Kubernetes - Init Containers¶

Step-01: Introduction¶

Init Containers run before App containers
Init containers can contain utilities or setup scripts not present in an app image.
We can have and run multiple Init Containers before App Container.
Init containers are exactly like regular containers, except:
Init containers always run to completion.
Each init container must complete successfully before the next one starts.
If a Pod's init container fails, Kubernetes repeatedly restarts the Pod until the init container succeeds.
However, if the Pod has a restartPolicy of Never, Kubernetes does not restart the Pod.

Kubernetes Manifests¶

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#01-storage-class.yml
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata: 
  name: ebs-sc
provisioner: ebs.csi.aws.com
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer

#02-persistent-volume-claim.yml
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: ebs-mysql-pv-claim
spec: 
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  storageClassName: ebs-sc
  resources: 
    requests:
      storage: 4Gi

#03-UserManagement-ConfigMap.yml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: usermanagement-dbcreation-script
data: 
  mysql_usermgmt.sql: |-
    DROP DATABASE IF EXISTS usermgmt;
    CREATE DATABASE usermgmt;

#04-mysql-deployment.yml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: mysql
spec: 
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: mysql
  strategy:
    type: Recreate 
  template: 
    metadata: 
      labels: 
        app: mysql
    spec: 
      containers:
        - name: mysql
          image: mysql:5.6
          env:
            - name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: mysql-db-password
                  key: db-password 
          ports:
            - containerPort: 3306
              name: mysql    
          volumeMounts:
            - name: mysql-persistent-storage
              mountPath: /var/lib/mysql    
            - name: usermanagement-dbcreation-script
              mountPath: /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d #https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql Refer Initializing a fresh instance                                            
      volumes: 
        - name: mysql-persistent-storage
          persistentVolumeClaim:
            claimName: ebs-mysql-pv-claim
        - name: usermanagement-dbcreation-script
          configMap:
            name: usermanagement-dbcreation-script

#05-mysql-clusterip-service.yml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata: 
  name: mysql
spec:
  selector:
    app: mysql 
  ports: 
    - port: 3306  
  clusterIP: None # This means we are going to use Pod IP

#06-UserManagementMicroservice-Deployment-Service.yml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment 
metadata:
  name: usermgmt-microservice
  labels:
    app: usermgmt-restapp
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: usermgmt-restapp
  template:  
    metadata:
      labels: 
        app: usermgmt-restapp
    spec:
      initContainers:
        - name: init-db
          image: busybox:1.31
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'echo -e "Checking for the availability of MySQL Server deployment"; while ! nc -z mysql 3306; do sleep 1; printf "-"; done; echo -e "  >> MySQL DB Server has started";']      
      containers:
        - name: usermgmt-restapp
          image: stacksimplify/kube-usermanagement-microservice:1.0.0
          ports: 
            - containerPort: 8095           
          env:
            - name: DB_HOSTNAME
              value: "mysql"            
            - name: DB_PORT
              value: "3306"            
            - name: DB_NAME
              value: "usermgmt"            
            - name: DB_USERNAME
              value: "root"            
            - name: DB_PASSWORD
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: mysql-db-password
                  key: db-password

#07-UserManagement-Service.yml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: usermgmt-restapp-service
  labels: 
    app: usermgmt-restapp
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: usermgmt-restapp
  ports: 
    - port: 8095
      targetPort: 8095
      nodePort: 31231

#08-kubernetes-secrets.yml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: mysql-db-password
type: Opaque
data: 
  db-password: ZGJwYXNzd29yZDEx

Step-02: Implement Init Containers¶

Update initContainers section under Pod Template Spec which is spec.template.spec in a Deployment

  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: usermgmt-restapp
    spec:
      initContainers:
        - name: init-db
          image: busybox:1.31
          command: ['sh', '-c', 'echo -e "Checking for the availability of MySQL Server deployment"; while ! nc -z mysql 3306; do sleep 1; printf "-"; done; echo -e "  >> MySQL DB Server has started";']

Step-03: Create & Test¶

# Create All Objects
kubectl apply -f kube-manifests/

# List Pods
kubectl get pods

# Watch List Pods screen
kubectl get pods -w

# Describe Pod & Discuss about init container
kubectl describe pod <usermgmt-microservice-xxxxxx>

# Access Application Health Status Page
http://<WorkerNode-Public-IP>:31231/usermgmt/health-status

AWS EKS - Elastic Kubernetes Service - Masterclass¶

Step-04: Clean-Up¶

Delete all k8s objects created as part of this section

# Delete All
kubectl delete -f kube-manifests/

# List Pods
kubectl get pods

# Verify sc, pvc, pv
kubectl get sc,pvc,pv

References:¶

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/pods/init-containers/