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Omar
Omar

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#054 Kubernetes - Environment Variables ConfigMaps

ConfigMaps

When we have a big software we need to store environment variables in a config file which controlled by config maps.

files

original files can be found on here , I will put an copy of them inside my GitHub also because I need to edit them little bit.
so just pull the folder from my Git or clone it in case your new -> here

Lab

first let's create our deployment
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kubectl create -f app_054.yml
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then let's run it in old way not using service (because why not :p being lazy)
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kubectl get pods
kubectl port-forward envtest-5864c59697-fkn4g 3000 
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why 3000? will because it's specified in our app inside secretapp.js.

server.listen(3000);
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also let's take a look at our dockerfile

FROM node:9.1.0-alpine
EXPOSE 3000
ENV LANGUAGE English
ENV API_KEY 123-456-789
COPY secretapp.js .
ENTRYPOINT node secretapp.js
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we can see that our envirements are LANGUAGE English and API_KEY 123-456-789.
But let's run our app now in browser (or curl) and type localhost:3000
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it's saying

Language: Polish
API Key: 333-444-555
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because our Kubernetes will override those settings to those who are specified in our app_054.yml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: envtest
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      name: envtest
  replicas: 1
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: envtest
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: envtest
        image: praqma/secrets-demo
        imagePullPolicy: Always
        ports:
        - containerPort: 3000
        env:
        - name: LANGUAGE
          value: Polish
        - name: API_KEY
          value: 333-444-555
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let's now move them into a config map , I call it app_054-cfmap.yml

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
        name: configs
data:
        LANGUAGE: Polish
        API_KEY: 333-444-555
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let's create it now
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kubectl create -f app_054-cfmap.yml
kubectl get cm
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After being created let's now back to edit our main file , I will make another version in file app_054-v2.yml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: envtest
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      name: envtest
  replicas: 1
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: envtest
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: envtest
        image: praqma/secrets-demo
        imagePullPolicy: Always
        ports:
        - containerPort: 3000
        env:
        - name: LANGUAGE
          valueFrom:
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: configs
              key: LANGUAGE
        - name: API_KEY
          valueFrom:
            configMapKeyRef:
              name: configs
              key: API_KEY
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first let's delete old deployment , and then create the newer one , and then port-forward it

kubectl delete deployment envtest
kubectl create -f app_054-v2.yml
kubectl port-forward envtest-7476d77786-wqntd 3000
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If we go to the browser again and type localhost:3000
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We will get same results.

Extras

now let's say I need to know what is the env variables or yml file of this config map , i type
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kubectl describe cm configs
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cm is shortcut for configmaps
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kubectl get cm configs -o yaml
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