Application Deployment to EKS Cluster Using Helm Plugin

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Objective

The goal of this tutorial is to deploy an Apache HTTP Server using Helm Chart on an Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS) cluster through FlexDeploy using the Helm Plugin. For this tutorial, we will be setting up an automated deployment of an Apache HTTP Server using the Helm Chart which is present in this chart repository (https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami) . The steps will include:

• Configuring properties e.g. config file path, cloud account, and CLI path
• Deploying the Apache HTTP Server 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 Apache HTTP Server deployed on the EKS cluster in a very short amount of time.

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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.

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Configure Cloud Account

To connect with EKS cluster, we required to configure cloud account, with credentials details. Configure a Cloud Account under Integration. FlexDeploy will connect to the EKS cluster and deploy the Apache HTTP Server.

1. Navigate to the Integrations
2. Select Cloud from the left-hand pane
3. Create a new Cloud account with the + Create 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.

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

After configuration we can use the Cloud Account.

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Prerequisites

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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 access the Identity and Access Management (IAM) service page, and click on the Add users option and give the required permission to access the cluser. Once user is created, AWS secret key can be generate, 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

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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 Helm Plugin to connect to target EKS cluster. 

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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.

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Deploy Workflows

Navigate to Workflows and create a workflow using the :Create_Button: button as highlighted below. Below is a sample deploy workflow to deploy the application on an EKS cluster. Step-i: deploy the application This step will deploy the Apache HTTP Server on the EKS cluster, using the helm chart which is present at chart repository (https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami) . Context must be provided to apply changes. The context should be present inside kubeconfig file. In above configuration using following Inputs, for all input and their description please ref. deploy (Helm)

Input Name	Input Value	Description
Chart Name	apache	Name of a chart to be installed. (Reference/Package/Directory/URL). If empty takes the chart name from the project configuration.
K8s Context	am:aws:eks:ap-south-1.89	K8s Context where the chart will be installed
Release Name	test-helm-new	Release name. If empty takes the chart name from the project configuration. If unspecified, it will autogenerate one for you
Repository Name	https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami	Name of a chart repository
Config file	/home/oracle/.kube/azure/config	K8s config file

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Project configuration

Navigate to the Project tab and create a Project with a logical name(HelmAWS in this case) Configure the Deploy workflow that has been created in previous steps as shown below.

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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

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

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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.

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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.

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CLI path

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

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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.

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

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Build Execution

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

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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 Apache HTTP Server deployment. Now that you have configured FlexDeploy for deployment operation using Helm 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.