How to deploy a node.js with redis on kubernetes? - node.js

Question

I have a very simple node.js application (HTTP service), which "talks" to redis. I want to create a deployment and run it with minikube.
From my understanding, I need a kubernetes Pod for my app, based on the docker image. Here's my Dockerfile:
FROM node:8.9.1
WORKDIR /usr/src/app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install
COPY . .
EXPOSE 8080
CMD ["npm", "start"]
I build the docker image with docker build -t my-app .
Next, I created a Pod definition for my app's Pod:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: my-app
spec:
containers:
- name: my-app
image: my-app:latest
imagePullPolicy: Never
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
So far, so good. But from now on, I have no clear idea how to proceed with redis:
should redis be another Pod, or a Service (in terms of Kubernetes kind)?
How do I reference redis from inside my app? Based on whether redis will be defined as a Pod/Service, how do I obtain a connection URL and port? I read about environment variables being created by Kubernetes, but I am not sure whether these work for Pods or Services.
How do I aggregate both (my app & redis) under single configuration? How do I make sure that redis starts first, then my app (which requires running redis instance), and how do I expose my HTTP endpoints to the "outside world"? I read about Deployments, but I am not sure how to connect these pieces together.
Ideally, I would like to have all configurations inside YAML files, so that at the end of the day the whole infrastructure could be started with a single command.

Answer 1

I think I figured out a solution (using a Deployment and a Service).
For my deployment, I used two containers (webapp + redis) within one Pod, since it doesn't make sense for a webapp to run without active redis instance, and additionally it connects to redis upon application start. I could be wrong in this reasoning, so feel free to correct me if you think otherwise.
Here's my deployment:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: my-app-deployment
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: my-app-deployment
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: my-app-deployment
spec:
containers:
- name: redis
image: redis:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 6379
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /srv/www
name: redis-storage
- name: my-app
image: my-app:latest
imagePullPolicy: Never
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
volumes:
- name: redis-storage
emptyDir: {}
And here's the Service definition:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: my-app-service
spec:
ports:
- port: 8080
protocol: TCP
type: NodePort
selector:
app: my-app-deployment
I create the deployment with:
kubectl create -f deployment.yaml
Then, I create the service with kubectl create -f service.yaml
I read the IP with minikube ip and extract the port from the output of kubectl describe service my-app-service.

Answer 2

I agree with all of the previous answers. I'm just trying to things more simple by executing a single command.
First, create necessary manifests for redis in a file say redis.yaml and service to expose it outside.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: redis
labels:
app: node-redis
spec:
ports:
- name: redis
port: 6379
targetPort: 6379
type: NodePort
selector:
app: node-redis
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: redis
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: node-redis
replicas: 1
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: node-redis
spec:
containers:
- name: redis
image: redis:latest
imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
ports:
- containerPort: 6379
# data volume where redis writes data
volumeMounts:
- name: data
mountPath: /data
readOnly: false
volumes:
- name: data
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: redis-data
---
# data volume
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
name: redis-data
labels:
app: node-redis
spec:
accessModes:
- ReadWriteOnce
resources:
requests:
storage: 100Mi
Next put manifests for your app in another file say my-app.yaml. Here i put the volume field so that you can use the data that stored by redis.
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: my-app
labels:
app: node-redis
spec:
containers:
- name: my-app
image: my-app:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 8080
# data volume from where my-app read data those are written by redis
volumeMounts:
- name: data
mountPath: /data
readOnly: false
volumes:
- name: data
persistentVolumeClaim:
claimName: redis-data
Now we can use the following bash file my-app.sh.
#!/bin/bash
kubectl create -f redis.yaml
pod_name=$(kubectl get po -l app=node-redis | grep app-with-redis | awk '{print $1}')
# check whether redis server is ready or not
while true; do
pong=$(kubectl exec -it $pod_name -c redis redis-cli ping)
if [[ "$pong" == *"PONG"* ]]; then
echo ok;
break
fi
done
kubectl create -f my-app.yaml
Just run chmod +x my-app.sh; ./my-app.sh to deploy. To get the url run minikube service redis --url. You can similarly get the url for your app. The only thing is you need a nodePort type service for your app to access it from outside of the cluster.
So, everything is in your hand now.

Answer 3

I would run redis in a separate pod (i.e.: so your web app doesn't take down the redis server if itself crashes).
Here is your redis deployment & service:
deployment.yaml:
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: redis
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: redis
replicas: 1
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: redis
spec:
volumes:
- name: host-sys
hostPath:
path: /sys
initContainers:
- name: disable-thp
image: redis:4.0-alpine
volumeMounts:
- name: host-sys
mountPath: /host-sys
command: ["sh", "-c", "echo never > /host-sys/kernel/mm/transparent_hugepage/enabled"]
containers:
- name: redis
image: redis:4.0-alpine
imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
resources:
requests:
cpu: 350m
memory: 1024Mi
ports:
- containerPort: 6379
service.yaml:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: redis
labels:
app: redis
spec:
ports:
- port: 6379
name: redis
selector:
app: redis
Since we've exposed a kubernetes Service you can then access your redis instance by hostname, or it's "service name", which is redis.
You can check out my kubernetes redis repository at https://github.com/mateothegreat/k8-byexamples-redis. You can simply run make install if you want the easier route.
Good luck and if you're still stuck please reach out!

Answer 4

yes you need a separete deployement and service for redis
use kubernetes service discovery , should be built in , KubeDNS , CoreDNS
use readniness and liveness probes
Yes , you can write a single big yaml file to describe all the deployments and services. then:
kubectl apply -f yourfile.yml
or you can place the yaml in separate files and then do the :
kubectl apply -f dir/

Answer 5

I recommend you to read further the k8s docs, but in general re your questions raised above:
Yes another pod (with the relevant configuration) and an additional service depends on your use case, check this great example: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tutorials/configuration/configure-redis-using-configmap/
Using services, read more here: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/connect-applications-service/
There are several ways to manage dependencies - search for deployment dependencies, but in general you can append them in the same file with readiness endpoint and expose using a Service - read more in the link in bullet 2