Deploy Apps from App Templates

When you deploy an app, you can select the app from the App Store which contains built-in apps of KubeSphere and apps uploaded as Helm charts. Alternatively, you can use apps from private app repositories added to KubeSphere to provide app templates.

This tutorial demonstrates how to quickly deploy Grafana using the app template from a private repository, which is based on QingStor object storage.

Prerequisites

• You have enabled OpenPitrix (App Store).
• You have completed the tutorial of Create Workspaces, Projects, Users and Roles. Namely, you must have a workspace, a project and two users (ws-admin and project-regular). ws-admin must be granted the role of workspace-admin in the workspace and project-regular must be granted the role of operator in the project.

Hands-on Lab

Step 1: Add an app repository

1. Log in to the web console of KubeSphere as ws-admin. In your workspace, go to App Repositories under App Management, and then click Add.

2. In the displayed dialog box, enter test-repo for the app repository name and https://charts.kubesphere.io/main for the repository URL. Click Validate to verify the URL, set Synchronization Interval based on your needs, and click OK.

3. Your repository is displayed in the list after successfully imported to KubeSphere.

   Note

   For more information about dashboard properties as you add a private repository, see Import Helm Repository.

Step 2: Deploy Grafana from app templates

1. Log out of KubeSphere and log back in as project-regular. In your project, go to Apps under Application Workloads and click Create.

2. Select From App Template in the displayed dialog box.

   From App Store: Choose built-in apps and apps uploaded individually as Helm charts.

   From App Templates: Choose apps from private app repositories and the workspace app pool.

3. Select test-repo from the drop-down list, which is the private app repository just uploaded.

   Note

   The option Current workspace in the list represents the workspace app pool, which contains apps uploaded as Helm charts. They are also part of app templates.

4. Enter grafana in the search box to search for the app, and then click it to deploy it.

   Note

   The app repository used in this tutorial is synchronized from the Google Helm repository. Some apps in it may not be deployed successfully as their Helm charts are maintained by different organizations.

5. Its app information and configuration files are also displayed. Under Version, select a version number from the list and click Install.

6. Set an app name and confirm the version and deployment location. Click Next.

7. In App Settings, manually edit the manifest file or click Install directly.

8. Wait for Grafana to be up and running.

Step 3: Expose the Grafana Service

To access Grafana outside the cluster, you need to expose the app through a NodePort first.

1. Go to Services and click the service name of Grafana.

2. Click More and select Edit External Access from the drop-down menu.

3. Select NodePort for Access Method and click OK. For more information, see Project Gateway.

4. Under Ports, view the exposed port.

Step 4: Access Grafana

1. To access the Grafana dashboard, you need the username and password. Go to Secrets under Configuration and click the item that has the same name as the app name.

2. On the details page, click the eye icon to view the username and password.

3. Access Grafana through <Node IP>:<NodePort>.

   Note

   You may need to open the port in your security groups and configure related port forwarding rules depending on your where your Kubernetes cluster is deployed.

Thanks for the feedback. If you have a specific question about how to use KubeSphere, ask it on Slack. Open an issue in the GitHub repo if you want to report a problem or suggest an improvement.