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ArgoCD

Description​

Argo CD is a GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes. It watches your Git repository for application and infrastructure manifests, then keeps the cluster state synchronized with what is defined in Git.

This guide documents a basic Argo CD setup with Helm, cert-manager ClusterIssuer, and HTTPS ingress so you can securely access the Argo CD UI.

Installation​

Install Helm (on local, not on kubernites) method 1

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-4
chmod 700 get_helm.sh
./get_helm.sh

method 2:

sudo apt-get install curl gpg apt-transport-https --yes
curl -fsSL https://packages.buildkite.com/helm-linux/helm-debian/gpgkey | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://packages.buildkite.com/helm-linux/helm-debian/any/ any main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install helm

Setup​

helm repo add argo https://argoproj.github.io/argo-helm
helm repo update

Install cert manager

helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
helm repo update

add ingress

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/deploy/static/provider/cloud/deploy.yaml
kubectl get svc -n ingress-nginx
kubectl get svc ingress-nginx-controller -n ingress-nginx
kubectl get ingress -n argocd
helm install \
  cert-manager oci://quay.io/jetstack/charts/cert-manager \
  --version v1.19.4 \
  --namespace cert-manager \
  --create-namespace \
  --set crds.enabled=true
kubectl apply -f https://github.com/cert-manager/cert-manager/releases/download/v1.13.0/cert-manager.crds.yaml
cat <<'EOF' | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: cert-manager.io/v1
kind: ClusterIssuer
metadata:
  name: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  acme:
    email: bomeravi@gmail.com
    server: https://acme-v02.api.letsencrypt.org/directory
    privateKeySecretRef:
      name: letsencrypt-prod
    solvers:
    - http01:
        ingress:
          class: nginx
EOF

Setup Https​

cat <<'EOF' | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: argocd-ingress
  namespace: argocd
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: "HTTPS"
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - argocd.digi.saroj.name.np
    secretName: argocd-tls
  rules:
  - host: argocd.digi.saroj.name.np
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: argocd-server
            port:
              number: 443
EOF

Get Initial Password

kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d; echo

Docs App (GitOps Flow)​

For the docs deployment (docs.digi-kube.sajiloapps.com) this repo now includes:

  • k8s/kubernetes/ for app manifests (Deployment, Service, Ingress, TLS issuer)
  • k8s/argocd/01-application.yaml for the Argo CD Application

Update repoURL in k8s/argocd/01-application.yaml, then apply:

kubectl apply -f k8s/argocd/01-application.yaml

Recommended branch mapping:

  • jenkins branch for direct Jenkins + kubectl pipeline
  • argocd branch for Argo CD sync (targetRevision: argocd)