SKIPPER

Skipper controls deployment and updates of FIAAS components

Note

Using skipper to deploy fiaas-deploy-daemon is deprecated. The recommended way to install fiaas-deploy-daemon is by using its helm chart. You can find the latest release here. For more information see fiaas/fiaas-deploy-daemon#163.

How skipper works

Configuration

Skipper runs in your cluster, looking for namespaces configured for FIAAS. This is defined as having a ConfigMap named fiaas-deploy-daemon in the namespace. The ConfigMap supports two keys:

• cluster_config.yaml (required), contains configuration for fiaas-deploy-daemon. You should see the FIAAS operators guide for details about this file.
• tag (optional, defaults to stable). Currently the only valid values are stable and latest. This controls which version of fiaas-deploy-daemon to deploy to this namespace. See below for more details about what these tags mean.

fiaas-deploy-daemon tags

• latest is the development version of fiaas-deploy-daemon and is updated on every master build. It can break on occasion, and upgrading between latest versions may not always work perfectly. You probably only want to use this if you are involved in development and/or testing of fiaas-deploy-daemon.
• stable is the version currently considered stable, and is usually promoted from the latest version when it has been tested for a while.

How skipper deploys fiaas-deploy-daemon

When triggered by a request to the /api/deploy endpoint, Skipper will list all configured namespaces, and create or update an Application object for fiaas-deploy-daemon in each namespace. This will point to the current latest or stable image, depending on the value of tag. Skipper relies on fiaas-deploy-daemon to deploy itself, and skipper manages the Application resource which tells fiaas-deploy-daemon how it should deploy iteself. This means that if fiaas-deploy-daemon is not already running in the namespace, it must be bootstrapped first.

When fiaas-deploy-daemon not running in namespace (bootstrap)

If fiaas-deploy-daemon isn't running in the namespace, skipper will create/update the Application resource for fiaas-deploy-daemon, including setting the label fiaas/bootstrap=true, then create a one-off (restartPolicy=Never) pod running fiaas-deploy-daemon in bootstrap mode. In this mode fiaas-deploy-daemon runs with minimal configuration and only deploys Application resources with fiaas/bootstrap=true set once and waits for the deployments to be successful, then exits. Then fiaas-deploy-daemon which is now running in normal mode will redeploy itself with full configuration, just as below.

When fiaas-deploy-daemon already running

If fiaas-deploy-daemon is already running in the namespace, skipper will update the Application resource for fiaas-deploy-daemon, then fiaas-deploy-daemon will pick up the change and redeploy the new version of itself.

Updating fiaas-deploy-daemon

To update fiaas-deploy-daemon in a namespace, or in all configured namespaces, use skipper's web interface at /status. It is also possible to use skipper's API directly, see "Deploying fiaas-deploy-daemon to a new namespace" below for details.

Automatic updates

When installed with the helm chart value autoUpdate: true, skipper will automatically update fiaas-deploy-daemon whenever the configured tag (stable or latest) is updated. This enables a fully automatic continuous deploy solution for fiaas-deploy-daemon, but means you don't control when or which updates are rolled out. You probably only want to use this if you are involved in development and/or testing of fiaas-deploy-daemon. Use this feature at your own risk.

How skipper will work differently once currently planned features are completed

We are not done. We have planned some further features, which will improve the experience of using Skipper significantly. Here are some of the planned changes:

• Try to detect when an instance of fiaas-deploy-daemon is not operating properly, and re-deploy it

Installation

With Helm:

helm install --repo https://fiaas.github.io/helm fiaas-skipper --name fiaas-skipper

With Helm (including rbac):

helm install --repo https://fiaas.github.io/helm fiaas-skipper --name fiaas-skipper --set rbac.enabled="true" --set manageRBAC="true"

NOTE: setting manageRBAC to "true" will have Skipper create serviceaccount, role and rolebinding resources named "fiaas-deploy-daemon", overwriting any existing resources with the same name.

For more information on permissions required for fiaas-controller see FIAAS operators guide.

Skipper will look for a fiaas-deploy-daemon configmap across namespaces in the cluster and will bootstrap and deploy a fiaas-deploy-daemon instance for any that are found. By default this configmap is not added when skipper is installed but the install command can be extended with --set addFiaasDeployDaemonConfigmap="true" to include the configmap which will make fiaas-skipper start an instance of the fiaas-deploy-daemon once installed. This is useful when bootstrapping fiaas for the first time in a new cluster.

Deploying fiaas-deploy-daemon to a new namespace

Deploying fiaas-deploy-daemon to a new namespace can be done in a few simple steps, assuming you already have Skipper running in your cluster:

1. Create a FIAAS configuration in the namespace. See above, and FIAAS operators guide for details about how to do that.
2. Trigger a deploy to that namespace. This can be done in many ways:
   1. POST JSON similar to this to the /api/deploy endpoint:

      {
          "namespaces": [
              "some-namespace",
              "other-namespace"
          ]
      }

   2. Use the Web UI at /status
   3. Or just POST to the /api/deploy endpoint with no data (this will trigger deploy to all configured namespaces, including yours).

Troubleshooting

If you follow the above steps, but fiaas-deploy-daemon for some reason does not get deployed to your namespace, there are a few steps you can do to troubleshoot.

1. Check the Skipper logs for errors
2. If bootstrapping a new namespace, check the bootstrap pod logs:

   kubectl logs -n some-namespace fiaas-deploy-daemon-bootstrap
   

3. If a Deployment exists, but no pods, check the Deployment for problems:

   kubectl describe deploy -n some-namespace fiaas-deploy-daemon
   

4. If fiaas-deploy-daemon is deployed, but is not deploying any applications, check logs for fiaas-deploy-daemon:

   kubectl logs -n some-namespace -lapp=fiaas-deploy-daemon
   

5. To force deployment it is possible to include a flag in the POST payload:
   1. POST JSON similar to this to the /api/deploy endpoint (including force bootstrap flag):

      {
          "namespaces": [
              "some-namespace",
              "other-namespace"
          ],
          "force-bootstrap": true
      }

   2. Use the Web UI at /status and check force bootstrap in the deployment dialog when prompted

Release Process

When changes are merged to master the master branch is built using travis. The build generates a docker image that is published to the fiaas/skipper respository on docker hub and is publicly available. Additionally a helm chart is created and published to the fiaas helm repository.