Those who have been part of the Kubernetes world for quite some time know how beneficial Argo CD is, which is one of the main reasons why it has rapidly climbed the popularity charts.
Its main goal is to efficiently automate and manage the deployment of applications to Kubernetes clusters, and simultaneously, enable GitOps workflows. Syncing live cluster states straight from Git repositories brings visibility and automation into the deployment process.
Even though at first glance, you may think that implementing it is simple, that’s often not the case. In fact, if you are inexperienced as far as this is concerned, you can easily make mistakes that aren’t benign.
Luckily, this informative guide is here to provide you with useful advice to help you implement it correctly, while concurrently decreasing the chances of errors and enhancing uptime.
If You Need Some Help, Seek It!
If you think that you’re the only one who is completely clueless when it comes to this, then you are seriously in the wrong. In fact, there are a plethora of people who have never used Argo CD, which is totally okay.
Instead of wasting your precious time trying to figure things out, it would be much smarter to turn to professionals. This refers to Argo CD consulting services, which have a vast knowledge as far as this goes, and have an excellent understanding of the entire theory behind it. They not only offer technical expertise, but they can also provide you with professional guidance, which will result in the strategic implementation of Agile methodologies, making sure you seamlessly adapt to any changes.
That’s why having these specialists by your side is always a wise idea if you want to significantly lower the risk of making any errors along the way.
Don’t Forget To Divide Your Git Repositories
If you haven’t done this already, then it’s of huge importance to divide configurations and source code into different Git repositories. Now, why is this so crucial? Separating them restricts commit access to prevent something from being pushed to production environments.
For instance, if you push manifest changes to the config, it could potentially activate an infinite loop of Git commit triggers and build jobs. Employing an automated CI pipeline, you can avoid pushing manifest alterations to the same repo.
Furthermore, Argo CD doesn’t connect to the source code repository; however, if you decide to modify your code, plus you wish to deploy the change to a particular space, then this is what you need to do:
- Create a new application code version and then connect a pull request to the configuration repo to employ the brand-new application version you’ve just built
- Use automation for the latest update to the source code by leveraging a pipeline in the source code repository
- Argo CD Image Updater enables you to update all the container images of the Kubernetes workload
All of the above-mentioned strategies allow you to maintain logs for basically any auditing process.
Create A Good GitOps Structure
Literally anything that’s related to the Argo CD revolves around Git, which is why it’s pivotal to have a logical repo structure if you want to make sure you have a solid setup. In order to make this happen, these are the steps that you need to take:
- Divide infrastructure and application repos. Make sure your base cluster configuration (namespaces, RBAC, and storage classes) is separated from app manifests
- Your manifests are supposed to be declarative
- Utilize folders per environment
- Document the folder structure
The Importance Of Top-Notch Security Practices
Every company that decides to implement Argo CD must prioritize security when managing deployments at scale. If you would like to uncover the most effective practices, then check these out:
- Enable SSO and external authentication – Merge Argo CD with external authentication providers, such as LDAP, and/or SAML, to enable SSO. By doing so, you will streamline user management, boost security, and comply with organizational standards.
- Don’t forget the RBAC – You should employ it for access control. Use it within Argo CD to limit access to critical operations. Allocate different roles to the members of your team, and be sure that only those who are considered authorized users can gain access and deploy applications.
- Supervise Argo CD access logs as often as possible, along with the audit trails.
Implementing Argo CD doesn’t revolve solely around automation, but developing a delivery process that’s reliable and trustworthy. If you resort to at least one of these methods, you’ll end up having a stable DevOps ecosystem.