Crossplane and Argo CD: Simplifying Infrastructure Management with GitOps
Alexander Matyushentsev
Crossplane is a CNCF-incubating open-source project that provides a way to manage cloud resources in a Kubernetes-native manner. Being a Kubernetes-native project makes Crossplane a perfect fit for GitOps workflows and a great combination with Argo CD. By combining Crossplane with Argo CD, engineers can seamlessly manage both infrastructure and application deployments within a unified GitOps workflow. This combination also offers a powerful Kubernetes dashboard, enhancing visibility into their infrastructure.
Argo CD Crossplane Extension
The Argo CD user interface visualizes the dependencies of Crossplane resources within a tree hierarchy, helping developers understand the state of managed infrastructure. The Argo CD administrator has the option to configure custom health checks, powered by the Lua programming language. These health checks can be used to monitor the state of resources and easily discover issues in the infrastructure.
We're happy to announce that the Akuity Platform now provides a Crossplane extension that automates the configuration of Argo CD health checks for Crossplane resources and offers a user interface with additional information about them.
Once the extension is enabled, it automatically configures the Argo CD health checks for Crossplane resources. The image below demonstrates the health assessment of the RDS database managed by Crossplane.
The additional "Crossplane" tab digs deeper into the Crossplane resource details and extracts additional information about the resource health, which helps to understand the state of the resource.
Upbound Integration
The Upbound is a service that provides a suite of features to manage Crossplane resources, as well as a cloud-hosted control plane Kubernetes cluster with Crossplane installed. The Akuity Platform integrates with Upbound and provides a simple way to connect to the Upbound control plane without installing the agent or any other Argo CD components.
The Akuity Platform portal allows administrators to connect the Upbound control plane Kubernetes cluster to the Akuity-managed Argo CD instance by simply providing the Upbound cluster URL and the API token. Once the cluster is registered, Argo CD is ready to create and manage Crossplane resources.
Summary
To find out how to enable the Crossplane extension visit the Crossplane Extension section in Akuity documentation.
The Akuity Platform provides a cloud-hosted Argo CD instance and a powerful extension that enables engineers to reap maximum benefits from the Crossplane project without complex setup and configuration. The Akuity Platform integrates with Upbound and provides a simple way to connect to the Upbound control plane Kubernetes cluster and manage Crossplane resources. Together, Akuity and Upbound make it possible to manage infrastructure without maintaining the control plane Kubernetes cluster, which saves engineering time, eliminates operational overhead, and reduces costs.
Try it Out
If you want to learn how to manage the deployment of the Helm charts in a declarative fashion using Argo CD and Github, take a look at our tutorial.
Help and Support
You can schedule a technical demo with our team or go through the “Getting started” manual on the Akuity Documentation website.
Additional Resources
Loved this blog? Get the most out of your Argo CD learning experience with these neat resources:
[Blog Post]: Unlocking Ultimate Argo CD Security
[Blog Post]: Unlocking Ultimate Argo CD Flexibility
[Blog Post] Unlocking Ultimate Argo CD Scalability
[Blog Post] How Many Do You Need? Argo CD Architectures Explained - 2024 Update
[Video] Introduction to Argo CD Using the Akuity Platform:
[Video] Creating a fully-managed Kubernetes GitOps platform with Argo CD:
