Kubernetes Best Practices, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1. Setting Up a Basic Service

This chapter describes the procedure for setting up a simple multitier application in Kubernetes. The example we’ll walk through consists of two tiers: a simple web application and a database. Though this might not be the most complicated application, it is a good place to start when learning to manage an application in Kubernetes.

Application Overview

The application that we will use for our example is fairly straightforward. It’s a simple journal service with the following details:

• It has a separate static file server using NGINX.

• It has a RESTful application programming interface (API) https://some-host-name.io/api on the /api path.

• It has a file server on the main URL, https://some-host-name.io.

• It uses the Let’s Encrypt service for managing Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

Figure 1-1 presents a diagram of this application. Don’t be worried if you don’t understand all the pieces right away; they will be explained in greater detail throughout the chapter. We’ll walk through building this application step by step, first using YAML configuration files and then Helm charts.

Figure 1-1. A diagram of our journal service as it is deployed in Kubernetes

Managing Configuration Files

Before we get into the details of how to construct this application in Kubernetes, it is worth discussing how we manage the configurations themselves. With ...