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Sveltos: What's New in Kubernetes Deployments – Part 1

· 7 min read
Eleni Grosdouli
Eleni Grosdouli
DevOps Consulting Engineer at Cisco Systems

Introduction​

It is already a year since I started getting more involved with ProjectSveltos. Over the past few months, a lot of work was put into making Sveltos not only more intuitive but also easier to use, all while preserving its core features and functionality.

This post will be split into two parts, with both sections covering the latest updates along with simple deployment examples to help you get started. So, let's dive into the world of Sveltos and explore what's new!

What is Sveltos?​

title image reading "Sveltos Logo"

Sveltos is a set of Kubernetes controllers deployed in a management cluster. From a management cluster, Sveltos can manage add-ons and applications to a fleet of clusters independent if they are on-prem or in the Cloud. Sveltos supports a wide range of Kubernetes clusters and multitenant setups!

Getting Started with Sveltos​

Before we go through the latest updates, I would like to provide some pointers on getting started with Sveltos. That includes installing Sveltos on a Kubernetes management cluster while downloading the latest sveltosctl utility to interact with the underlying deployments.

Sveltos Installation​

Looking at the installation page, there are many ways to install Sveltos based on the existing environment and use case that need to be covered. For this demonstration, I will install Sveltos as a Helm chart.

$ helm repo add projectsveltos https://projectsveltos.github.io/helm-charts # Add the Sveltos Helm Chart

$ helm repo update # Update the Helm Chart repositories

$ helm install projectsveltos projectsveltos/projectsveltos -n projectsveltos --create-namespace # Install Sveltos on the `projectsveltos` namespace

sveltosctl Installation​

Looking at the sveltosctl documentation, the binaries and the relevant releases are located here. Download the binary based on the Operating System in place, and once done, validate the installation by executing sveltosctl version.

Cluster Registration​

To manage a fleet of clusters, we have to perform a Sveltos cluster registration. That implies we already have a Kubernetes cluster we want to manage with Sveltos. Get a copy of the managed cluster kubeconfig and perform the below command.

$ kubectl create namespace staging

$ sveltosctl register cluster \
   --namespace=staging \
   --cluster=cluster01 \
   --kubeconfig=/path/to/kubeconfig/cluster01.yaml \
   --labels=env=staging

For this demonstration, I have a cluster named cluster01 located in a staging environment. Thus, I would register the cluster in the staging namespace and let Sveltos manage the add-on and application deployments based on the label set to env:staging.

Validation​

$ kubectl get sveltosclusters -A --show-labels
NAMESPACE   NAME        READY   VERSION        LABELS
mgmt        mgmt        true    v1.30.5+k3s1   projectsveltos.io/k8s-version=v1.30.5,sveltos-agent=present
staging     cluster01   true    v1.30.5+k3s1   env=staging,projectsveltos.io/k8s-version=v1.30.5,sveltos-agent=present

Introduction to ClusterProfile/Profile​

Sveltos makes it extremely easy to deploy add-ons and applications to clusters. As long as the correct label is set to a cluster, we can mark the clusters of interest and deploy the needed applications. Regarding the deployment order and the dependencies, with Sveltos we follow the top-down approach, meaning, we follow the same order in applications that appear in the manifest file (ClusterProfile/Profile).

ClusterProfile/Profile​

ClusterProfile and Profile are the CustomerResourceDefinitions used to instruct Sveltos which add-ons to deploy on a set of clusters.

  • ClusterProfile: It is a cluster-wide resource. It can match any cluster and reference any resource regardless of their namespace.

  • Profile: It is a namespace-scoped resource that is specific to a single namespace. It can only match clusters and reference resources within its own namespace.

ClusterProfile - Kyverno Deployment​

apiVersion: config.projectsveltos.io/v1beta1
kind: ClusterProfile
metadata:
  name: kyverno
spec:
  clusterSelector:
    matchLabels:
      env: staging
  helmCharts:
  - repositoryURL:    https://kyverno.github.io/kyverno/
    repositoryName:   kyverno
    chartName:        kyverno/kyverno
    chartVersion:     v3.3.4
    releaseName:      kyverno-latest
    releaseNamespace: kyverno
    helmChartAction:  Install

This is a simple ClusterProfile definition that will deploy the latest Kyverno Helm chart to any cluster with the label set to env:staging. To deploy the manifest, we simply need to perform kubectl apply -f <clusterprofile-name>.

Validation​

Validation can be performed by either accessing the managed cluster, via the use of the sveltosctl utility or the Sveltos Dashboard (see later section).

$ sveltosctl show addons
+-------------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+---------+-------------------------------+------------------------+
|      CLUSTER      | RESOURCE TYPE | NAMESPACE |      NAME      | VERSION |             TIME              |        PROFILES        |
+-------------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+---------+-------------------------------+------------------------+
| staging/cluster01 | helm chart    | kyverno   | kyverno-latest | 3.3.4   | 2024-12-24 09:50:00 +0000 UTC | ClusterProfile/kyverno |
+-------------------+---------------+-----------+----------------+---------+-------------------------------+------------------------+
$ kubectl get nodes
NAME                                             STATUS   ROLES    AGE   VERSION
k3s-cluster01-ecec-64df92-node-pool-df99-4lppd   Ready    <none>   26m   v1.30.5+k3s1
k3s-cluster01-ecec-64df92-node-pool-df99-c9n3b   Ready    <none>   26m   v1.30.5+k3s1

$ kubectl get pods -n kyverno
NAME                                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
kyverno-admission-controller-6c4f8bdd58-zfjh4    1/1     Running   0          2m51s
kyverno-background-controller-548c8879f6-m5krf   1/1     Running   0          2m51s
kyverno-cleanup-controller-57c5fbd75c-vm5wq      1/1     Running   0          2m51s
kyverno-reports-controller-86c4db8cb7-zgbtj      1/1     Running   0          2m51s

Sveltos Dashboard​

The sveltosctl utility is a fast way of checking the status of the different deployments, however, the Sveltos Dashboard is a convenient way to provide operators and users access to the deployed applications information based on Role Based Access Control (RBAC).

Install Sveltos Dashboard​

To install the Sveltos Dashboard, simply below the below manifest.

$ kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/projectsveltos/sveltos/main/manifest/dashboard-manifest.yaml

$ kubectl get pods -n projectsveltos | grep -i 'dashboard'
dashboard-5d488744fc-9xlfq              1/1     Running   0          20s

Expose Sveltos Dashboard​

To access the Sveltos Dashboard, we can either use the port-forward capability or edit the Sveltos Dashboard service to be of type NodePort or LoadBalancer. For this demonstration, I will patch the service to be of type LoadBalancer.

$ kubectl patch svc dashboard -n projectsveltos -p '{"spec": {"type": "LoadBalancer"}}'

Tenant Admin Definition​

Using the below commands, we will create a new serviceaccount named tenant-admin-staging that will have access only to the registred clusters within the staging namespace. That user will have access only to the particular namespace and nowhere else in the cluster.

$ kubectl create sa tenant-admin-staging -n staging
$ kubectl create rolebinding tenant-admin-staging-access -n staging --clusterrole cluster-admin --serviceaccount staging:tenant-admin-staging
$ kubectl create token tenant-admin-staging -n staging --duration=24h

Sveltos Dashboard Access​

Copy the token generated in the previous step, choose a browser of your preference and open the Sveltos Dashboard. Check the registred clusters and deploy applications with ease.

title image reading &quot;Sveltos Dashboard 01&quot; title image reading &quot;Sveltos Dashboard 02&quot;

Sveltos Grafana Dashboard​

With the latest Sveltos release, users can get the most out of Sveltos by utilising the Sveltos Grafana Dashboard. To use the Grafana dashboard, we first need to enable the Prometheus operator on the Sveltos deployment, have already Grafana and Prometheus installed, and finally, import the dashboard to Grafana. A simple example is outlined below.

Install Grafana and Prometheus​

I always find it easy to use the kube-prometheus-stack Helm chart and deploy Grafana and Prometheus in one go. However, feel free to use your preferred method!

Update Sveltos Helm Chart Deployment​

$ helm upgrade projectsveltos  projectsveltos/projectsveltos -n projectsveltos --set prometheus.enabled=true
tip

The upgrade command will not succeed if Grafana and Prometheus are not installed on the management cluster.

Patch the projectsveltos ServiceMonitors​

As the kube-prometheus-stack was installed for the demonstration, the release label for prometheus is release:prometheus-community.

$ kubectl get servicemonitor -n projectsveltos
NAME               AGE
addon-controller   2m5s
sc-manager         2m4s

$ kubectl patch servicemonitor addon-controller -n projectsveltos -p '{"metadata":{"labels":{"release":"prometheus-community"}}}' --type=merge
servicemonitor.monitoring.coreos.com/addon-controller patched

$ kubectl patch servicemonitor sc-manager -n projectsveltos -p '{"metadata":{"labels":{"release":"prometheus-community"}}}' --type=merge
servicemonitor.monitoring.coreos.com/sc-manager patched

Download Grafana Dashboard​

$ curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/projectsveltos/sveltos/main/docs/assets/sveltosgrafanadashboard.json

Import the Sveltos Dashboard to Grafana​

Open the Grafana UI and navigate to Home > Dashboards > New > Import > Choose the .json file downloaded > Set Prometheus as the data source.

Resources​

Conclusions​

This is an introduction series to Sveltos, how it works and how the Sveltos Dashboard alongside the Sveltos Grafana Dashboard can be utilised. In Part 2, we will update the existing Sveltos ClusterProfle and utilise the latest features for advanced deployments. Stay tuned!

✉️ Contact​

We are here to help! Whether you have questions, or issues or need assistance, our Slack channel is the perfect place for you. Click here to join us us.

👏 Support this project​

Every contribution counts! If you enjoyed this article, check out the Projectsveltos GitHub repo. You can star 🌟 the project if you find it helpful.

The GitHub repo is a great resource for getting started with the project. It contains the code, documentation, and many more examples.

Thanks for reading!