ArgoCD on Rancher Desktop

Source for this article on Medium https://itnext.io/argo-cd-rancher-desktop-for-a-local-gitops-lab-8d044089f50a

With help and inspiration from https://github.com/tarosaiba/argocd-on-rancher-desktop

Usage

1. Install ArgoCD

   Follow the getting started instructions on the Argo CD website. The first step creates a new namespace, argocd, where Argo CD services and application resources will live.

   kubectl create namespace argocd
   kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

2. Deploy the additional configmap and redeploy the app

   This sets the server to be in insecure mode (so we don't need to config a certificate) as described in the Argo CD docs. Then, restart the Argo CD server

   kubectl -n argocd apply -f argocd-cmd-params-cm.yaml
   kubectl -n argocd rollout restart deployment argocd-server

3. Deploy the ingress

   There are two options to deploy the ingress

   1. Use a normal ingress. I like this because it shows up nicely with the hostname when I run kubectl get all,ing

      kubectl -n argocd apply -f argocd-ingress-server.yaml

   2. If you're using Rancher Desktop, you can use the Traefik ingress

      kubectl -n argocd apply -f traefik/argocd-ingress-server-traefik.yaml

4. Log into and get to know ArgoCD

   Visit the app by logging in with username admin and the password in argocd-initial-admin-secret. You can get that from the command provided in the docs shown below

   kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

   In Powershell, you'll need two commands, example commands & output below

   PS C:\Users\jyee\code\argocd-rd> $argocdPasswd = kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}"
   PS C:\Users\jyee\code\argocd-rd> [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString([System.Convert]::FromBase64String($argocdPasswd))
   5zcZjHZdpfYCQz5u

   Browse to http://argocd.rancher.localhost/ with a Chromium or Firefox-based browser to use the .localhost magic

Additional steps to deploy the jade-shooter app

1. Create a new app in Argo CD by clicking the NEW APP button in the upper left

• Application name: set to some app name. Example: simplest-k8s
• Select the default project name: default
• Leave the checkboxes empty for the deletion finalizer, sync options, and prune propagation properties
• SOURCE Repository URL: set to the repository. Example: https://github.com/jwsy/simplest-k8s
• SOURCE Revision: set to the branch to sync. Example: main
• SOURCE Path: set to the path where manifests files are. Example: .
• DESTINATION Cluster URL: set to the cluster. Example: https://kubernetes.default.svc
• DESTINATION Namespace: set to the namespace where the app will deploy to: https://kubernetes.default.set

2. Sync with a dry run to check your manifests
3. Sync the app and watch the magic!