This sample demonstrates updating an application to a new version using a blue/green traffic routing pattern. With Knative, you can safely reroute traffic from a live version of an application to a new version by changing the routing configuration.
You need:
- A Kubernetes cluster with Knative installed.
- (Optional) A custom domain configured for use with Knative.
We'll be deploying an image of a sample application that displays the text "App v1" on a blue background.
First, create a new file called blue-green-demo-config.yaml
and copy this into it:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Configuration
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo
namespace: default
spec:
revisionTemplate:
metadata:
labels:
knative.dev/type: container
spec:
container:
image: gcr.io/knative-samples/knative-route-demo:blue # The URL to the sample app docker image
imagePullPolicy: Always
env:
- name: T_VERSION
value: "blue"
Save the file, then deploy the configuration to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-config.yaml
configuration "blue-green-demo" configured
This will deploy the initial revision (blue-green-demo-00001
) of the sample
application. To route inbound traffic to it, we'll define a route. Create a new
file called blue-green-demo-route.yaml
and copy this into it:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Route
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo # The name of our route; appears in the URL to access the app
namespace: default # The namespace we're working in; also appears in the URL to access the app
spec:
traffic:
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00001
percent: 100 # All traffic goes to this revision
Save the file, then apply the route to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-route.yaml
route "blue-green-demo" configured
You'll now be able to view the sample app at
http://blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com (replace YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN
)
with the custom domain you configured for
use with Knative.
Note: If you don't have a custom domain configured for use with Knative, you can interact with your app using cURL requests if you have the host URL and IP address:
curl -H "Host: blue-green-demo.default.example.com" http://IP_ADDRESS
Knative creates the host URL by combining the name of your Route object, the namespace, andexample.com
, if you haven't configured a custom domain. For example,[route-name].[namespace].example.com
. You can get the IP address by enteringkubectl get svc knative-ingressgateway -n istio-system
and copying theEXTERNAL-IP
returned by that command. See Interacting with your app for more information.
Revision 2 of the sample application will display the text "App v2" on a green background.
To create the new revision, we'll edit our existing configuration in
blue-green-demo-config.yaml
with an updated image and environment variables:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Configuration
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo # Configuration name is unchanged, since we're updating an existing Configuration
namespace: default
spec:
revisionTemplate:
metadata:
labels:
knative.dev/type: container
spec:
container:
image: gcr.io/knative-samples/knative-route-demo:green # URL to the new version of the sample app docker image
imagePullPolicy: Always
env:
- name: T_VERSION
value: "green" # Updated value for the T_VERSION environment variable
Save the file, then apply the updated configuration to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-config.yaml
configuration "blue-green-demo" configured
At this point, the first revision (blue-green-demo-00001
) and the second
revision (blue-green-demo-00002
) will both be deployed and running. We can
update our existing route to create a new (test) endpoint for the second
revision while still sending all other traffic to the first revision. Edit
blue-green-demo-route.yaml
:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Route
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo # Route name is unchanged, since we're updating an existing Route
namespace: default
spec:
traffic:
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00001
percent: 100 # All traffic still going to the first revision
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00002
percent: 0 # 0% of traffic routed to the second revision
name: v2 # A named route
Save the file, then apply the updated route to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-route.yaml
route "blue-green-demo" configured
Revision 2 of the app is staged at this point. That means:
- No traffic will be routed to revision 2 at the main URL, http://blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com
- Knative creates a new route named v2 for testing the newly deployed version at http://v2.blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com
This allows you to validate that the new version of the app is behaving as expected before switching any traffic over to it.
We'll once again update our existing route to begin shifting traffic away from
the first revision and toward the second. Edit blue-green-demo-route.yaml
:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Route
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo # Updating our existing route
namespace: default
spec:
traffic:
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00001
percent: 50 # Updating the percentage from 100 to 50
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00002
percent: 50 # Updating the percentage from 0 to 50
name: v2
Save the file, then apply the updated route to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-route.yaml
route "blue-green-demo" configured
Refresh the original route (http://blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com) a few times to see that some traffic now goes to version 2 of the app.
Note: This sample shows a 50/50 split to assure you don't have to refresh too much, but it's recommended to start with 1-2% of traffic in a production environment
Lastly, we'll update our existing route to finally shift all traffic to the
second revision. Edit blue-green-demo-route.yaml
:
apiVersion: serving.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Route
metadata:
name: blue-green-demo # Updating our existing route
namespace: default
spec:
traffic:
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00001
percent: 0
name: v1 # Adding a new named route for v1
- revisionName: blue-green-demo-00002
percent: 100
# Named route for v2 has been removed, since we don't need it anymore
Save the file, then apply the updated route to your cluster:
kubectl apply -f blue-green-demo-route.yaml
route "blue-green-demo" configured
Refresh the original route (http://blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com) a few times to verify that no traffic is being routed to v1 of the app.
We added a named route to v1 of the app, so you can now access it at http://v1.blue-green-demo.default.YOUR_CUSTOM_DOMAIN.com.
With all inbound traffic being directed to the second revision of the
application, Knative will soon scale the first revision down to 0 running pods
and the blue/green deployment can be considered complete. Using the named v1
route will reactivate a pod to serve any occassional requests intended
specifically for the initial revision.
To delete the sample app, enter the following commands:
kubectl delete route blue-green-demo
kubectl delete configuration blue-green-demo