Cloud Native Challenge¶

Phase 1 - Local Develop¶

• Start by creating a Github Repo for your application.
• Choose a stack you want to learn, for example Node.js, Python, Go, Java (Quarkus or Spring Boot), or a React front end with an API back end.
• Site about one of the following:
  • Yourself
  • Hobby
  • Place you live
• Must be able to run locally

Application Requirements¶

• Minimum of 3 webpages
• Minimum of 1 GET and POST method each.
• An OpenAPI specification for your API, with Swagger UI configured for testing it.
• A /healthz endpoint that Kubernetes probes can call.
• Custom CSS files for added formatting.

Testing¶

Setup each of the following tests that apply:

• Page tests
• API tests
• Connection Tests

Phase 2 - Application Enhancements¶

Database Connectivity and Functionality¶

• Add local or cloud DB to use for data collection.
• Use 3rd party API calls to get data.
  • Post Data to DB via API Call
  • Retrieve Data from DB via API Call
  • Delete Data from DB via API Call

Phase 3 - Containerize¶

Container Image¶

• Create a Containerfile (or Dockerfile). Use a multi-stage build and a small base image such as UBI minimal.
• Make the image run as a non-root user and work with any UID, as OpenShift requires.
• Build your image with Podman (or Docker).
• Run it locally with podman run and test it.

Image Registries¶

• Once your image works, push it to a registry. Build it for linux/amd64, or build a multi-arch image, if you're on an Apple Silicon Mac.
• Use one of the following registries:
  • Quay.io
  • GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io)
  • Docker Hub
  • IBM Cloud Container Registry
• Push the image up with the following name: {registry}/{yourusername}/techdemos-cn:v1

Phase 4 - Kubernetes Ready¶

Create Pod and Deployment files¶

• Create a Pod YAML to validate your image.
• Next, create a deployment yaml file with the setting of 3 replicas, liveness and readiness probes, and resource requests and limits.
• Verify starting of deployment
• Push all YAML files to Github

Application Exposing¶

• Create a Service and a Route (or Ingress) yaml
• Save Service and Route yamls in Github

Configuration Setup¶

• Create a ConfigMap for all site configuration.
• Setup Secrets for API keys or Passwords to 3rd parties.
• Add storage where needed to deployment.

Phase 5 - Devops/Gitops¶

Tekton Pipeline Setup¶

• Create a Tekton pipeline to do the following:
  • Setup
  • Test
  • Build and Push Image
  • GitOps Version Update
• Make each of the above their own task.
• Setup triggers to respond to Github commits and PR's

GitOps Configuration¶

• Use Argo CD (OpenShift GitOps) to deploy from a Git repository.
• Test your Argo CD deployment
• Make a change to site and push them.
• Validate new image version.

Extras¶

Chatbot Functions¶

• Integrate an AI assistant, for example IBM watsonx Assistant or an LLM through watsonx.ai
• Conversation about your sites topic.
• Have Chat window or page.
• Integrate Watson Assistant Actions.