Example: Deploying PHP Guestbook application with Redis

This tutorial shows you how to build and deploy a simple (not production ready), multi-tier web application using Kubernetes and Docker. This example consists of the following components:

A single-instance Redis to store guestbook entries
Multiple web frontend instances

Objectives

Start up a Redis leader.
Start up two Redis followers.
Start up the guestbook frontend.
Expose and view the Frontend Service.
Clean up.

Before you begin

You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as control plane hosts. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using minikube or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:

Your Kubernetes server must be at or later than version v1.14. To check the version, enter kubectl version.

Start up the Redis Database

The guestbook application uses Redis to store its data.

Creating the Redis Deployment

The manifest file, included below, specifies a Deployment controller that runs a single replica Redis Pod.

application/guestbook/redis-leader-deployment.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: redis-leader
  labels:
    app: redis
    role: leader
    tier: backend
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: redis
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: redis
        role: leader
        tier: backend
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: leader
        image: "docker.io/redis:6.0.5"
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 100Mi
        ports:
        - containerPort: 6379

Launch a terminal window in the directory you downloaded the manifest files.

Apply the Redis Deployment from the redis-leader-deployment.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-leader-deployment.yaml

Query the list of Pods to verify that the Redis Pod is running:

kubectl get pods

The response should be similar to this:

NAME                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
redis-leader-fb76b4755-xjr2n   1/1     Running   0          13s

Run the following command to view the logs from the Redis leader Pod:
```
kubectl logs -f deployment/redis-leader
```

Creating the Redis leader Service

The guestbook application needs to communicate to the Redis to write its data. You need to apply a Service to proxy the traffic to the Redis Pod. A Service defines a policy to access the Pods.

application/guestbook/redis-leader-service.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: redis-leader
  labels:
    app: redis
    role: leader
    tier: backend
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 6379
    targetPort: 6379
  selector:
    app: redis
    role: leader
    tier: backend

Apply the Redis Service from the following redis-leader-service.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-leader-service.yaml

Query the list of Services to verify that the Redis Service is running:

kubectl get service

The response should be similar to this:

NAME           TYPE        CLUSTER-IP   EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
kubernetes     ClusterIP   10.0.0.1     <none>        443/TCP    1m
redis-leader   ClusterIP   10.103.78.24 <none>        6379/TCP   16s

Note: This manifest file creates a Service named redis-leader with a set of labels that match the labels previously defined, so the Service routes network traffic to the Redis Pod.

Set up Redis followers

Although the Redis leader is a single Pod, you can make it highly available and meet traffic demands by adding a few Redis followers, or replicas.

application/guestbook/redis-follower-deployment.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: redis-follower
  labels:
    app: redis
    role: follower
    tier: backend
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: redis
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: redis
        role: follower
        tier: backend
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: follower
        image: gcr.io/google_samples/gb-redis-follower:v2
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 100Mi
        ports:
        - containerPort: 6379

Apply the Redis Deployment from the following redis-follower-deployment.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-follower-deployment.yaml

Verify that the two Redis follower replicas are running by querying the list of Pods:

kubectl get pods

The response should be similar to this:

NAME                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-82sfr   1/1     Running   0          37s
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-qrt5k   1/1     Running   0          38s
redis-leader-fb76b4755-xjr2n     1/1     Running   0          11m

Creating the Redis follower service

The guestbook application needs to communicate with the Redis followers to read data. To make the Redis followers discoverable, you must set up another Service.

application/guestbook/redis-follower-service.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: redis-follower
  labels:
    app: redis
    role: follower
    tier: backend
spec:
  ports:
    # the port that this service should serve on
  - port: 6379
  selector:
    app: redis
    role: follower
    tier: backend

Apply the Redis Service from the following redis-follower-service.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/redis-follower-service.yaml

Query the list of Services to verify that the Redis Service is running:

kubectl get service

The response should be similar to this:

NAME             TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
kubernetes       ClusterIP   10.96.0.1       <none>        443/TCP    3d19h
redis-follower   ClusterIP   10.110.162.42   <none>        6379/TCP   9s
redis-leader     ClusterIP   10.103.78.24    <none>        6379/TCP   6m10s

Note: This manifest file creates a Service named redis-follower with a set of labels that match the labels previously defined, so the Service routes network traffic to the Redis Pod.

Set up and Expose the Guestbook Frontend

Now that you have the Redis storage of your guestbook up and running, start the guestbook web servers. Like the Redis followers, the frontend is deployed using a Kubernetes Deployment.

The guestbook app uses a PHP frontend. It is configured to communicate with either the Redis follower or leader Services, depending on whether the request is a read or a write. The frontend exposes a JSON interface, and serves a jQuery-Ajax-based UX.

Creating the Guestbook Frontend Deployment

application/guestbook/frontend-deployment.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: frontend
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
        app: guestbook
        tier: frontend
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: guestbook
        tier: frontend
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: php-redis
        image: gcr.io/google_samples/gb-frontend:v5
        env:
        - name: GET_HOSTS_FROM
          value: "dns"
        resources:
          requests:
            cpu: 100m
            memory: 100Mi
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Apply the frontend Deployment from the frontend-deployment.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/frontend-deployment.yaml

Query the list of Pods to verify that the three frontend replicas are running:

kubectl get pods -l app=guestbook -l tier=frontend

The response should be similar to this:

NAME                        READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
frontend-85595f5bf9-5tqhb   1/1     Running   0          47s
frontend-85595f5bf9-qbzwm   1/1     Running   0          47s
frontend-85595f5bf9-zchwc   1/1     Running   0          47s

Creating the Frontend Service

The Redis Services you applied is only accessible within the Kubernetes cluster because the default type for a Service is ClusterIP. ClusterIP provides a single IP address for the set of Pods the Service is pointing to. This IP address is accessible only within the cluster.

If you want guests to be able to access your guestbook, you must configure the frontend Service to be externally visible, so a client can request the Service from outside the Kubernetes cluster. However a Kubernetes user can use kubectl port-forward to access the service even though it uses a ClusterIP.

Note: Some cloud providers, like Google Compute Engine or Google Kubernetes Engine, support external load balancers. If your cloud provider supports load balancers and you want to use it, uncomment type: LoadBalancer.

application/guestbook/frontend-service.yaml

# SOURCE: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/tutorials/guestbook
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: frontend
  labels:
    app: guestbook
    tier: frontend
spec:
  # if your cluster supports it, uncomment the following to automatically create
  # an external load-balanced IP for the frontend service.
  # type: LoadBalancer
  #type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
    # the port that this service should serve on
  - port: 80
  selector:
    app: guestbook
    tier: frontend

Apply the frontend Service from the frontend-service.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/guestbook/frontend-service.yaml

Query the list of Services to verify that the frontend Service is running:

kubectl get services

The response should be similar to this:

NAME             TYPE        CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)    AGE
frontend         ClusterIP   10.97.28.230    <none>        80/TCP     19s
kubernetes       ClusterIP   10.96.0.1       <none>        443/TCP    3d19h
redis-follower   ClusterIP   10.110.162.42   <none>        6379/TCP   5m48s
redis-leader     ClusterIP   10.103.78.24    <none>        6379/TCP   11m

Viewing the Frontend Service via `kubectl port-forward`

Run the following command to forward port 8080 on your local machine to port 80 on the service.
```
kubectl port-forward svc/frontend 8080:80
```
The response should be similar to this:
```
Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:8080 -> 80
Forwarding from [::1]:8080 -> 80
```
load the page http://localhost:8080 in your browser to view your guestbook.

Viewing the Frontend Service via `LoadBalancer`

If you deployed the frontend-service.yaml manifest with type: LoadBalancer you need to find the IP address to view your Guestbook.

Run the following command to get the IP address for the frontend Service.

kubectl get service frontend

The response should be similar to this:

NAME       TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP        PORT(S)        AGE
frontend   LoadBalancer   10.51.242.136   109.197.92.229     80:32372/TCP   1m

Copy the external IP address, and load the page in your browser to view your guestbook.

Note: Try adding some guestbook entries by typing in a message, and clicking Submit. The message you typed appears in the frontend. This message indicates that data is successfully added to Redis through the Services you created earlier.

Scale the Web Frontend

You can scale up or down as needed because your servers are defined as a Service that uses a Deployment controller.

Run the following command to scale up the number of frontend Pods:
```
kubectl scale deployment frontend --replicas=5
```

Query the list of Pods to verify the number of frontend Pods running:

kubectl get pods

The response should look similar to this:

NAME                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
frontend-85595f5bf9-5df5m        1/1     Running   0          83s
frontend-85595f5bf9-7zmg5        1/1     Running   0          83s
frontend-85595f5bf9-cpskg        1/1     Running   0          15m
frontend-85595f5bf9-l2l54        1/1     Running   0          14m
frontend-85595f5bf9-l9c8z        1/1     Running   0          14m
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-82sfr   1/1     Running   0          97m
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-qrt5k   1/1     Running   0          97m
redis-leader-fb76b4755-xjr2n     1/1     Running   0          108m

Run the following command to scale down the number of frontend Pods:
```
kubectl scale deployment frontend --replicas=2
```

Query the list of Pods to verify the number of frontend Pods running:

kubectl get pods

The response should look similar to this:

NAME                             READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
frontend-85595f5bf9-cpskg        1/1     Running   0          16m
frontend-85595f5bf9-l9c8z        1/1     Running   0          15m
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-82sfr   1/1     Running   0          98m
redis-follower-dddfbdcc9-qrt5k   1/1     Running   0          98m
redis-leader-fb76b4755-xjr2n     1/1     Running   0          109m

Cleaning up

Deleting the Deployments and Services also deletes any running Pods. Use labels to delete multiple resources with one command.

Run the following commands to delete all Pods, Deployments, and Services.

kubectl delete deployment -l app=redis
kubectl delete service -l app=redis
kubectl delete deployment frontend
kubectl delete service frontend

The response should look similar to this:

deployment.apps "redis-follower" deleted
deployment.apps "redis-leader" deleted
deployment.apps "frontend" deleted
service "frontend" deleted

Query the list of Pods to verify that no Pods are running:
```
kubectl get pods
```
The response should look similar to this:
```
No resources found in default namespace.
```

What's next

Complete the Kubernetes Basics Interactive Tutorials
Use Kubernetes to create a blog using Persistent Volumes for MySQL and Wordpress
Read more about connecting applications
Read more about Managing Resources

Last modified March 12, 2022 at 1:22 AM PST: minor wording fix (6b21f286df)

Example: Deploying PHP Guestbook application with Redis

Objectives

Before you begin

Start up the Redis Database

Creating the Redis Deployment

Creating the Redis leader Service

Set up Redis followers

Creating the Redis follower service

Set up and Expose the Guestbook Frontend

Creating the Guestbook Frontend Deployment

Creating the Frontend Service

Viewing the Frontend Service via kubectl port-forward

Viewing the Frontend Service via LoadBalancer

Scale the Web Frontend

Cleaning up

What's next

Feedback

Viewing the Frontend Service via `kubectl port-forward`

Viewing the Frontend Service via `LoadBalancer`