Cyberdojo

K8s CC - Task 4: Create the Frontend

ConfigMap

A ConfigMap in Kubernetes is an object used to store configuration data in key-value pairs. It provides a way to decouple configuration artifacts from container images, allowing you to manage configurations separately from the application code.

ConfigMaps are commonly used to store non-sensitive, configuration-specific data, such as environment variables, command-line arguments, configuration files, or other settings required by applications running in Kubernetes pods.

We need to configure the mongodb-configmap to store the database_url: backend-mongodb value for reference in the Frontend. Full file is here:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: mongodb-configmap
data:
  database_url: backend-mongodb

Apply the ConfigMap

kubectl apply -f example1-mogoApp/mongodb-configmap.yaml

Frontend Deployment:

First, we need to set up the Kind as Deployment, the name and the same basic Replicas and Selector as before

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: frontend-mongo-express-deployment
  labels:
    app: frontend-mongo-express
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: frontend-mongo-express
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: frontend-mongo-express

Then, we will set a container image that is preconfigured with MongoExpress: mongo-express. We will also set the default port. And we will configure ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINUSERNAME and ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINPASSWORD environment variables

    spec:
      containers:
      - name: mongo-express
        image: mongo-express
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8081
        env:
        - name: ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINUSERNAME
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: mongodb-secret
              key: mongo-username
        - name: ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_ADMINPASSWORD
          valueFrom: 
            secretKeyRef:
              name: mongodb-secret
              key: mongo-password

The last thing we need to add in the deployment is setting up the Database server name. We will do that using the ConfigMap data we set earlier

        - name: ME_CONFIG_MONGODB_SERVER
          valueFrom: 
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: mongodb-configmap
              key: database_url

Frontend Service:

The service for the frontend deployment is slightly different than the service do the backend deployment. In the frontend Service we will need to expose it to the internet:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: frontend-mongo-express
spec:
  selector:
    app: frontend-mongo-express
  type: LoadBalancer  
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 8081
      targetPort: 8081
      nodePort: 30000

Notice that we set the type to LoadBalancer, which will expose this service externally. And we had to add nodePort: 30000 which will set the port to be used externally.

Apply the Frontend

kubectl apply -f example1-mogoApp/frontend-mongo-express.yaml

Give it few minutes for all services to be created then move to the next step.

Expose the Frontend using Minikube

minikube service frontend-mongo-express

The above command will expose frontend-mongo-express service and give it a public IP address

You can access the frontend by pointing your browser to the IP address that was assigned. Notice that Mongo-express allows you to interact with the backend which is the MongoDB server (Service)

Use admin and pass to login to Mongo-Express. Congratulations! Your Application is built!

Next

Task 5: Namespaces