Streamlining Kubernetes with Kargo:
31 Aug 2024 (15 days ago)
Argo and Acuity
- Acuity is a company founded by the creators of the Argo project, which is a suite of tools that helps users onboard and deploy applications to Kubernetes.
- Cargo is an open source project created by Acuity that aims to create a more cloud native, Kubernetes-friendly version of CI/CD.
Kubernetes and CI/CD
- Developers package applications in containers and deploy them to Kubernetes.
- Kubernetes is an asynchronous, declarative system, while the CI/CD process used to deploy to it is synchronous, leading to a disconnect.
- GitOps, with tools like Argo CD, acts as a bridge between CI/CD and Kubernetes by using Git as the source of truth and reconciling differences with the running system.
- Continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) is often overused for tasks better suited for continuous delivery (CD).
Continuous Integration vs. Continuous Delivery
- CI is best for short-lived, rigid, top-down processes with a definite start and finish, such as building artifacts, repeatable unit tests, and end-to-end tests.
- CD is better suited for indefinite processes that require flexibility, such as rolling out artifacts safely, running canaries, and monitoring and verifying applications in production.
Limitations of Existing Tools and the Solution
- Argo CD and Flux are great tools that excel in performing specific tasks, but they lack the ability to understand the relationships between multiple deployment targets.
- Argo CD and Flux do not possess an inherent mechanism for orchestrating changes across different environments or writing changes directly to Git.
- Continuous Promotion, a concept developed by Aity, addresses a gap in CI/CD by monitoring changes in repositories (Git, Helm, container registries) and making intelligent commits to a GitOps repository when predefined rules and business logic for promotion are met.
Introducing Kargo
- Kargo is an open-source tool that enables continuous promotion and integrates with Argo CD and other GitOps tools.
- Kargo detects changes in configuration repositories or container registries and makes intelligent Git commits to the GitOps repository based on predefined rule sets.
- Kargo verifies the success of promotions by connecting to data sources like Datadog, Prometheus, and AWS Cloudwatch to ensure application health beyond basic Kubernetes status checks.
- Kargo is an open-source project available on GitHub and is ready to deploy.
- Kargo is an open source project.
Kargo's Features and Functionality
- Cargo manages the promotion lifecycle and delivery of artifacts, while Argo CD handles the actual deployment.
- Cargo tracks what Argo CD is deploying and displays information such as the Git commit, version, and image tag associated with each environment.
- Cargo uses a "warehouse" to track and manage artifacts, allowing users to define constraints and rules for promotion based on specific criteria like releases or version numbers.
- Freight is a term used to describe a collection of manifests.
- Subscriptions are used to define what a user is listening for and what they care about.
- Kargo is being used to manage the release process for an application. It listens for new events, such as code changes or new releases, and can automatically trigger actions based on predefined rules.
- Kargo's rule sets allow for control over when and how application components are promoted. For example, a rule could be set to only promote a new version of an image after it has been tagged with a specific release number.
- Kargo integrates with other tools, such as GitHub Actions and Argo CD, to automate the deployment process. For example, when a new release is promoted, Kargo can automatically create a Git commit in the deployment repository and trigger Argo CD to synchronize the changes.
- Kargo integrates with Argo CD and waits for deployments to finish.
- Kargo allows users to promote changes to production manually or automatically based on rules and verification checks.
- Kargo can target individual deployments or deliver to multiple environments simultaneously.
- Kargo has a built-in enterprise role-based access control (RBAC) and single sign-on (SSO) system that allows administrators to control user access and permissions.
Community and Engagement
- Kargo has a Discord community where users discuss Kargo, Argo, GitOps, and continuous promotion.
- Viewers are encouraged to try out the Cargo project, leave feedback, and share their experiences on social media.
Connecting with Christian Hernandez
- The best ways to contact Christian are through LinkedIn, GitHub, Twitter/X, and the Cargo Discord server.
- Christian will be at the ArgoCon and GitHub Universe conferences later in the year.