Push Based CICD Workflow

In this guide, you’ll learn how to convert an imperative AKS deployment into a declarative setup with YAML manifests and integrate it into a push-based CI/CD pipeline. We cover:

1. Exporting existing Kubernetes resources to YAML
2. Cleaning up and reapplying manifests
3. Deleting old imperative resources
4. Redeploying declaratively
5. Designing a push-based CI/CD workflow with Azure DevOps

Preparing Your Environment

1. Log in to your Azure subscription (local machine or Cloud Shell).
2. Fetch and merge your AKS credentials into kubeconfig:

az aks get-credentials \
  --name AKS1-KodeKloudApp \
  --resource-group MyResourceGroup
# Merged "AKS1-KodeKloudApp" as current context in /home/user/.kube/config

3. Verify your existing Service and Deployment:

kubectl get service
kubectl get deployment

1. Export the Deployment to YAML

Run the following command to export the kodekloudapp Deployment manifest:

kubectl get deployment kodekloudapp \
  --namespace default \
  --output yaml > deployment.yaml

A portion of the generated deployment.yaml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: kodekloudapp
  namespace: default
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: kodekloudapp
  strategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: kodekloudapp
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: kodekloudapp
          image: <your-image>
          ports:
            - containerPort: 80

Tip: Customize replicas, strategy, and container resources to match your production requirements.

2. Export the Service to YAML

Export the Service object:

kubectl get service kodekloudapp \
  --namespace default \
  --output yaml > service.yaml

Remove dynamic fields from service.yaml:

• clusterIP
• status.loadBalancer.ingress
• spec.ports[*].nodePort

Your cleaned-up service.yaml should look like:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: kodekloudapp
  namespace: default
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: kodekloudapp
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 80
      protocol: TCP

3. Delete Imperative Resources

Remove the existing Deployment and Service:

kubectl delete deployment kodekloudapp
kubectl delete service kodekloudapp

Verify they’re gone:

kubectl get deployment  # No resources found
kubectl get service     # No resources found

4. Redeploy Declaratively

Apply your YAML manifests:

kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f service.yaml

Check the status:

kubectl get deployment
kubectl get service

Open the external IP in your browser to confirm the application is running.

5. Push-Based CI/CD Pipeline Overview

Below is a sample push-based pipeline in Azure DevOps. You can adapt these stages for GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or other tools.

1. Commit & Push your application code and deployment.yaml + service.yaml to your repo.
2. CI Pipeline: Build the container image, run tests, and publish to Azure Container Registry (ACR).
3. CD Trigger: ACR webhook invokes the CD pipeline upon new image push.
4. Deploy: Execute kubectl apply -f on your manifests to update AKS.
5. Monitor: Use Azure Monitor or Application Insights for observability.

References

• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Kubernetes YAML Configuration
• Azure DevOps CI/CD
• Azure Container Registry