alf-k8s

Alfresco Community Kubernetes Deployment CLI using Helm and Docker Desktop or Kubernetes In Docker (KinD) cluster.

Additional details are available in ACS Deployment.

Requires separate install of kubectl and Helm.

Enabling Kubernetes in Docker Desktop

Apply following configurations to Docker Desktop settings:

Settings > Resources > Advanced > Memory: 16 GB
Settings > Kubernetes > Enable Kubernetes: ON

After changing the necessary settings Apply and restart the docker desktop.

Setting up kind

Take a look to the KinD quickstart to learn how to install the binary cli on your machine and to learn briefly the main commands that you can run.

Apply following configurations to Docker Desktop settings:

Settings > Resources > Advanced > Memory: 16 GB
Settings > Kubernetes > Enable Kubernetes: OFF

After changing the necessary settings Apply and restart the docker desktop.

Usage

Download the binary compiled for your architecture (Linux, Windows or Mac OS) from Releases.

You may rename the binary to alf-k8s, all the following samples are using this command name by default.

Using -h flag provides detail on the use of the different commands available.

Create

Create command produces required assets to deploy Alfresco Community in Kubernetes.

$ ./alf-k8s create -h
Create assets to deploy Alfresco in Kubernetes

Usage:
  alf-k8s create [flags]

Flags:
      --docker-user string       Username for Docker Hub
      --docker-password string   Password for username in Docker Hub
  -h, --help                     help for create
  -i, --interactive              Input values replying to command line prompts instead of using command line parameters
  -k, --kubernetes string        Kubernetes cluster: docker-desktop (default) or kind
  -o, --output string            Local Directory to write produced assets, 'output' by default
  -p, --password string          Password for Alfresco admin user
  -t, --tls                      Enable TLS protocol for ingress
  -v, --version string           Version of ACS to be deployed (23.1 or 23.2)

Using docker-user and docker-password is recommended to avoid quota restrictions from Docker Hub when using kind as Kubernetes cluster

Creating a sample deployment

Using command line parameters

Run the command selecting the Alfresco Community version to be deployed . Additional options can be set using any parameter value from flags list.

$ ./alf-k8s create -v 23.2

The previous command uses Docker Desktop as Kubernetes cluster, add -k kind to use kind instead.

Replying to prompts

Run the command using interactive mode.

$ ./alf-k8s create -i
? Which ACS version do you want to use? 23.2
? What Kubernetes cluster do you want to use? docker-desktop
? Do you want to use HTTPs for Ingress? No
? Choose the password for your admin user admin

Even when using interactive mode, output directory can be specified using the -o flag.

Output folder

Kubernetes assets will be produced by default in output folder:

$ tree output
output
├── common.sh
├── custom
│   ├── Chart.yaml
│   └── templates
│       └── configmap-repo.yaml
├── start.sh
├── stop.sh
└── values
    ├── community_values.yaml
    ├── resources_values.yaml
    └── version_values.yaml

Alfresco can be deployed to Kubernetes (only in Mac OS or Linux) using provided shell script:

$ cd output
$ ./start.sh
...
You can access all components of Alfresco Content Services using the same root address, but different paths as follows:

  Content: http://localhost/alfresco
  Share: http://localhost/share
  API-Explorer: http://localhost/api-explorer
  Alfresco Digital Workspace: http://localhost/workspace/

Once the deployment has been tested, resources can be released using the following shell script:

$ ./stop.sh
release "acs" uninstalled
namespace "alfresco" deleted
release "ingress-nginx" uninstalled
namespace "ingress-nginx" deleted

Troubleshooting

Lens

The easiest way to troubleshoot issues on a Kubernetes deployment is to use the Lens desktop application, which is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. Follow the getting started guide to configure your environment.

Kubernetes Dashboard

Alternatively, the traditional Kubernetes dashboard can also be used. Presuming you have deployed the dashboard in the cluster you can use the following steps to explore your deployment:

Retrieve the service account token with the following command:

kubectl -n kube-system describe secret $(kubectl -n kube-system get secret | grep eks-admin | awk '{print $1}')

Run the kubectl proxy:
```
kubectl proxy &
```
Open a browser and navigate to: http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/kubernetes-dashboard/services/https:kubernetes-dashboard:/proxy/#/login
Select "Token", enter the token retrieved in step 1 and press the "Sign in" button
Select "alfresco" from the "Namespace" drop-down menu, click the "Pods" link and click on a pod name

aborroy/alf-k8s