Use ApplicationSet¶

ArgoCD supports using ApplicationSet to flexibly generate multiple GitOps applications, for example in multi-cluster application scenarios. In the Workbench, this is supported through AppOfApplicationSet. This article will guide you on how to enable the ApplicationSet feature in the Workbench.

Note

This article assumes that the namespace where your ArgoCD is installed and the Helm Release name are both argocd. This will affect the subsequent search and modification operations. If your namespace and Release name are different, please replace them accordingly.

AppOfApplicationSet Mode¶

AppOfApplicationSet is an operation mode of GitOps. It deploys multi-cluster applications through Application -> Generate ApplicationSet -> Generate multiple Applications:

applicationset

Therefore, essentially it still creates GitOps Applications. The premise is that your GitOps repository (assume the repository name is app-set-repo) needs to contain the following definition file of an ApplicationSet.

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: ApplicationSet # the resource type is ApplicationSet
metadata:
  name: guestbook # note that you should not define namespace, otherwise it cannot be created properly
spec:
  generators:
    - list:
        elements: # custom elements, a map structure that can be added arbitrarily and will be replaced in the form of go template
          - cluster: "cluster1"
            namespace: "ns1"
            path: "dev"
          - cluster: "cluster2"
            namespace: "ns2"
            path: "staging"
  template: # essentially renders an ArgoCD Application resource
    metadata:
      name: "{{cluster}}-2048" # the elements defined in generators above can be used in template
    spec:
      project: "2" # represents the ID of the workspace
      source:
        repoURL: https://demo-repo.git # the repository address for actually creating the Application. The path in elements above should correspond to the repository of this URL
        targetRevision: HEAD
        path: "{{path}}"
      destination:
        name: "{{cluster}}"
        namespace: "{{namespace}}"

Note

Note that the cluster and namespace in the Application need to be bound in the Global Management module in advance. Fill in the project, cluster, and namespace fields according to your permissions, otherwise the creation will fail.

Afterwards, you need to create a GitOps Application in the GitOps module of the Workbench, where the repository address is the address corresponding to app-set-repo, so that multiple Applications can be generated. For how to create a GitOps application, refer to Create a GitOps Application.

Follow the steps below to enable the ApplicationSet feature.

Enable ApplicationSet¶

Workbench version >= v0.35.0¶

After the Workbench is upgraded to v0.35.0, we provide a feature switch to enable/disable the AppOfApplicationSet feature with one click.

Go to Container Management -> Clusters -> kpanda-global-cluster -> ConfigMaps and Secrets -> ConfigMaps
Select the namespace where amamba is installed (the default is amamba-system), and select amamba-config to update.
Add or modify the following configuration item:
```
argocd.appAnyNamespace.enable: true # set it to false to disable
```
Note that you are adding a key-value pair
Click Save, go to Workbench -> GitOps module, and create a GitOps application through AppOfApplicationSet.

Workbench version < v0.35.0¶

Enable the Configuration¶

Configure the RBAC of the ApplicationSet Controller

ApplicationSet relies on the reconciliation of the ApplicationSet Controller to control multiple Applications. You need to configure the corresponding RBAC role in the cluster (it is not created by default and needs to be created manually). There are two cases:
- If ArgoCD is already installed
  
  By default, ArgoCD installed through helm does not create the ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding of the ApplicationSet Controller, so you need to create them manually. It is recommended to do so by updating the Helm application.
  
  Go to Container Management -> Clusters -> kpanda-global-cluster -> Helm Applications, search for argocd (the Helm application name when you installed ArgoCD), click Update on the right, and enable it by updating the following YAML:
```
argo-cd:
  applicationSet:
    allowAnyNamespace: true  # set it to true

  configs:
    params:
      application.namespaces: gitops-* # set it to gitops-*  
```
- If ArgoCD is not installed
  
  When installing, it is consistent with the configuration YAML above, and it is implemented by setting the helm value.
  
  Please make sure to wait for the ArgoCD update to complete before performing the following operations.
Modify the ConfigMap configurations related to ArgoCD

Go to Container Management -> Clusters -> kpanda-global-cluster -> ConfigMaps and Secrets -> ConfigMaps. You need to modify the following two ConfigMaps. Because content needs to be added, please select Edit YAML to modify:
- argocd-cm
  
  Add the following configuration to the data field of the YAML:
```
kind: ConfigMap
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: argocd-cm
data:
  application.resourceTrackingMethod: "annotation+label" # add this line
```
- argocd-cmd-params-cm
  
  Add or modify the following configuration in the data field of the YAML:
```
kind: ConfigMap
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: argocd-cmd-params-cm
data:
  # add the following two lines
  applicationsetcontroller.namespaces: "gitops-*"
  applicationsetcontroller.allowed.scm.providers: "true"
```

After completing the above changes, you need to restart the ArgoCD and Workbench related components.

Restart Services¶

Restart ArgoCD components:

Go to Container Management -> Clusters -> kpanda-global-cluster -> Workloads -> Deployments, select the namespace argocd (the namespace where you installed ArgoCD), search for argocd-applicationset-controller, and click Status in ┇ on the right to restart it. At the same time, in StatefulSets, find and restart argocd-application-controller.

Restart Workbench components:

Go to Container Management -> Clusters -> kpanda-global-cluster -> Workloads -> Deployments, select the namespace amamba-system, and restart the two Deployments amamba-apiserver and amamba-syncer respectively.

After the above components are restarted, go to the Workbench and select AppOfApplicationSet to create a GitOps application.