flagger/docs/gitbook/install/flagger-install-on-kubernetes.md

Flagger install on Kubernetes

This guide walks you through setting up Flagger on a Kubernetes cluster with Helm or Kustomize.

Prerequisites

Flagger requires a Kubernetes cluster v1.11 or newer with the following admission controllers enabled:

• MutatingAdmissionWebhook
• ValidatingAdmissionWebhook

Install Flagger with Helm

Add Flagger Helm repository:

helm repo add flagger https://flagger.app

Install Flagger's Canary CRD:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/weaveworks/flagger/master/artifacts/flagger/crd.yaml

Deploy Flagger for Istio:

helm upgrade -i flagger flagger/flagger \
--namespace=istio-system \
--set crd.create=false \
--set meshProvider=istio \
--set metricsServer=http://prometheus:9090

Deploy Flagger for Linkerd:

helm upgrade -i flagger flagger/flagger \
--namespace=linkerd \
--set crd.create=false \
--set meshProvider=linkerd \
--set metricsServer=http://linkerd-prometheus:9090

Deploy Flagger for App Mesh:

helm upgrade -i flagger flagger/flagger \
--namespace=appmesh-system \
--set crd.create=false \
--set meshProvider=appmesh \
--set metricsServer=http://appmesh-prometheus:9090

You can install Flagger in any namespace as long as it can talk to the Prometheus service on port 9090.

Enable Slack notifications:

helm upgrade -i flagger flagger/flagger \
--namespace=istio-system \
--set crd.create=false \
--set slack.url=https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/SLACK/WEBHOOK \
--set slack.channel=general \
--set slack.user=flagger

Enable Microsoft Teams notifications:

helm upgrade -i flagger flagger/flagger \
--namespace=istio-system \
--set crd.create=false \
--set msteams.url=https://outlook.office.com/webhook/YOUR/TEAMS/WEBHOOK

If you don't have Tiller you can use the helm template command and apply the generated yaml with kubectl:

# generate
helm fetch --untar --untardir . flagger/flagger &&
helm template flagger \
--name flagger \
--namespace=istio-system \
--set metricsServer=http://prometheus.istio-system:9090 \
> $HOME/flagger.yaml

# apply
kubectl apply -f $HOME/flagger.yaml

To uninstall the Flagger release with Helm run:

helm delete --purge flagger

The command removes all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and deletes the release.

Note

that on uninstall the Canary CRD will not be removed. Deleting the CRD will make Kubernetes remove all the objects owned by Flagger like Istio virtual services, Kubernetes deployments and ClusterIP services.

If you want to remove all the objects created by Flagger you have delete the Canary CRD with kubectl:

kubectl delete crd canaries.flagger.app

Install Grafana with Helm

Flagger comes with a Grafana dashboard made for monitoring the canary analysis.

Deploy Grafana in the istio-system namespace:

helm upgrade -i flagger-grafana flagger/grafana \
--namespace=istio-system \
--set url=http://prometheus.istio-system:9090 \
--set user=admin \
--set password=change-me

Or use helm template command and apply the generated yaml with kubectl:

# generate
helm fetch --untar --untardir . flagger/grafana &&
helm template grafana \
--name flagger-grafana \
--namespace=istio-system \
> $HOME/flagger-grafana.yaml

# apply
kubectl apply -f $HOME/flagger-grafana.yaml

You can access Grafana using port forwarding:

kubectl -n istio-system port-forward svc/flagger-grafana 3000:80

Install Flagger with Kustomize

As an alternative to Helm, Flagger can be installed with Kustomize.

Service mesh specific installers

Install Flagger for Istio:

kubectl apply -k github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/istio

This deploys Flagger in the istio-system namespace and sets the metrics server URL to Istio's Prometheus instance.

Note that you'll need kubectl 1.14 to run the above the command or you can download the kustomize binary and run:

kustomize build github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/istio | kubectl apply -f -

Install Flagger for AWS App Mesh:

kubectl apply -k github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/appmesh

This deploys Flagger and sets the metrics server URL to App Mesh's Prometheus instance.

Install Flagger for Linkerd:

kubectl apply -k github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/linkerd

This deploys Flagger in the linkerd namespace and sets the metrics server URL to Linkerd's Prometheus instance.

If you want to install a specific Flagger release, add the version number to the URL:

kubectl apply -k github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/linkerd?ref=0.18.0

Generic installer

Install Flagger and Prometheus:

kubectl apply -k github.com/weaveworks/flagger//kustomize/kubernetes

This deploys Flagger and Prometheus in the flagger-system namespace, sets the metrics server URL to http://flagger-prometheus.flagger-system:9090 and the mesh provider to kubernetes.

The Prometheus instance has a two hours data retention and is configured to scrape all pods in your cluster that have the prometheus.io/scrape: "true" annotation.

To target a different provider you can specify it in the canary custom resource:

apiVersion: flagger.app/v1alpha3
kind: Canary
metadata:
  name: app
  namespace: test
spec:
  # can be: kubernetes, istio, linkerd, appmesh, nginx, gloo
  # use the kubernetes provider for Blue/Green style deployments
  provider: nginx

Customized installer

Create a kustomization file using flagger as base:

cat > kustomization.yaml <<EOF
namespace: istio-system
bases:
  - github.com/weaveworks/flagger/kustomize/base/flagger
patchesStrategicMerge:
  - patch.yaml
EOF

Create a patch and enable Slack notifications by setting the slack channel and hook URL:

cat > patch.yaml <<EOF
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: flagger
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: flagger
          args:
            - -mesh-provider=istio
            - -metrics-server=http://prometheus.istio-system:9090
            - -slack-user=flagger
            - -slack-channel=alerts
            - -slack-url=https://hooks.slack.com/services/YOUR/SLACK/WEBHOOK
EOF

Install Flagger with Slack:

kubectl apply -k .

If you want to use MS Teams instead of Slack, replace -slack-url with -msteams-url and set the webhook address to https://outlook.office.com/webhook/YOUR/TEAMS/WEBHOOK.