Use GitOps or RegistryOps with Supply Chain Choreographer

You can use GitOps or RegistryOps to manage your Kubernetes configuration with Supply Chain Choreographer.

Regardless of the supply chain that a workload goes through, in the end, some Kubernetes configuration is pushed to an external entity, either to a Git repository or to a container image registry.

For example:

Supply Chain

  -- fetch source
    -- test
      -- build
        -- scan
          -- apply-conventions
            -- push config        * either to Git or Registry

This topic dives into the specifics of that last phase of the supply chains by pushing configuration to a Git repository or a container image registry.

Note
For more information about providing source code either from a local directory or Git repository, see Building from Source.

GitOps

The GitOps approach differs from local iteration in that GitOps configures the supply chains to push the Kubernetes configuration to a remote Git repository. This allows users to compare configuration changes and promote those changes through environments by using GitOps principles.

Typically associated with an outerloop workflow, the GitOps approach is only activated if a collection of parameters are set:

gitops.server_address during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_server_address configured as a workload parameter.
gitops.repository_owner during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_repository_owner configured as a workload parameter.
gitops.repository_name during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_repository_name configured as a workload parameter.

With all three values set, Kubernetes configuration is written to the specified repository. If a value is set at installation and the corresponding workload parameter is also set, the value of the workload parameter is respected.

In the repository, files are located in the ./config/{workload-namespace}/{workload-name} directory. This allows multiple workloads to commit configuration to the same repository.

Examples

tap-values.yaml

gitops:
  server_address:
  repository_owner:
  repository_name:

workload

  name: incrediApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam
  params:
    - name: gitops_server_address
      value: https://github.com/
    - name: gitops_repository_owner
      value: vmware-tanzu
    - name: gitops_repository_name
      value: cartographer

Resulting GitOps repository: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/cartographer

Directory containing configuration: ./config/awesomeTeam/incrediApp

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  server_address: https://github.com/
  repository_owner: vmware-tanzu
  repository_name: cartographer

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam

Resulting GitOps repository: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/cartographer

Directory containing configuration: ./config/awesomeTeam/superApp

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  server_address: https://github.com/
  repository_owner: vmware-tanzu

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam
  params:
     - name: gitops_repository_owner
       value: buildpacks-community
     - name: gitops_repository_name
       value: kpack

Resulting GitOps repository: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack

Directory containing configuration: ./config/awesomeTeam/superApp

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  server_address:
  repository_owner:
  repository_name:

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam
  params:
     - name: gitops_repository_owner
       value: buildpacks-community
     - name: gitops_repository_name
       value: kpack

Resulting GitOps repository: Fails to resolve as some, but not all, of the three required values are provided.

Deprecated parameters

The following parameters are deprecated and no longer recommended for specifying GitOps repositories:

gitops.repository_prefix: configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation.
gitops_repository: configured as a workload parameter.

For example, assuming the installation of the supply chain packages through Tanzu Application Platform profiles and a tap-values.yaml:

ootb_supply_chain_basic:
  registry:
    server: REGISTRY-SERVER
    repository: REGISTRY-REPOSITORY

  gitops:
    repository_prefix: https://github.com/my-org/

Workloads in the cluster with the Kubernetes configuration produced throughout the supply chain are pushed to the repository whose name is formed by concatenating gitops.repository_prefix with the name of the workload. In this case, for example, https://github.com/my-org/$(workload.metadata.name).git.

Supply Chain
  param:
      - gitops_repository_prefix: GIT-REPO_PREFIX


workload-1:
  `git push` to GIT-REPO-PREFIX/workload-1.git

workload-2:
  `git push` to GIT-REPO-PREFIX/workload-2.git

...

workload-n:
  `git push` to GIT-REPO-PREFIX/workload-n.git

Alternatively, you can force a workload to publish the configuration in a Git repository by providing the gitops_repository parameter to the workload:

tanzu apps workload create tanzu-java-web-app \
  --app tanzu-java-web-app \
  --type web \
  --git-repo https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples \
  --sub-path tanzu-java-web-app \
  --git-branch main \
  --param gitops_credentials_secret=GIT-SECRET-NAME \
  --param gitops_repository=https://github.com/my-org/config-repo

In this case, at the end of the supply chain, the configuration for this workload is published to the repository provided under the gitops_repository parameter.

If you use deprecated parameters, Kubernetes configuration is committed to the ./config directory in the repository. This can lead to collisions if two workloads specify the same repository, or two workloads in different namespaces have the same name and the gitops.repository_prefix is set in tap-values.yaml.

If the deprecated values are set and any of the suggested GitOps values are set, the deprecated values are ignored.

Examples

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  repository_prefix: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam

Resulting GitOps repository: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/incrediApp

Directory containing configuration: ./config

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  server_address: https://github.com/
  repository_owner: vmware-tanzu
  repository_name: cartographer

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam
  params:
    - name: gitops_repository
      value: https://github.com/buildpacks-community/kpack

Resulting GitOps repository: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/cartographer The deprecated parameter gitops_repository is ignored.

Directory containing configuration: ./config/awesomeTeam/superApp

tap-values.yaml:

gitops:
  repository_prefix: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu

workload:

  name: superApp
  namespace: awesomeTeam
  params:
    - name: gitops_repository_owner
      value: buildpacks-community
    - name: gitops_repository_name
      value: kpack

Resulting GitOps repository: Fails to resolve as some, but not all, of the three GitOps values are provided. The deprecated value repository_prefix is ignored because suggested values are present.

Pull requests

In the standard git-ops approach, configuration is pushed to a repository and is immediately applied to a cluster by any deliverable watching that repository. Operators might want to manually review configuration before applying it to the cluster. To do this, operators must specify a pull_request commit strategy. You can use this strategy with the following Git providers:

GitHub
GitLab
Azure DevOps

Authentication

The pull request approach requires HTTP(S) authentication with a token.

The pull request function is not a part of the Git specification, but most Git server providers include it. You must authenticate with those providers using a token.

In the Kubernetes secret that holds the Git credentials, the password text box must contain a token. When generating a token, ensure that it has the proper scope:

On GitHub, the token must have a Repo scope.
On GitLab, the token must have an API scope.

To use the pull_request commit strategy, set the following parameters:

commit_strategy == pull_request configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation.
gitops.pull_request.server_kind configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_server_kind configured as a workload parameter. Supported values are github, gitlab, and azure.
gitops.pull_request.commit_branch configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_commit_branch configured as a workload parameter.
gitops.pull_request.pull_request_title configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_pull_request_title configured as a workload parameter.
gitops.pull_request.pull_request_body configured during the Out of the Box Supply Chains package installation or gitops_pull_request_body configured as a workload parameter.

If a value is set at both installation and in a workload parameter, the workload parameter is respected.

The recommended value for commit_branch is an empty string. This generates a new branch for each commit based on a hash of the time when the commit is created. This prevents collisions between multiple workloads using a single Git repository.

For example, using the following Tanzu Application Platform values:

ootb_supply_chain_basic:
   gitops:
     server_address: https://github.com/
     repository_owner: vmware-tanzu
     repository_name: cartographer
     branch: main
     commit_strategy: pull_request
     pull_request:
       server_kind: github
       commit_branch: ""
       pull_request_title: ready for review
       pull_request_body: generated by supply chain

In a workload with the name app in the dev namespace, you find:

A commit to the https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/cartographer repository on a branch with a random name. For example, MTY1MTYxMzE0NQo=. There is a pull request open to merge this branch into the base branch main.

Authentication

Regardless of how the supply chains are configured, if the repository prefix or repository name is configured to push to Git, you must provide credentials for the remote provider by using a Kubernetes secret in the same namespace as the workload attached to the workload ServiceAccount.

Because the operation of pushing requires elevated permissions, credentials are required by both public and private repositories.

HTTP(S) Basic authentication or Token-based authentication

If the repository at which configuration is published uses https:// or http:// as the URL scheme, the Kubernetes secret must provide the credentials for that repository as follows:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: GIT-SECRET-NAME #   - operators should write this name into the
                        #   `gitops.credentials_secret` property in `tap-values.yaml`
                        #   - developers can override by using the workload parameter
                        #     named `gitops_credentials_secret`.
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: GIT-SERVER        # ! required
type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth          # ! required
stringData:
  username: GIT-USERNAME
  password: GIT-PASSWORD
  # ! Optional, required if the git repository is signed by a certificate authority not in the system trust store
  caFile: |
    CADATA-BASE64

Both the Tekton annotation and the basic-auth secret type must be set. GIT-SERVER must be prefixed with the appropriate URL scheme and the Git server. For example, for https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/cartographer, https://github.com must be provided as the GIT-SERVER.

To use the pull request approach, the password text box must contain a token. See Pull Requests.

After the Secret is created, attach it to the ServiceAccount used by the workload. For example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: default
secrets:
  - name: registry-credentials
  - name: tap-registry
  - name: GIT-SECRET-NAME
imagePullSecrets:
  - name: registry-credentials
  - name: tap-registry

For more information about the credentials and setting up the Kubernetes secret, see Git Authentication’s HTTP section.

SSH

If the repository to which configuration is published uses https:// or http:// as the URL scheme, the Kubernetes secret must provide the credentials for that repository as follows:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: GIT-SECRET-NAME #   - operators should write this name into the
                        #   `gitops.credentials_secret` property in `tap-values.yaml`
                        #   - developers can override by using the workload parameter
                        #     named `gitops_credentials_secret`.
  annotations:
    tekton.dev/git-0: GIT-SERVER
type: kubernetes.io/ssh-auth
stringData:
  ssh-privatekey: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY     # private key with push-permissions
  identity: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY           # private key with pull permissions
  identity.pub: SSH-PUBLIC-KEY        # public of the `identity` private key
  known_hosts: GIT-SERVER-PUBLIC-KEYS # git server public keys

After the Secret is created, attach it to the ServiceAccount used by the workload. For example:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: default
secrets:
  - name: registry-credentials
  - name: tap-registry
  - name: GIT-SECRET-NAME
imagePullSecrets:
  - name: registry-credentials
  - name: tap-registry

Note
If you’ve used Namespace Provisioner to set up your Developer Namespace where you workload is created, use the namespace_provisioner.default_parameters.supply_chain_service_account.secrets property in your tap-values.yaml. For example:

namespace_provisioner:
  default_parameters:
    supply_chain_service_account:
      secrets:
      - GIT-SECRET-NAME

Namespace Provisioner manages the service account and manual edits to it do not persist.

For information about the credentials and setting up the Kubernetes secret, see Git Authentication’s SSH section.

GitOps workload parameters

While installing ootb-*, operators can configure gitops.repository_prefix to indicate what prefix the supply chain must use when forming the name of the repository to push to the Kubernetes configurations produced by the supply chains.

To change the behavior to use GitOps, set the source of the source code to a Git repository. As the supply chain progresses, configuration is pushed to a repository named $(gitops.repository_prefix) + $(workload.name).

For example, configure gitops.repository_prefix to git@github.com/foo/ and create a workload as follows:

tanzu apps workload create tanzu-java-web-app \
  --git-branch main \
  --git-repo https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples \
  --sub-path tanzu-java-web-app \
  --label app.kubernetes.io/part-of=tanzu-java-web-app \
  --type web

Expect to see the following output:

Create workload:
      1 + |---
      2 + |apiVersion: carto.run/v1alpha1
      3 + |kind: Workload
      4 + |metadata:
      5 + |  labels:
      6 + |    apps.tanzu.vmware.com/workload-type: web
      7 + |    app.kubernetes.io/part-of: tanzu-java-web-app
      8 + |  name: tanzu-java-web-app
      9 + |  namespace: default
    10 + |spec:
    11 + |  source:
    12 + |    git:
    13 + |      ref:
    14 + |        branch: main
    15 + |      url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples
    16 + |    subPath: tanzu-java-web-app

As a result, the Kubernetes configuration is pushed to git@github.com/foo/tanzu-java-web-app.git.

Regardless of the setup, developers can also manually override the repository where configuration is pushed to by tweaking the following parameters:

gitops_credentials_secret: Name of the secret in the same namespace as the workload where SSH credentials exist for pushing the configuration produced by the supply chain to a Git repository. Example: git-secret
gitops_ssh_secret: Deprecated: Name of the secret in the same namespace as the workload where SSH credentials exist for pushing the configuration produced by the supply chain to a Git repository. Example: git-secret
gitops_repository: SSH URL of the Git repository to push the Kubernetes configuration produced by the supply chain to. Example: ssh://git@foo.com/staging.git
gitops_branch: Name of the branch to push the configuration to. Example: main
gitops_commit_message: Message to write as the body of the commits produced for pushing configuration to the Git repository. Example: ci bump
gitops_user_name: User name to use in the commits. Example: Alice Lee
gitops_user_email: User email address to use in the commits. Example: alice@example.com

RegistryOps

RegistryOps is typically used for inner loop flows where configuration is treated as an artifact from quick iterations by developers. In this scenario, at the end of the supply chain, configuration is pushed to a container image registry in the form of an imgpkg bundle. You can think of it as a container image whose sole purpose is to carry arbitrary files.

To enable this mode of operation, the supply chains must be configured without the following parameters being configured during the installation of the ootb- packages or overwritten by the workload by using the following parameters:

gitops_repository_prefix
gitops_repository

If none of the parameters are set, the configuration is pushed to the same container image registry as the application image. That is, to the registry configured under the registry: {} section of the ootb- values.

For example, assuming the installation of Tanzu Application Platform by using profiles, configure the ootb-supply-chain* package as follows:

ootb_supply_chain_basic:
  registry:
    server: REGISTRY-SERVER
    repository: REGISTRY_REPOSITORY

The Kubernetes configuration produced by the supply chain is pushed to an image named after REGISTRY-SERVER/REGISTRY-REPOSITORY including the workload name.

In this scenario, no extra credentials must be set up, because the secret containing the credentials for the container image registry were already configured during the setup of the workload namespace.

Use GitOps or RegistryOps with Supply Chain Choreographer

GitOps

Examples

Deprecated parameters

Examples

Pull requests

Authentication

Authentication

HTTP(S) Basic authentication or Token-based authentication

SSH

GitOps workload parameters

Read more on Git

RegistryOps