Configure a New Capability for Kubernetes PaaS in 20 Minutes

This article introduces the process of adding a new capability in KubeVela and the writing method of a capability template through real-world cases and detailed descriptions.

by @wonderflow

In November 2020, KubeVela was officially launched. As a simple, easy-to-use, and highly extensible application management platform and core engine, Alibaba Cloud engineers can build a cloud-native PaaS. An instance will be used in this article to explain how to get a new KubeVela-based PaaS capability online within 20 minutes.

Before the tutorial in this article, please install KubeVela and its dependent Kubernetes environments on your local computer.

Basic Structure of KubeVela Extensions

The basic architecture of KubeVela is shown in the following figure:

KubeVela adds Workload Type and Trait to extend capabilities for users. The service provider of the platform registers and extends through the Definition file and shows the extended functionality up through the Appfile. The official documents have the basic writing procedures, including extension examples of Workload and Trait:

The following section takes a built-in WorkloadDefinition as an example to introduce the basic structure of the Definition file:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: WorkloadDefinition
metadata:
  name: webservice
  annotations:
    definition.oam.dev/description: "`Webservice` is a workload type to describe long-running, scalable, containerized services that have a stable network endpoint to receive external network traffic from customers.
    If workload type is skipped for any service defined in Appfile, it will be defaulted to `Web Service` type."
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: deployments.apps
  extension:
    template: |
      output: {
          apiVersion: "apps/v1"
          kind:       "Deployment"
          spec: {
              selector: matchLabels: {
                  "app.oam.dev/component": context.name
              }
              template: {
                  metadata: labels: {
                      "app.oam.dev/component": context.name
                  }
                  spec: {
                      containers: [{
                          name:  context.name
                          image: parameter.image
                          if parameter["cmd"] != _|_ {
                              command: parameter.cmd
                          }
                          if parameter["env"] != _|_ {
                              env: parameter.env
                          }
                          if context["config"] != _|_ {
                              env: context.config
                          }
                          ports: [{
                              containerPort: parameter.port
                          }]
                          if parameter["cpu"] != _|_ {
                              resources: {
                                  limits:
                                      cpu: parameter.cpu
                                  requests:
                                      cpu: parameter.cpu
                              }}
                      }]
              }}}
      }
      parameter: {
          // +usage=Which image would you like to use for your service
          // +short=i
          image: string

          // +usage=Commands to run in the container
          cmd?: [...string]

          // +usage=Which port do you want customer traffic sent to
          // +short=p
          port: *80 | int
          // +usage=Define arguments by using environment variables
          env?: [...{
              // +usage=Environment variable name
              name: string
              // +usage=The value of the environment variable
              value?: string
              // +usage=Specifies a source the value of this var should come from
              valueFrom?: {
                  // +usage=Selects a key of a secret in the pod's namespace
                  secretKeyRef: {
                      // +usage=The name of the secret in the pod's namespace to select from
                      name: string
                      // +usage=The key of the secret to select from. Must be a valid secret key
                      key: string
                  }
              }
          }]
          // +usage=Number of CPU units for the service, like `0.5` (0.5 CPU core), `1` (1 CPU core)
          cpu?: string
      }

It seems long and complicated, but don't worry, it is divided into two parts:

Definition Registration Without Extended Fields
CUE Template for Appfile

This article will break down these sections and make detailed explanations. It is very simple to learn.

Definition Registration Without Extended Fields

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: WorkloadDefinition
metadata:
  name: webservice
  annotations:
    definition.oam.dev/description: "`Webservice` is a workload type to describe long-running, scalable, containerized services that have a stable network endpoint to receive external network traffic from customers.
    If workload type is skipped for any service defined in Appfile, it will be defaulted to `Web Service` type."
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: deployments.apps

This part is no more than 11 lines. In total, 3 lines introduce functions of webservice and 5 lines are fixed format. Only 2 lines have specific information.

  definitionRef:
    name: deployments.apps

These two lines represent the CRD name used in this Definition and the format is <resources>.<api-group>. People familiar with Kubernetes know the resources are located through api-group, version, and kind. kind corresponds to resources in the K8s restful API. Take Deployment and Ingress as an example, the relationship is as listed below:

Api-Group	Kind	Version
Apps	Deployment	v1
Networking.k8s.io	Ingress	v1

Why introduce the concept of resources when a kind exists? A CRD, in addition to kind, has fields like status and replica. These fields need to be decoupled from the spec and updated separately in the RestfulAPI. Therefore, there are additional resources besides the one that corresponds to kind. For example, the status of the Deployment is deployments/status.

The simplest way to write Definition without extension is to splice them according to the combination of Kubernetes resources and write the name, resources, and api-group correspondingly:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: WorkloadDefinition
metadata:
  name: <Write name>
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: <Write resources>.<Write api-group>

The steps for O&M feature registration (TraitDefinition) are the same:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: TraitDefinition
metadata:
  name: <Write name>
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: <Write resources>.<Write api-group>

Then, Ingress, as an extension of KubeVela, is written:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: TraitDefinition
metadata:
  name:  ingress
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: ingresses.networking.k8s.io

In addition, some other model layer functions have been added to TraitDefinition:

appliesToWorkloads: It indicates the Workload types that apply to the trait.
conflictWith: It indicates the other types of traits that this trait conflicts with.
workloadRefPath: It indicates the Workload field contained in a trait. This field is automatically filled when the trait object is generated in KubeVela.

All of these capabilities are optional. This article doesn't cover its usage, but it will be elaborated on in subsequent articles.

Now that we have discussed a basic extension mode without extensions, the remainder of this article is about abstract templates based on CUE.

CUE Template for Appfile

For more details about CUE, please see Basic Introduction to CUE. This article will not elaborate on CUE.

KubeVela's Appfile is simple to write, but the Kubernetes objects are relatively complex YAML files. KubeVela provides an easier way to keep the Appfile simple and extensible. This is what a CUE Template does in the Definition.

CUE Format Template

Let's take a look at a YAML file of a Deployment, as shown below. Many of them are fixed frameworks in the template part. Users only need to fill in a small number of fields in the parameter part:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
meadata:
  name: mytest
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: mytest
        env:
        - name: a
          value: b
        image: nginx:v1
    metadata:
      labels:
        app.oam.dev/component: mytest
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app.oam.dev/component: mytest

In KubeVela, the fixed format of a Definition file is divided into output and parameter. Output is the template section, and parameter is the parameter section.

Modify the Deployment YAML file to the template format of the Definition:

output: {
    apiVersion: "apps/v1"
    kind:       "Deployment"
    metadata: name: "mytest"
    spec: {
        selector: matchLabels: {
            "app.oam.dev/component": "mytest"
        }
        template: {
            metadata: labels: {
                "app.oam.dev/component": "mytest"
            }
            spec: {
                containers: [{
                    name:  "mytest"
                    image: "nginx:v1"
                    env: [{name:"a",value:"b"}]
                }]
            }}}
}

This format is very similar to JSON. This is the format of CUE, which is a superset of JSON. In other words, the CUE format adds some simple rules based on JSON rules, making it easier to read and use:

It has an annotation style of the C language.
Double quotation marks representing field names can be defaulted without special symbols.
The commas at the end of the field values can be defaulted, and it is compatible even with commas at the end of the fields.
The outermost braces can be omitted.

Template Parameter in CUE Format - Variable Reference

After the template section, it's a parameter section. The parameter is a variable reference.

parameter: {
    name: string
    image: string
}
output: {
    apiVersion: "apps/v1"
    kind:       "Deployment"
    spec: {
        selector: matchLabels: {
            "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
        }
        template: {
            metadata: labels: {
                "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
            }
            spec: {
                containers: [{
                    name:  parameter.name
                    image: parameter.image
                }]
            }}}
}

As shown in the preceding example, the template parameter in KubeVela is created through parameter, and parameter is used as a reference to replace some fields in output.

Complete Definition and Usage in Appfile

Through the combination of the two parts above, we can already write a complete Definition file.

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: WorkloadDefinition
metadata:
  name: mydeploy
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: deployments.apps
  extension:
    template: |
        parameter: {
            name: string
            image: string
        }
        output: {
            apiVersion: "apps/v1"
            kind:       "Deployment"
            spec: {
                selector: matchLabels: {
                    "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
                }
                template: {
                    metadata: labels: {
                        "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
                    }
                    spec: {
                        containers: [{
                            name:  parameter.name
                            image: parameter.image
                        }]
                    }}}
        }

For debugging, it can be split into two files. One part is in the YAML file, named def.yaml:

apiVersion: core.oam.dev/v1alpha2
kind: WorkloadDefinition
metadata:
  name: mydeploy
spec:
  definitionRef:
    name: deployments.apps
  extension:
    template: |

The other is in the CUE file named def.cue:

parameter: {
    name: string
    image: string
}
output: {
    apiVersion: "apps/v1"
    kind:       "Deployment"
    spec: {
        selector: matchLabels: {
            "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
        }
        template: {
            metadata: labels: {
                "app.oam.dev/component": parameter.name
            }
            spec: {
                containers: [{
                    name:  parameter.name
                    image: parameter.image
                }]
            }}}
}

First, format def.cue. During this process, the CUE tool does some verification. It can also perform deeper debugging by running the cue command.

cue fmt def.cue

After debugging, the YAML file can be assembled using the script:

./hack/vela-templates/mergedef.sh def.yaml def.cue > mydeploy.yaml

Apply the YAML file to the Kubernetes cluster:

$ kubectl apply -f mydeploy.yaml
workloaddefinition.core.oam.dev/mydeploy created

Once the new ability kubectl is applied to Kubernetes, there is no need to restart or update. Users of KubeVela can see the new capability and use it immediately.

$ vela workloads
Automatically discover capabilities successfully ✅ Add(1) Update(0) Delete(0)

TYPE           CATEGORY    DESCRIPTION
+mydeploy      workload    description not defined

NAME        DESCRIPTION
mydeploy    description not defined

The usage method in Appfile is listed below:

name: my-extend-app
services:
  mysvc:
    type: mydeploy
    image: crccheck/hello-world
    name: mysvc

Execute vela up to run the application:

$ vela up -f docs/examples/blog-extension/my-extend-app.yaml
Parsing vela appfile ...
Loading templates ...

Rendering configs for service (mysvc)...
Writing deploy config to (.vela/deploy.yaml)

Applying deploy configs ...
Checking if app has been deployed...
App has not been deployed, creating a new deployment...
✅ App has been deployed 🚀🚀🚀
    Port forward: vela port-forward my-extend-app
             SSH: vela exec my-extend-app
         Logging: vela logs my-extend-app
      App status: vela status my-extend-app
  Service status: vela status my-extend-app --svc mysvc

Let's check the status of the application. Through HEALTHY Ready: 1/1, we know that the application is running normally.

$ vela status my-extend-app
About:

  Name:          my-extend-app
  Namespace:     env-application
  Created at:    2020-12-15 16:32:25.08233 +0800 CST
  Updated at:    2020-12-15 16:32:25.08233 +0800 CST

Services:

  - Name: mysvc
    Type: mydeploy
HEALTHY Ready: 1/1

Advanced Usage of Definition Templates

Above, we have already experienced the whole process of extending KubeVela through template replacement. Some complex requirements, such as conditional judgments, loops, complex types, require some advanced usage.

Struct Parameters

If there are some complex parameters in the template that contain structs and nested structs, the struct definition can be used.

1. Define a struct type that contains 1 string, 1 integer, and 1 struct:

#Config: {
 name:  string
 value: int
 other: {
   key: string
   value: string
 }
}

2. Use this struct type as an array in a variable:

parameter: {
 name: string
 image: string
 config: [...#Config]
}

3. The variable reference is used in the same target:

output: {
   ...
         spec: {
             containers: [{
                 name:  parameter.name
                 image: parameter.image
                 env: parameter.config
             }]
         }
    ...
}

4. The Appfile is written according to the structure defined by the parameter:

name: my-extend-app
services:
mysvc:
 type: mydeploy
 image: crccheck/hello-world
 name: mysvc
 config:
 - name: a
   value: 1
   other:
     key: mykey
     value: myvalue

Condition Judgment

Some parameters are added baed on certain conditions:

parameter: {
    name:   string
    image:  string
    useENV: bool
}
output: {
    ...
    spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  parameter.name
            image: parameter.image
            if parameter.useENV == true {
                env: [{name: "my-env", value: "my-value"}]
            }
        }]
    }
    ...
}

Write a value in Appfile:

name: my-extend-app
services:
  mysvc:
    type: mydeploy
    image: crccheck/hello-world
    name: mysvc
    useENV: true

Default Parameters

In some cases, a parameter may or may not exist, which means a parameter is optional. Thus, it should match the conditions. When a field does not exist, the judgment condition is _variable ! = _|_ .

parameter: {
    name: string
    image: string
    config?: [...#Config]
}
output: {
    ...
    spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  parameter.name
            image: parameter.image
            if parameter.config != _|_ {
                config: parameter.config
            }
        }]
    }
    ...
}

In this case, the config of the Appfile does not need to be filled in. If you fill it in, you should render it, and vice versa.

Default Value

The following can be used to set a default value for some parameters:

parameter: {
    name: string
    image: *"nginx:v1" | string
}
output: {
    ...
    spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  parameter.name
            image: parameter.image
        }]
    }
    ...
}

In this case, the image parameter can be omitted in Appfile. The nginx:v1 can be used by default:

name: my-extend-app
services:
  mysvc:
    type: mydeploy
    name: mysvc

Loop

Map-Type Loop

parameter: {
    name:  string
    image: string
    env: [string]: string
}
output: {
    spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  parameter.name
            image: parameter.image
            env: [
                for k, v in parameter.env {
                    name:  k
                    value: v
                },
            ]
        }]
    }
}

Write the following in the Appfile:

name: my-extend-app
services:
  mysvc:
    type: mydeploy
    name:  "mysvc"
    image: "nginx"
    env:
      env1: value1
      env2: value2

Array-Type Loop

parameter: {
    name:  string
    image: string
    env: [...{name:string,value:string}]
}
output: {
  ...
     spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  parameter.name
            image: parameter.image
            env: [
                for _, v in parameter.env {
                    name:  v.name
                    value: v.value
                },
            ]
        }]
    }
}

Write the following in the Appfile:

name: my-extend-app
services:
  mysvc:
    type: mydeploy
    name:  "mysvc"
    image: "nginx"
    env:
    - name: env1
      value: value1
    - name: env2
      value: value2

Built-In `Context` Variable in KubeVela

You may notice that the names defined in the parameter are written twice in the Appfile. One is written under the services and each service is distinguished by its name. The other is written in specific name parameters. The repetition should not be written by users. Therefore, a built-in context is defined in KubeVela, which stores some common environment context information, such as the application names and keys. A name parameter doesn't have to be added while using the context in the template. The name parameter is automatically added when KubeVela runs the rendering template.

parameter: {
    image: string
}
output: {
  ...
    spec: {
        containers: [{
            name:  context.name
            image: parameter.image
        }]
    }
  ...
}

Annotation Enhancements in KubeVela

KubeVela also provides some extensions to the annotations of cuelang to automatically generate documents for the CLI.

parameter: {
          // +usage=Which image would you like to use for your service
          // +short=i
          image: string

          // +usage=Commands to run in the container
          cmd?: [...string]
       ...
      }

Annotations with +usgae at the beginning will become the descriptions of parameters, and the annotations with +short at the beginning are abbreviations used in CLI.

Summary

This article introduces the process and principle of adding a new capability in KubeVela and the writing method of a capability template through real-world cases and detailed descriptions.

After the addition of a new capability by a platform administrator, how can users of the platform learn how to use it? KubeVela can add new capabilities and automatically generate usage documents in Markdown format. You can check the KubeVela official website; all of the usage documents in References/Capabilities are automatically generated according to the template of each capability. Finally, you welcome to write some interesting extensions and submit them to KubeVela's Community Warehouse.

Community

Configure a New Capability for Kubernetes PaaS in 20 Minutes

Basic Structure of KubeVela Extensions

Definition Registration Without Extended Fields

CUE Template for Appfile

CUE Format Template

Template Parameter in CUE Format - Variable Reference

Complete Definition and Usage in Appfile

Advanced Usage of Definition Templates

Struct Parameters

Condition Judgment

Default Parameters

Default Value

Loop

Map-Type Loop

Array-Type Loop

Built-In `Context` Variable in KubeVela

Annotation Enhancements in KubeVela

Summary

Read previous post:

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Alibaba Cloud Native Community

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Comments

Alibaba Cloud Native Community

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Container Service for Kubernetes

ACK One

Cloud-Native Applications Management Solution

DevOps Solution

Community

Configure a New Capability for Kubernetes PaaS in 20 Minutes

Basic Structure of KubeVela Extensions

Definition Registration Without Extended Fields

CUE Template for Appfile

CUE Format Template

Template Parameter in CUE Format - Variable Reference

Complete Definition and Usage in Appfile

Advanced Usage of Definition Templates

Struct Parameters

Condition Judgment

Default Parameters

Default Value

Loop

Map-Type Loop

Array-Type Loop

Built-In Context Variable in KubeVela

Annotation Enhancements in KubeVela

Summary

Read previous post:

Read next post:

Alibaba Cloud Native Community

You may also like

Comments

Alibaba Cloud Native Community

Related Products

Container Service for Kubernetes

ACK One

Cloud-Native Applications Management Solution

DevOps Solution

Built-In `Context` Variable in KubeVela