Using Argo CD

Step 1: Install Argo CD#

Before installing the Argo CD Helm chart to your workload cluster, it is recommended you configure it to better suit your needs. Reference for the values can be found here⁠.

In addition to configuring it for your environment, you should add the following patch to the values:

		configs:
  cm:
    resource.inclusions: |
      - apiGroups:
          - "infrastructure.cluster.x-k8s.io"
          - "cluster.x-k8s.io"
          - "controlplane.cluster.x-k8s.io"
          - "bootstrap.cluster.x-k8s.io"
          - "ipam.cluster.x-k8s.io"
          - "clusterstack.x-k8s.io"
          - "infrastructure.clusterstack.x-k8s.io"
        kinds:
          - '*'
        clusters:
          - https://autopilot-1.autopilot-prod.k8s.syself.net:443
	

This tells Argo CD to only manage the resources specified and ignore all others in the Autopilot management cluster, and is needed as you'll be adding the Autopilot as an external cluster where you don't have complete access to all resources.

It is safe to deploy it now and configure it later, so you can proceed with the installation:

		$ helm repo add argo https://argoproj.github.io/argo-helm
$ helm repo update
$ kubectl create namespace argocd
$ helm install argocd argo/argo-cd --namespace argocd --values argocd-values.yaml
	

Step 2: Install Argo CD CLI#

Run the installation commands for your environment:

		$ curl -sSL -o argocd-linux-amd64 https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest/download/argocd-linux-amd64
$ sudo install -m 555 argocd-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/argocd
$ rm argocd-linux-amd64
	

		$ VERSION=$(curl --silent "https://api.github.com/repos/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest" | grep '"tag_name"' | sed -E 's/.*"([^"]+)".*/\1')
$ curl -sSL -o argocd-darwin-amd64 https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/download/$VERSION/argocd-darwin-amd64
$ sudo install -m 555 argocd-darwin-amd64 /usr/local/bin/argocd
$ rm argocd-darwin-amd64
	

		$version = (Invoke-RestMethod https://api.github.com/repos/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest).tag_name
$url = "https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/download/" + $version + "/argocd-windows-amd64.exe"
$output = "argocd.exe"
 
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $output
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", "$env:Path;C:\Path\To\ArgoCD-CLI", "User")
	

You can test if the installation was successful with the argocd version command.

Step 3: Access Argo CD API Server#

Create a port-forwarding to be able to connect to the API server without exposing the service:

		$ kubectl port-forward service/argocd-server 8080:443 -n argocd
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8080 -> 8080
Forwarding from [::1]:8080 -> 8080
Handling connection for 8080
	

And connect using the CLI:

		$ argocd login localhost:8080 \
--insecure \
--username admin \
--password $(kubectl get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -n argocd -o json | \
jq -r '.data.password' | \
base64 -d)
'admin' logged in successfully
Context 'localhost:8080' updated
	

Step 4: Add Autopilot Cluster to Argo CD#

Replace <your-company> with your company name and <./path-to/autopilot/kubeconfig> to the path where you stored the kubeconfig to the Autopilot management cluster, and run:

		$ argocd cluster add oidc@autopilot-1 \
--system-namespace org-<your-company> \
--namespace 'org-<your-company>' \
--name autopilot \
--kubeconfig <./path-to/autopilot/kubeconfig> \
--service-account gitops -y
Cluster 'https://autopilot-1.autopilot-prod.k8s.syself.net:443' added
	

You might need to authenticate after running this command. In this case, re-run the command if it times out after authentication.

Now Argo CD is now fully configured to work with Syself Autopilot!

If you want to manage the added cluster declaratively, you can get the resulting manifest created by the Argo CD CLI with this command:

		$ kubectl get secret $(kubectl get secrets -n argocd --no-headers -o custom-columns=":metadata.name" | grep syself) -o yaml -n argocd
	

The rest of this guide will cover an example setup, but you can operate it in the same way you would any other Argo CD installation, in accordance with your preferred practices.

Step 5: Use it!#

To use your new Argo CD setup, the first thing you need to do is add a repository. You can do this either through the user interface or through the CLI. For example, we'll use the CLI to add a private repository hosted on GitHub and authenticate with an access token:

		$ argocd repo add https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git \
--username <your-git-username> \
--password <your-github-token>
Repository 'https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git' added
	

Another option is to add it declaratively, by applying a secret to your cluster:

		apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: my-gitops-repository
  namespace: argocd
  labels:
    argocd.argoproj.io/secret-type: repository
  annotations:
    managed-by: argocd.argoproj.io
stringData:
  username: mygitusername
  password: ghp_mytoken
  type: git
  url: https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git
type: Opaque
	

You can see all the options for adding a repository in the Argo CD documentation⁠.

With a repository added, you can tell Argo CD to deploy all manifests saved in it to a cluster, by using an Application. This is the content of our example repository, all under the resources/ directory:

Open image: Image showing file contents

Close

Image showing file contents

Now we are ready to create an Application to deploy these resources:

		$ argocd app create gitops-example \
--repo https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git \
--path resources \
--dest-server https://autopilot-1.autopilot-prod.k8s.syself.net:443 \
--dest-namespace org-<your-company> \
--sync-policy auto
application 'gitops-example' created
	

This command created an Application called gitops-example, with the manifests fetched from the resources/ directory in the https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git repository to be deployed in the org-<your-company> namespace of the Autopilot management cluster.

You can also create the Application declaratively:

		apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: gitops-example
  namespace: argocd
spec:
  destination:
    server: https://autopilot-1.autopilot-prod.k8s.syself.net:443
    namespace: org-<your-company>
  project: default
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/your-company/gitops-repo.git
    path: resources
  syncPolicy:
    automated: {}
	

You can see the state of the Application in the Argo CD web UI. If you click in the cluster resource and go to the DIFF tab, you'll be able to see some default variables that were set by Autopilot. You should copy these and add to your cluster manifest to avoid Argo CD forcing reconciliation of your cluster.

Deploy with Argo CD#

Once the initial configuration is complete, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the Argo CD documentation and make any necessary adjustments to your setup. Additionally, we suggest that you change the initial admin user password.

Here is a short list of things you can do:

• Set up self-management with GitOps for managing your Autopilot resources from Git
• Let Argo CD manage itself⁠
• Handle your Clusters, Repositories and Applications declaratively⁠
• Setup notifications⁠