ArgoCD and K8sGPT with KinD

This post covers a lot (very quickly and reasonably easily);

It starts with using Kuberenets in Docker (KinD) to create a minimal but functional local Kubernetes Cluster.
Then, ArgoCD is setup and a sample app is deployed to the cluster.
Finally, k8sgpt is configured and a basic analysis of the cluster is run.

The main point of all of this was to try out k8sgpt in a safe and disposable environment.

Step 1: Install kind

First, ensure you have kind installed.

KinD can be installed quickly and easily with just the following commands:

curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.17.0/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind

Check out this older post for more detail on KinD:
https://www.donaldsimpson.co.uk/2023/08/09/kind-local-kubernetes-with-docker-nodes-made-quick-and-easy/

Step 2: Create a kind Cluster

Create a new kind cluster:

kind create cluster --name argocd-cluster

Step 3: Install kubectl

Ensure you have kubectl installed. You can install it using the following command:

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"

chmod +x kubectl

sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

Step 4: Install ArgoCD

1. Create the argocd namespace:

kubectl create namespace argocd

2. Install ArgoCD using the official manifests:

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

Step 5: Access the ArgoCD API Server

1. Forward the ArgoCD server port to localhost:

kubectl port-forward svc/argocd-server -n argocd 8080:443

2. Retrieve the initial admin password:

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

Step 6: Login to ArgoCD

1. Open your browser and navigate to https://localhost:8080.
2. Login with the username admin and the password retrieved in the previous step.

Step 7: Install argocd CLI

1. Download the argocd CLI:

curl -sSL -o argocd https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/releases/latest/download/argocd-linux-amd64

chmod +x argocd

sudo mv argocd /usr/local/bin/

2. Login using the argocd CLI:

argocd login localhost:8080

3. Set the admin password (optional):

argocd account update-password

Step 8: Deploy an Application with ArgoCD

1. Create a new application:

argocd app create guestbook \
    --repo https://github.com/argoproj/argocd-example-apps.git \
    --path guestbook \
    --dest-server https://kubernetes.default.svc \
    --dest-namespace default

2. Sync the application:

argocd app sync guestbook

3. Check the application status:

argocd app get guestbook

Step 9: Install K8sGPT

1. Install K8sGPT CLI:

curl -Lo k8sgpt https://github.com/k8sgpt-ai/k8sgpt/releases/latest/download/k8sgpt-linux-amd64

chmod +x k8sgpt

sudo mv k8sgpt /usr/local/bin/

2. Configure K8sGPT:

k8sgpt auth --kubeconfig ~/.kube/config

Step 10: Inspect the Cluster with K8sGPT

1. Run K8sGPT to inspect the cluster:

k8sgpt analyze

Example Output and Possible Associated Actions

Example Output:

[INFO] Analyzing cluster…

[INFO] Found 3 issues in namespace default:

[WARNING] Pod guestbook-frontend-5d8d4f5d6f-abcde is in CrashLoopBackOff state

[WARNING] Service guestbook-frontend is not reachable

[INFO] Deployment guestbook-frontend has 1 unavailable replica

Associated Actions:

1. Pod in CrashLoopBackOff State:
   • Action: Check the logs of the pod to identify the cause of the crash.
   • Command: kubectl logs guestbook-frontend-5d8d4f5d6f-abcde -n default
   • Possible Fix: Resolve any issues found in the logs, such as missing environment variables, incorrect configurations, or application errors.
2. Service Not Reachable:
   • Action: Verify the service configuration and ensure it is correctly pointing to the appropriate pods.
   • Command: kubectl describe svc guestbook-frontend -n default
   • Possible Fix: Ensure the service selector matches the labels of the pods and that the pods are running and ready.
3. Deployment with Unavailable Replica:
   • Action: Check the deployment status and events to understand why the replica is unavailable.
   • Command: kubectl describe deployment guestbook-frontend -n default
   • Possible Fix: Address any issues preventing the deployment from scaling, such as resource constraints or scheduling issues.

Conclusion

Ok, addmitedly that was a bit of a whirlwind, but if you followed it you have successfully deployed ArgoCD to a kind cluster, deployed an application using ArgoCD to that new cluster, then inspected the cluster & app using K8sGPT.

The example output and associated actions from provide guidance on how to address common issues identified by K8sGPT.

This setup allows you to manage your applications and monitor the health of your Kubernetes cluster effectively, and being able to spin up a disposable cluster like this is handy for many reasons.