Work with private Git repositories in Namespace Provisioner

This topic tells you how to configure Namespace Provisioner to use private Git repositories for storing GitOps based installation files, and platform operator templated resources that you want to create in your developer namespace in Tanzu Application Platform (commonly known as TAP).

Git Authentication for using a private Git repository

Authentication is provided using a secret in the tap-namespace-provisioning namespace, or an existing secret in another namespace referred to in the secretRef in the additional_sources. For more details, see Customize Installation of Namespace Provisioner.

Create the Git Authentication secret in tap-namespace-provisioning namespace

The secrets for Git authentication allow the following keys: ssh-privatekey, ssh-knownhosts, username, and password. If ssh-knownhosts is not specified, Git does not perform strict host checking.

Important
Namespace Provisioner relies on kapp-controller for any tasks involving communication with external services, such as registries or Git repositories. When operating in air-gapped environments or other scenarios where external services are secured by a Custom CA certificate, you must configure kapp-controller with the CA certificate data to prevent X.509 certificate errors. For more information, see Deploy onto Cluster in the Cluster Essentials for VMware Tanzu documentation.

Create the Git secret:

Using HTTP(s) based Authentication

If you are using Username and Password for authentication:

cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: git-auth
  namespace: tap-namespace-provisioning
type: Opaque
stringData:
  username: GIT-USERNAME
  password: GIT-PASSWORD
EOF

Using SSH based Authentication

If you are using SSH private key for authentication:

cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: git-auth
  namespace: tap-namespace-provisioning
type: Opaque
stringData:
  ssh-privatekey: |
      -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
      ..
      -----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
EOF

Add the secretRef section to the additional_sources and the gitops_install section of your tap-values.yaml file:

Using Namespace Provisioner Controller

Description

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: true
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: sources
      # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
        name: git-auth

Using GitOps

Description

In this example, the location where the list of namespaces resides is also a private repository. So you must create a secret named git-auth-install with the same authentication details.

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: false
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: tekton-pipelines
      # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
        name: git-auth
  gitops_install:
    ref: origin/main
    subPath: gitops-install
    # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
    url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
    secretRef:
      name: git-auth-install

Import from another namespace

If you already have a Git secret created in a namespace other than tap-namespace-provisioning namespace and you want to refer to that, the secretRef section should have the namespace mentioned with the create_export flag. The default value for create_export is false as it assumes the Secret is already exported for tap-namespace-provisioning namespace, but allows you to specify if you want the Namespace Provisioner to create a Carvel SecretExport for that secret.

The example refers to git-auth secret from tap-install in the secretRef section.

Using Namespace Provisioner Controller

Description

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: true
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: sources
      #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
          name: git-auth
          namespace: tap-install
          #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
          create_export: true

Using GitOps

Description

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: false
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: tekton-pipelines
      #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
          name: git-auth
          namespace: tap-install
          #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
          create_export: true
  gitops_install:
    ref: origin/main
    subPath: gitops-install
    #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
    url: git@github.com:private-repo-org/repo.git
    secretRef:
      name: git-auth-install
      namespace: tap-install
      #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
      create_export: true

After reconciling, Namespace Provisioner creates:

SecretExport for the secret in the provided namespace (tap-install in the above example) to the Namespace Provisioner namespace.
SecretImport for the secret in Namespace Provisioning namespace (tap-namespace-provisioning) so Carvel secretgen-controller can create the required secret for the Namespace Provisioner to connect to the private Git repository.

Git Authentication for Private Repository for Workloads and Supply chain

To either fetch or push source code from or to a repository that requires credentials, you must provide those through a Kubernetes secret object referenced by the intended Kubernetes object created for performing the action. The following sections provide details about how to appropriately set up Kubernetes secrets for carrying those credentials forward to the proper resources.

This section provides instructions on how to configure the default service account to work with private Git repositories for workloads and supply chain using Namespace Provisioner.

To configure the service account to work with private Git repositories, follow the steps below:

Create a secret in the tap-install namespace or any namespace of your preference, that contains the Git credentials in YAML format.

host, username, and password, or personal access token values for HTTP based Git Authentication.
ssh-privatekey, identity, identity_pub, and known_hosts for SSH based Git Authentication.

Note
The stringData key of the secret must have .yaml or .yml suffix at the end.

Using HTTP(s) based Authentication

If using Username and Password for authentication.

cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: workload-git-auth
  namespace: tap-install
type: Opaque
stringData:
  content.yaml: |
    git:
      #! For HTTP Auth. Recommend using https:// for the git server.
      host: GIT-SERVER
      username: GIT-USERNAME
      password: GIT-PASSWORD
EOF

Using SSH based Authentication

If you are using SSH private key for authentication, create the Git secret with authentication details as follows:

cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: workload-git-auth
  namespace: tap-install
type: Opaque
stringData:
  content.yaml: |
    git:
      host: GIT-SERVER
      #! For SSH Auth
      ssh_privatekey: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY
      identity: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY
      identity_pub: SSH-PUBLIC-KEY
      known_hosts: GIT-SERVER-PUBLIC-KEYS
EOF

To create a secret that will be added to the service account in the developer namespace within the GitOps repository, use this example or follow the example provided below.

Instead of directly including the actual user name and password in the Git repository secret, use the data.values.imported keys to add references to the values from the git-auth secret created in Step 1.

This secret represents the actual Git secret that will be created by the Namespace Provisioner in each managed namespace. It should be included in your Git repository linked in the additional_sources section of tap-values.yaml mentioned in Step 4.
Using HTTP(s) based Authentication
If using Username and Password for authentication.
```
#@ load("@ytt:data", "data")
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: git
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: #@ data.values.imported.git.host
type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth
stringData:
  username: #@ data.values.imported.git.username
  password: #@ data.values.imported.git.token
```
Using SSH based Authentication
If using SSH private key for authentication:
```
#@ load("@ytt:data", "data")
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: git
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: #@ data.values.imported.git.host
type: kubernetes.io/ssh-auth
stringData:
  identity: #@ data.values.imported.git.identity
  identity.pub: #@ data.values.imported.git.identity_pub
  known_hosts: #@ data.values.imported.git.known_hosts
  ssh-privatekey: #@ data.values.imported.git.ssh_privatekey
```

Combine this tap-values.yaml:

Using Namespace Provisioner Controller

Add the following configuration to tap-values.yaml:

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: true
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/credentials
      url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
  import_data_values_secrets:
  - name: workload-git-auth
    namespace: tap-install
    create_export: true
  default_parameters:
    supply_chain_service_account:
      secrets:
      - git

Using GitOps

Add the following configuration to tap-values.yaml:

namespace_provisioner:
  controller: false
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/credentials
      url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
  gitops_install:
    ref: origin/main
    subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/gitops-install
    url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
  import_data_values_secrets:
  - name: workload-git-auth
    namespace: tap-install
    create_export: true
  default_parameters:
    supply_chain_service_account:
      secrets:
      - git

First additional source points to the location where the templated Git secret resides which will be created in all developer namespaces.
Import the newly created workload-git-auth secret into Namespace Provisioner to use in data.values.imported by adding the secret to the import_data_values_secrets.
Add the secret to be added to the ServiceAccount in the default_parameters. For more information, see Customize service accounts.

Note
create_export is set to true in import_data_values_secrets, as a result, a SecretExport is created for the workload-git-auth secret in the tap-install namespace automatically by Namespace Provisioner. After the changes are reconciled, the secret named git is in all provisioned namespaces and is also added to the default service account of those namespaces.

In the ootb_supply_chain_*.gitops.credentials_secret and ootb_supply_chain_*.source.credentials_secret section of your tap-values.yaml file, edit the name of the Git secret that contains the credentials. This is necessary for the supply chain to include the secretRef when creating the Flux GitRepository resource. Here is an example:
```
ootb_supply_chain_testing_scanning:
  gitops:
    credentials_secret: git  # Replace with the actual name of your GitOps Git secret for the workload, if different.
  source:
    credentials_secret: git  # Replace with the actual name of your source Git secret for the workload, if different.
```
By providing this configuration, the supply chain associates the created GitRepository resource with the specified Git secret managed by the Namespace Provisioner.