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Demo: Components

For more details regarding this feature you can read the Kustomize Components KEP.

This example requires Kustomize v3.7.0 or newer

Suppose you've written a very simple Web application:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: example
        image: example:1.0

You want to deploy a community edition of this application as SaaS, so you add support for persistence (e.g. an external database), and bot detection (e.g. Google reCAPTCHA).

You've now attracted enterprise customers who want to deploy it on-premises, so you add LDAP support, and disable Google reCAPTCHA. At the same time, the devs need to be able to test parts of the application, so they want to deploy it with some features enabled and others not.

Here's a matrix with the deployments of this application and the features enabled for each one:

External DB LDAP reCAPTCHA
Community ✔️ ✔️
Enterprise ✔️ ✔️
Dev ✅ ✅ ✅

So, you want to make it easy to deploy your application in any of the above three environments. This seems like a work for variants, so you try to create three overlays; a community/, an enterprise/ and a dev/ overlay, that each provides the appropriate features for their audience, i.e., public, customers and developers, respectfully.

Variants example

Here's the common and most simplistic approach to solve this problem. As we will soon see, this approach does not scale well in more complex scenarios. However, it will help you get a better grasp of the problem we are about to tackle and demonstrate where there is room for improvement.

First, define a place to work:

DEMO_HOME=$(mktemp -d)

Define a common base that has a Deployment and a simple ConfigMap, that is mounted on the application's container.

BASE=$DEMO_HOME/base
mkdir $BASE

cat <<EOF >$BASE/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
- deployment.yaml

configMapGenerator:
- name: conf
  literals:
    - main.conf=|
        color=cornflower_blue
        log_level=info
EOF

cat <<EOF >$BASE/deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: example
        image: example:1.0
        volumeMounts:
        - name: conf
          mountPath: /etc/config
      volumes:
        - name: conf
          configMap:
            name: conf
EOF

Define a community overlay that:

  • generates Secrets for external DB's password and reCAPTCHA's keys
  • patches the ConfigMap of the common base with configurations for external DB and reCAPTCHA
  • patches the Deployment of the common base to mount the generated Secrets for external DB and reCAPTCHA
COMMUNITY=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/community
mkdir -p $COMMUNITY

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/kustomization.yaml
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

secretGenerator:
  - name: dbpass
    files:
      - dbpass.txt
  - name: recaptcha
    files:
      - site_key.txt
      - secret_key.txt

patchesStrategicMerge:
  - configmap.yaml

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: dbpass
    secret:
      secretName: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/db/
    name: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: recaptcha
    secret:
      secretName: recaptcha
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/recaptcha/
    name: recaptcha
EOF

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/configmap.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: conf
data:
  db.conf: |
    endpoint=127.0.0.1:1234
    name=app
    user=admin
    pass=/var/run/secrets/db/dbpass.txt
  recaptcha.conf: |
    enabled=true
    site_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/site_key.txt
    secret_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/secret_key.txt
EOF

Create local input files for external DB's password and reCAPTCHA's keys:

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/dbpass.txt
dbpass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/site_key.txt
sitekey
EOF

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/secret_key.txt
secretkey
EOF

Define a enterprise overlay that:

  • generates Secrets for LDAP's password and external DB's password
  • patches the ConfigMap of the common base with configurations for LDAP and external DB
  • patches the Deployment of the common base to mount the generated Secrets for LDAP and external DB
ENTERPRISE=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/enterprise
mkdir -p $ENTERPRISE

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/kustomization.yaml
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

secretGenerator:
  - name: ldappass
    files:
      - ldappass.txt
  - name: dbpass
    files:
      - dbpass.txt

patchesStrategicMerge:
  - configmap.yaml

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: dbpass
    secret:
      secretName: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/db/
    name: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: ldappass
    secret:
      secretName: ldappass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/ldap/
    name: ldappass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/configmap.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: conf
data:
  db.conf: |
    endpoint=127.0.0.1:1234
    name=app
    user=admin
    pass=/var/run/secrets/db/dbpass.txt
  ldap.conf: |
    endpoint=ldap://ldap.example.com
    bindDN=cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
    pass=/var/run/secrets/ldap/ldappass.txt
EOF

Create local input files for LDAP's password and external DB's password:

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/ldappass.txt
ldappass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/dbpass.txt
dbpass
EOF

Define a dev overlay that supports all three features(ExternalDB, LDAP, reCAPTCHA) and conditionally enables some or all of them. In this example, we define a dev overlay that supports all the features, but has disabled the LDAP support, by doing the following::

  • generates Secrets for external DB's password and reCAPTCHA's keys
  • patches the ConfigMap of the common base with configurations for external DB and reCAPTCHA
  • patches the Deployment of the common base to mount the generated Secrets for external DB and reCAPTCHA
DEV=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/dev
mkdir -p $DEV

cat <<EOF >$DEV/kustomization.yaml
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

secretGenerator:
  # - name: ldappass              <-- Commenting to disable LDAP support
  #   files:
  #     - ldappass.txt
  - name: dbpass
    files:
      - dbpass.txt
  - name: recaptcha
    files:
      - site_key.txt
      - secret_key.txt

patchesStrategicMerge:
  - configmap.yaml

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$DEV/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: dbpass
    secret:
      secretName: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/db/
    name: dbpass
# - op: add                             <-- Commenting to disable LDAP support
#   path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
#   value:
#     name: ldappass
#     secret:
#       secretName: ldappass
# - op: add
#   path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
#   value:
#     mountPath: /var/run/secrets/ldap/
#     name: ldappass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: recaptcha
    secret:
      secretName: recaptcha
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/recaptcha/
    name: recaptcha

EOF

cat <<EOF >$DEV/configmap.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: conf
data:
  db.conf: |
    endpoint=127.0.0.1:1234
    name=app
    user=admin
    pass=/var/run/secrets/db/dbpass.txt
  # ldap.conf: |                          <-- Commenting to disable LDAP support
  #   endpoint=ldap://ldap.example.com
  #   bindDN=cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
  #   pass=/var/run/secrets/ldap/ldappass.txt
  recaptcha.conf: |
    enabled=true
    site_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/site_key.txt
    secret_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/secret_key.txt
EOF

Create local input files for external DB's password and reCAPTCHA's keys:

cat <<EOF >$DEV/dbpass.txt
dbpass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$DEV/site_key.txt
sitekey
EOF

cat <<EOF >$DEV/secret_key.txt
secretkey
EOF

The above commands result in the following structure:

├── base
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   └── kustomization.yaml
└── overlays
    ├── community
    │   ├── configmap.yaml
    │   ├── dbpass.txt
    │   ├── deployment.yaml
    │   ├── kustomization.yaml
    │   ├── secret_key.txt
    │   └── site_key.txt
    ├── dev
    │   ├── configmap.yaml      <-- Refers to multiple features and might contain comments
    │   ├── dbpass.txt
    │   ├── deployment.yaml     <-- Refers to multiple features and might contain comments
    │   ├── kustomization.yaml  <-- Refers to multiple features and might contain comments
    │   ├── secret_key.txt
    │   └── site_key.txt
    └── enterprise
        ├── configmap.yaml
        ├── dbpass.txt
        ├── deployment.yaml
        ├── kustomization.yaml
        └── ldappass.txt

The main issues observed with this solution are:

  1. Since some features are repeated in the community/, enterprise/ and dev/ overlays, one needs to manually define patches with content that is partially identical to patches of different overlays, that also enable this feature.
  2. The dev/ overlay is dynamic, i.e., supports multiple optional features. To enable/disable any single feature one needs to uncomment/comment many lines of YAML which is cumbersome and hard to maintain. Alternatively, one needs to maintain a multitude of overlays and track all possible combinations of features.
  3. Overlays that combine more than one features define patches for resources whose content is not dedicated to a single feature. That is, there is no semantic isolation per feature, everything gets mixed into a single, multi-feature, resource-specific patch.

The variants approach may solve this simple example but it won't scale in the long run, as the number of features and deployments grow. What if you have N opt-in features and M real-world deployment scenarios that ship with 0-N of these features?

Ideally, you want to move each feature under a separate, reusable overlay and enable them on-demand per deployment, i.e., in kustomization files of top-level overlays. Enter components.

Components example

Here's an alternative and more [DRY] approach that solves this issue by using a Kustomize feature called "components". Each opt-in feature gets packaged as a component, so that it can be referred to from higher-level overlays.

First, define a place to work:

DEMO_HOME=$(mktemp -d)

Define a common base that has a Deployment and a simple ConfigMap, that is mounted on the application's container.

BASE=$DEMO_HOME/base
mkdir $BASE

cat <<EOF >$BASE/kustomization.yaml
resources:
- deployment.yaml

configMapGenerator:
- name: conf
  literals:
    - main.conf=|
        color=cornflower_blue
        log_level=info
EOF

cat <<EOF >$BASE/deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: example
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: example
        image: example:1.0
        volumeMounts:
        - name: conf
          mountPath: /etc/config
      volumes:
        - name: conf
          configMap:
            name: conf
EOF

Define an external_db component, using kind: Component, that creates a Secret for the DB password and a new entry in the ConfigMap:

EXT_DB=$DEMO_HOME/components/external_db
mkdir -p $EXT_DB

cat <<EOF >$EXT_DB/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1alpha1  # <-- Component notation
kind: Component

secretGenerator:
- name: dbpass
  files:
    - dbpass.txt

patchesStrategicMerge:
  - configmap.yaml

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$EXT_DB/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: dbpass
    secret:
      secretName: dbpass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/db/
    name: dbpass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$EXT_DB/configmap.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: conf
data:
  db.conf: |
    endpoint=127.0.0.1:1234
    name=app
    user=admin
    pass=/var/run/secrets/db/dbpass.txt
EOF

Define an ldap component, that creates a Secret for the LDAP password and a new entry in the ConfigMap:

LDAP=$DEMO_HOME/components/ldap
mkdir -p $LDAP

cat <<EOF >$LDAP/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: Component

secretGenerator:
- name: ldappass
  files:
    - ldappass.txt

patchesStrategicMerge:
  - configmap.yaml

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$LDAP/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: ldappass
    secret:
      secretName: ldappass
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/ldap/
    name: ldappass
EOF

cat <<EOF >$LDAP/configmap.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: conf
data:
  ldap.conf: |
    endpoint=ldap://ldap.example.com
    bindDN=cn=admin,dc=example,dc=com
    pass=/var/run/secrets/ldap/ldappass.txt
EOF

Define a recaptcha component, that creates a Secret for the reCAPTCHA site/secret keys and a new entry in the ConfigMap:

RECAPTCHA=$DEMO_HOME/components/recaptcha
mkdir -p $RECAPTCHA

cat <<EOF >$RECAPTCHA/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1alpha1
kind: Component

secretGenerator:
- name: recaptcha
  files:
    - site_key.txt
    - secret_key.txt

# Updating the ConfigMap works with generators as well.
configMapGenerator:
- name: conf
  behavior: merge
  literals:
    - recaptcha.conf=|
        enabled=true
        site_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/site_key.txt
        secret_key=/var/run/secrets/recaptcha/secret_key.txt

patchesJson6902:
- target:
    group: apps
    version: v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: example
  path: deployment.yaml
EOF

cat <<EOF >$RECAPTCHA/deployment.yaml
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/volumes/0
  value:
    name: recaptcha
    secret:
      secretName: recaptcha
- op: add
  path: /spec/template/spec/containers/0/volumeMounts/0
  value:
    mountPath: /var/run/secrets/recaptcha/
    name: recaptcha
EOF

Define a community variant, that bundles the external DB and reCAPTCHA components:

COMMUNITY=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/community
mkdir -p $COMMUNITY

cat <<EOF >$COMMUNITY/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

components:
  - ../../components/external_db
  - ../../components/recaptcha
EOF

Define an enterprise overlay, that bundles the external DB and LDAP components:

ENTERPRISE=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/enterprise
mkdir -p $ENTERPRISE

cat <<EOF >$ENTERPRISE/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

components:
  - ../../components/external_db
  - ../../components/ldap
EOF

Define a dev overlay, that points to all the components and has LDAP disabled:

DEV=$DEMO_HOME/overlays/dev
mkdir -p $DEV

cat <<EOF >$DEV/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization

resources:
  - ../../base

components:
  - ../../components/external_db
  #- ../../components/ldap
  - ../../components/recaptcha
EOF

Now the workspace has following directories:

├── base
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   └── kustomization.yaml
├── components
│   ├── external_db
│   │   ├── configmap.yaml
│   │   ├── dbpass.txt
│   │   ├── deployment.yaml
│   │   └── kustomization.yaml
│   ├── ldap
│   │   ├── configmap.yaml
│   │   ├── deployment.yaml
│   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   └── ldappass.txt
│   └── recaptcha
│       ├── deployment.yaml
│       ├── kustomization.yaml
│       ├── secret_key.txt
│       └── site_key.txt
└── overlays
    ├── community
    │   └── kustomization.yaml
    ├── dev
    │   └── kustomization.yaml
    └── enterprise
        └── kustomization.yaml

With this structure, you can create the YAML files for each deployment as follows:

kustomize build overlays/community
kustomize build overlays/enterprise
kustomize build overlays/dev

Takeaway

At the end of the day, Kustomize components provide a more flexible way to enable/disable features and configurations for applications directly from the kustomization file. This results in more readable, concise and intuitive overlays.