CD Pipeline

After your CI pipeline is ready, you can start building your CD pipeline. Devtron enables you to design your CD pipeline in a way that fully automates your deployments. Images from CI stage can be deployed to one or more environments through dedicated CD pipelines.

Creating CD Pipeline

Click the '+' sign on CI Pipeline to attach a CD Pipeline to it.

A basic Create deployment pipeline window will pop up.

Here, you get two tabs:

• New Deployment - Use this option to create new Helm/GitOps deployment.

• Migrate to Devtron - Use this option if you wish to migrate your existing Helm Release/Argo CD Apps to Devtron.

New Deployment

The New Deployment tab displays the following sections:

• Deploy to Environment

• Deployment Strategy

• Advanced Options

Deploy to Environment

This section expects four inputs from you:

Deployment Strategy

Devtron supports multiple deployment strategies depending on the deployment chart type.

Refer Deployment Strategies to know more about each strategy in depth.

The next section is Advanced Options and it comes with additional capabilities. This option is available at the bottom of the Create deployment pipeline window. However, if you don't need them, you may proceed with a basic CD pipeline and click Create Pipeline.

Now, the window will have 3 distinct tabs, and you will see the following additions:

• Pre-Deployment stage (tab)

• Deployment stage (tab)

• Post-Deployment stage (tab)

Pre-Deployment Stage

If your deployment requires prior actions like DB migration, code quality check (QC), etc., you can use the Pre-deployment stage to configure such tasks.

1. Tasks

Here you can add one or more tasks. The tasks can be re-arranged using drag-and-drop and they will be executed sequentially.

1. Trigger Pre-Deployment Stage

Refer the trigger types from here.

1. ConfigMaps & Secrets

If you want to use some configuration files and secrets in pre-deployment stages or post-deployment stages, then you can use the ConfigMaps & Secrets options. You will get them as a drop-down in the pre-deployment stage.

1. Execute tasks in application environment

These Pre-deployment CD / Post-deployment CD pods can be created in your deployment cluster or the devtron build cluster. If your scripts/tasks has some dependency on the deployment environment, you may run these pods in the deployment cluster. Thus, your scripts (if any) can interact with the cluster services that may not be publicly exposed.

Some tasks require extra permissions for the node where Devtron is installed. However, if the node already has the necessary permissions for deploying applications, there is no need to assign them again. Instead, you can enable the Execute tasks in application environment option for the pre-CD or post-CD steps. By default, this option is disabled.

To enable the Execute tasks in application environment option, follow these steps:

• Go to the chart store and search for the devtron-in-clustercd chart.

  
• Configure the chart according to your requirements and deploy it in the target cluster.

• After the deployment, edit the devtron-cm configmap and add the following key-value pair:

  Copy

  ORCH_HOST: <host_url>/orchestrator/webhook/msg/nats
  
  Example:
  
  ORCH_HOST: http://xyz.devtron.com/orchestrator/webhook/msg/nats
  

  ORCH_HOST value should be same as of CD_EXTERNAL_LISTENER_URL value which is passed in values.yaml.

  
• Delete the Devtron pod using the following command:

  Copy

  kubectl delete pod -l app=devtron -n devtroncd

• Again navigate to the chart store and search for the "migration-incluster-cd" chart.

  
• Edit the cluster-name and secret name values within the chart. The cluster name refers to the name used when adding the cluster in the global configuration and for which you are going to enable Execute tasks in application environment option.

  
• Deploy the chart in any environment within the Devtron cluster. Now you should be able to enable Execute tasks in application environment option for an environment of target cluster.

Deployment Stage

Pipeline Name

Pipeline name will be auto-generated; however, you are free to modify the name as per your requirement.

Deployment Strategies

A deployment strategy is a method of updating, downgrading, or creating new versions of an application. The options you see under deployment strategy depend on the selected chart type (see Fig 3). Below are some deployment configuration-based strategies.

Blue-Green Strategy

Blue-green deployments involve running two versions of an application at the same time and moving traffic from the in-production version (the green version) to the newer version (the blue version).

blueGreen:
  autoPromotionSeconds: 30
  scaleDownDelaySeconds: 30
  previewReplicaCount: 1
  autoPromotionEnabled: false

Rolling Strategy

A rolling deployment slowly replaces instances of the previous version of an application with instances of the new version of the application. Rolling deployment typically waits for new pods to become ready via a readiness check before scaling down the old components. If a significant issue occurs, the rolling deployment can be aborted.

rolling:
  maxSurge: "25%"
  maxUnavailable: 1

Canary Strategy

Canary deployments are a pattern for rolling out releases to a subset of users or servers. The idea is to first deploy the change to a small subset of servers, test it, and then roll the change out to the rest of the servers. The canary deployment serves as an early warning indicator with less impact on downtime: if the canary deployment fails, the rest of the servers aren't impacted.

canary:
  maxSurge: "25%"
  maxUnavailable: 1
  steps:
    - setWeight: 25
    - pause:
        duration: 15 # 15 sec
    - setWeight: 50
    - pause:
        duration: 1m # 1 min
    - setWeight: 75
    - pause:
        duration: 1m # 1 min

Recreate Strategy

The recreate strategy is a dummy deployment that consists of shutting down version 'A' and then deploying version 'B' after version 'A' is turned off.

A recreate deployment incurs downtime because, for a brief period, no instances of your application are running. However, your old code and new code do not run at the same time. It terminates the old version and releases the new one.

recreate:

Unlike other strategies mentioned above, 'Recreate' strategy doesn't contain keys for you to configure.

Configure Deployment Strategies

To configure the CD pipeline for different deployment strategies, follow the steps below:

1. Select Add Strategy and select the deployment strategies you want to add.

   

• In case, you have multiple deployment strategies, you have to choose a default deployment strategy which are configured for the pipeline.

  
• If in any scenario such as deploying a hotfix, if you need to use a different deployment strategy other than the default, you can change it from Build & Deploy section while triggering the deployment.

  Note: You can only select the deployment strategies which are configured for that pipeline.

  

1. Configure the deployment strategy by selecting the Settings icon next to it to edit the strategy template according to your use case.

   

   

   

   
2. Select Update Pipeline to save the configurations.

   

Custom Image Tag Pattern

1. Enable the toggle button as shown below.

   
2. Click the edit icon.

   
3. You can write an alphanumeric pattern for your image tag, e.g., prod-v1.0.{x}. Here, 'x' is a mandatory variable whose value will incrementally increase with every pre or post deployment trigger (that option is also available to you). You can also define the value of 'x' for the next trigger in case you want to change it.

   

   {% hint style="warning" %} Ensure your custom tag do not start or end with a period (.) or comma (,) {% endhint %}

4. Click Update Pipeline.

To know how and where this image tag would appear, refer Copy Container Image Plugin

Pull Container Image with Image Digest

Although Devtron ensures that image tags remain unique, the same cannot be said if images are pushed with the same tag to the same container registry from outside Devtron.

Therefore, to eliminate the possibility of pulling an unintended image, Devtron offers the option to pull container images using digest and image tag.

An image digest is a unique and immutable SHA-256 string returned by the container registry when you push an image. So the image referenced by the digest will never change.

Post-Deployment Stage

If you need to run any actions for e.g., closure of Jira ticket, load testing or performance testing, you can configure such actions in the post-deployment stages.

Post-deployment stages are similar to pre-deployment stages. The difference is, pre-deployment executes before the deployment, while post-deployment occurs after.

You can use ConfigMap and Secrets in post deployments as well. The option to execute tasks in application environment is available too.

Migrate to Devtron

If you already use external Helm or Argo CD for deployment and wish to try out Devtron, this feature helps you onboard and manage your external applications using Devtron’s CI/CD capabilities, offering the following benefits:

• No hassle of manually migrating your existing applications

• No need to set up a parallel Argo CD instance

• No risk of losing your existing configurations

• Use build pipeline in your workflow

• Execute pre-deployment and post-deployment tasks

• Scan your apps for vulnerabilities

• Hibernate or restart your app

• View config diff, deployment history, and all the capabilities that come with Devtron Apps. Check the full list of features.

Migrate Helm Release

You can not only view your external Helm apps, but also manage their deployments using Devtron's CI/CD.

1. Click Helm Release in 'Select type of application to migrate'.

2. Select the external cluster containing your Helm releases, and select the Helm release you wish to migrate.

1. The target cluster, its namespace, and environment would be visible. If the environment is not available, click Add Environment. This will open a new tab. Once you have added the environment to your cluster, return and click the refresh button.

1. Select the trigger (Automatic/Manual) and click Create Pipeline.

1. Once the pipeline is created, you may go to Build & Deploy to trigger the pipelines. Your Helm release would be deployed using Devtron.

Migrate Argo CD Application

You can not only view your external Argo CD apps, but also manage their deployments using Devtron's CI/CD.

1. Click Argo CD Application in 'Select type of application to migrate'.

2. Select the external cluster containing your Argo apps, and select the Argo CD application you wish to migrate.

1. The target cluster, its namespace, and environment would be visible. If the environment is not available, click Add Environment. This will open a new tab. Once you have added the environment to your cluster, return and click the refresh button.

1. Select the trigger (Automatic/Manual) and click Create Pipeline.

1. Once the pipeline is created, you may go to Build & Deploy to trigger the pipelines. Your Argo CD app would be deployed using Devtron.

Updating CD Pipeline

You can update the deployment stages and the deployment strategy of the CD Pipeline whenever you require it. However, you cannot change the name of a CD Pipeline or its Deployment Environment. If you want a new CD pipeline for the same environment, first delete the previous CD pipeline.

To update a CD Pipeline, go to the App Configurations section, Click on Workflow editor and then click on the CD Pipeline you want to Update.

Make changes as needed and click on Update Pipeline to update this CD Pipeline.

Deleting CD Pipeline

If you no longer require the CD Pipeline, you can also delete the Pipeline.

To delete a CD Pipeline, go to the App Configurations and then click on the Workflow editor. Now click on the pipeline you wish to delete. A pop-up having the CD details will appear. Verify the name and the details to ensure that you are not accidentally deleting the wrong CD pipeline and then click Delete Pipeline to delete it.

Extras

Creating Sequential Pipelines

Devtron supports attaching multiple deployment pipelines to a single build pipeline, in its workflow editor. This feature lets you deploy an image first to stage, run tests and then deploy the same image to production.

Please follow the steps mentioned below to create sequential pipelines:

1. After creating CI/build pipeline, create a CD pipeline by clicking on the + sign on CI pipeline and configure the CD pipeline as per your requirements.

2. To add another CD Pipeline sequentially after previous one, again click on + sign on the last CD pipeline.

3. Similarly, you can add multiple CD pipelines by clicking + sign of the last CD pipeline, each deploying in different environments.