Flux CD install guide

Install with bootstrap

Using the flux bootstrap command you can install Flux on a Kubernetes cluster and configure it to manage itself from a Git repository.

If the Flux components are present on the cluster, the bootstrap command will perform an upgrade if needed. The bootstrap is idempotent, it’s safe to run the command as many times as you want.

flux bootstrap git --url='ssh://git@git.xxxx/test-gitops.git' --private-key-file=/xxx/.ssh/xxx_rsa --branch=test-pod --namespace=flux

What does the bootstrap do?

Install all the components needed by the flux. You can run kubectl get pods -n flux to show all the pods that the flux installed.
Create git access key or save access key provided by --private-key-file. You can run kubectl get secrets -n flux command to show the access key.
Create GitRepository by git URL provided by --url. You can locate it in Custom Resources -> source.toolkit.fluxcd.io -> GitRepository by Lens. It tells the flux which branch to watch.
Create flux kustomization. It is the most critical configuration. It tells the flux which file or path to watch.
Upload flux system configuration. The first time you run bootstrap,flux will upload all the flux system configurations to your git repository.

Manual installation

Install with bootstrap is the best meth for an empty GitRespository. But sometimes, we provide a repository already deployed in another cluster, or we just need to add a new repository for the current cluster. Thes times, we need manual installation.

Install flux

If the cluster is not install Flux, run the command to install:

flux install --namespace=flux

Add new git repository

Add Deployment to you git repository in branch flux-demo.

# nginx.yaml

apiVersion: apps/v1 
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-fooval
  namespace: default
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx-fooval
  replicas: 1 # tells deployment to run 1 pods matching the template
  template: # create pods using pod definition in this template
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx-fooval
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: tnginx-fooval
        image: nginx
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Create repository

flux create source git fooval-gitops --url=ssh://xxx/test-gitops.git --branch=flux-demo --interval=1m --private-key-file=/xxxxn/.ssh/xx_rsa --namespace=flux

Add kustomize

Method One

flux create kustomization fooval-gitops-ks --source=fooval-gitops --path="./" --prune=true --interval=5m --health-check-timeout=2m --wait=true --namespace=flux

Method Two

apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
name: fooval-gitops
namespace: flux
spec:
force: false
interval: 10m0s
path: ./
prune: true
sourceRef:
  kind: GitRepository
  name: fooval-gitops

Register Helm repositories and create Helm releases:

Create helm source

flux create source helm bitnami \
  --interval=1h \
  --url=https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami \
  --namespace=flux

Create helm release

flux create helmrelease nginx-helm \
  --interval=1h \
  --release-name=fooval-nginx \
  --target-namespace=default \
  --source=HelmRepository/bitnami \
  --chart=nginx \
  --chart-version="12.0.5" \
  --namespace=flux

Get all ks / Show errors

flux get ks -A / flux get kustomizations -A

Show kustomizations all file

flux tree ks fooval-gitops

Uninstall Flux

flux uninstall --namespace=flux-system

flux uninstall --namespace=flux --keep-namespace

Flux CD Install