Install and Manage Argo CD with Ansible

Set up a Kubernetes Cluster, install Argo CD, and manage both using C2 Platform’s Ansible roles for Linux and Kubernetes.
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  3 minute read , 7 minute provision

Projects: c2platform/ansible, c2platform.core, c2platform.mw

This guide illustrates the installation of Argo CD within the C2 Platform development environment using C2 Platform’s Ansible collections. This automated process uses Vagrant , the Vagrant Ansible provisioner and, of course, Ansible.

Here’s an overview of the process orchestrated by Vagrant using Ansible as a provisioner:

  1. Kubernetes Cluster Setup: Ansible configures a Kubernetes instance with the C2’s MicroK8s Ansible role c2platform.mw.microk8s  .
  2. Kubernetes Configuration: Ansible further configures the Kubernetes cluster using the C2’s Kubernetes role c2platform.mw.kubernetes  .
  3. Argo CD Installation: Argo CD is installed using the same Kubernetes role.
  4. Argo Rollout Installation and Demo App Deployment: Argo Rollouts and the demo application are deployed using the same Kubernetes role.

After completing these steps, you can access the Argo CD UI at: https://argocd.c2platform.org  .

Prerequisites

Ensure the C2 Platform’s development environment is set up and the reverse and forward proxy c2d-rproxy1 is running.

c2
unset PLAY  # ensure all plays run
vagrant up c2d-rproxy1

For more information, refer to Setup a Development Environment on Ubuntu 22 .

Setup

Run the following command to create a Kubernetes instance and deploy Argo CD. The entire process takes about 7 minutes.

vagrant up c2d-argocd

The console output should be similar to provision.log .

Login using Argo CD CLI

SSH into the Vagrant LXD container c2d-argocd using the command:

vagrant ssh c2d-argocd

Inside c2d-argocd, the KUBECONFIG1 environment variable is already configured, allowing the Argo CD CLI and Kubernetes tools like kubectl to connect to the cluster.

Log in to Argo CD with these commands:

export ARGOCD_ADMIN_INITIAL_PW="$(argocd admin initial-password -n argocd | head -1)"
argocd login argocd.c2platform.org --username admin --password $ARGOCD_ADMIN_INITIAL_PW
Show Command Output
root@c2d-argocd:~# argocd login argocd.c2platform.org --username admin --password $ARGOCD_ADMIN_INITIAL_PW
'admin:login' logged in successfully
Context 'argocd.c2platform.org' updated
root@c2d-argocd:~#

Update admin password

For convenience, update to a simpler password, such as supersecret, ensuring it meets password requirements. Run the command:

argocd account update-password --account admin --current-password $ARGOCD_ADMIN_INITIAL_PW --new-password supersecret

Login to Argo CD UI

Launch Firefox using the configured Firefox profile (see Configure a FireFox Profile ). Navigate to https://argocd.c2platform.org  , login as admin with the password supersecret. You should see the following:

Vagrant snapshot

After setup, create a snapshot (v0) for future reference:

vagrant snapshot save c2d-argocd v0

To restore, use:

vagrant snapshot restore c2d-argocd v0

Run vagrant --help for more information on Vagrant CLI commands.

Next Steps

With Argo CD installed, proceed to deploy the guestbook demo application, that will help you get a better understanding on how Argo CD works.

Additional Information

  1. The file /etc/profile.d/mk8s.sh contains a line with KUBECONFIG as shown below, giving access to the Kubernetes cluster inside c2d-argocd:

    export KUBECONFIG=/var/snap/microk8s/current/credentials/client.config
     ↩︎

Last modified January 29, 2025: argocd rollouts concept C2-709 (f329fd3)