, but it's generally a Bad Idea) - **Never** store sensitive information in container images (It's the container equivalent of the password on a post-it note on your screen) - [This section](kube-selfpaced.yml.html#toc-managing-configuration) shows how to manage app config with config maps (among others) --- ## Managing stack deployments - Applications are made of many resources (Deployments, Services, and much more) - We need to automate the creation / update / management of these resources - There is no "absolute best" tool or method; it depends on: - the size and complexity of our stack(s) - how often we change it (i.e. add/remove components) - the size and skills of our team --- ## A few tools to manage stacks - Shell scripts invoking `kubectl` - YAML resource manifests committed to a repo - [Kustomize](https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/kustomize) (YAML manifests + patches applied on top) - [Helm](https://github.com/kubernetes/helm) (YAML manifests + templating engine) - [Spinnaker](https://www.spinnaker.io/) (Netflix' CD platform) - [Brigade](https://brigade.sh/) (event-driven scripting; no YAML) --- ## Cluster federation -- ![Star Trek Federation](images/startrek-federation.jpg) -- Sorry Star Trek fans, this is not the federation you're looking for! -- (If I add "Your cluster is in another federation" I might get a 3rd fandom wincing!) --- ## Cluster federation - Kubernetes master operation relies on etcd - etcd uses the [Raft](https://raft.github.io/) protocol - Raft recommends low latency between nodes - What if our cluster spreads to multiple regions? -- - Break it down in local clusters - Regroup them in a *cluster federation* - Synchronize resources across clusters - Discover resources across clusters