skip to content
Astro Cactus

Multi-Environment Deployments with ArgoCD

/ 3 min read

kubernetes , argocd , gitops , devops , cloud-native , multi-environment , series:argocd:6

Series Navigation

Multi-Environment Deployments with ArgoCD

In this sixth part of our ArgoCD series, we’ll explore strategies for managing deployments across multiple environments.

Environment Management Strategies

1. Directory-Based Structure

├── environments/
│   ├── dev/
│   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   └── values.yaml
│   ├── staging/
│   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   └── values.yaml
│   └── prod/
│       ├── kustomization.yaml
│       └── values.yaml
└── base/
    ├── deployment.yaml
    ├── service.yaml
    └── kustomization.yaml

2. Branch-Based Strategy

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: myapp-dev
spec:
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/org/myapp.git
    targetRevision: dev
    path: k8s
  destination:
    server: https://dev-cluster:6443
    namespace: myapp-dev

Using Kustomize for Environment Management

Base Configuration

base/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - deployment.yaml
  - service.yaml
  - configmap.yaml

Environment Overlay

environments/dev/kustomization.yaml
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
bases:
  - ../../base
namePrefix: dev-
namespace: dev
patchesStrategicMerge:
  - replica-count.yaml
  - resource-limits.yaml
configMapGenerator:
  - name: app-config
    behavior: merge
    literals:
      - ENV=development

Using Helm for Environment Management

Values File Structure

values-dev.yaml
environment: development
replicaCount: 2
resources:
  limits:
    cpu: 500m
    memory: 512Mi
  requests:
    cpu: 250m
    memory: 256Mi

ArgoCD Application with Helm

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Application
metadata:
  name: myapp-dev
spec:
  source:
    repoURL: https://github.com/org/myapp.git
    path: helm
    helm:
      valueFiles:
        - values-dev.yaml
  destination:
    server: https://dev-cluster:6443
    namespace: myapp-dev

ApplicationSet for Multiple Environments

Using Matrix Generator

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: ApplicationSet
metadata:
  name: myapp-environments
spec:
  generators:
    - matrix:
        generators:
          - list:
              elements:
                - env: dev
                  cluster: dev-cluster
                  namespace: dev
                - env: staging
                  cluster: staging-cluster
                  namespace: staging
                - env: prod
                  cluster: prod-cluster
                  namespace: prod
          - list:
              elements:
                - component: frontend
                  path: frontend
                - component: backend
                  path: backend
  template:
    metadata:
      name: '{{component}}-{{env}}'
    spec:
      project: default
      source:
        repoURL: https://github.com/org/myapp.git
        targetRevision: HEAD
        path: '{{path}}/environments/{{env}}'
      destination:
        server: 'https://{{cluster}}:6443'
        namespace: '{{namespace}}'
      syncPolicy:
        automated:
          prune: true
          selfHeal: true

Environment-Specific Configurations

Config Maps

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: app-config
data:
  DATABASE_URL: "postgres://dev-db:5432/myapp"
  CACHE_URL: "redis://dev-redis:6379"
  LOG_LEVEL: "debug"

Secrets Management

apiVersion: external-secrets.io/v1beta1
kind: ExternalSecret
metadata:
  name: app-secrets
spec:
  refreshInterval: 1h
  secretStoreRef:
    name: vault-backend
    kind: ClusterSecretStore
  target:
    name: app-secrets
  data:
    - secretKey: API_KEY
      remoteRef:
        key: myapp/{{.Env}}/api-key

Deployment Strategies

Progressive Delivery

apiVersion: argoproj.io/v1alpha1
kind: Rollout
metadata:
  name: myapp
spec:
  strategy:
    canary:
      steps:
      - setWeight: 20
      - pause: {duration: 1h}
      - setWeight: 40
      - pause: {duration: 1h}
      - setWeight: 60
      - pause: {duration: 1h}
      - setWeight: 80
      - pause: {duration: 1h}

Best Practices

  1. Environment Parity

    • Keep configurations as similar as possible
    • Use the same deployment process
    • Automate environment creation

  2. Configuration Management

    • Use environment variables
    • Externalize configurations
    • Version control all changes

  3. Security

    • Implement RBAC per environment
    • Use different secrets per environment
    • Audit all changes

  4. Monitoring

    • Set up monitoring per environment
    • Configure appropriate alerting
    • Track deployment success rates

Conclusion

Effective multi-environment management with ArgoCD requires:

  • Clear environment separation
  • Consistent deployment processes
  • Environment-specific configurations
  • Robust security measures

In the next part, we’ll dive deeper into environment-specific configurations and advanced deployment patterns.