In the realm of software development, the concepts of containerization and orchestration have revolutionized the way applications are built, deployed, and managed. This glossary entry will delve into the intricacies of Argo Rollouts, a progressive delivery system that leverages these concepts to facilitate seamless software updates.
Argo Rollouts, a sub-project of the Argo Project, is a Kubernetes-native, open-source tool that provides advanced deployment strategies such as Blue-Green, Canary, and more. It is a powerful tool that aids in the management of containerized applications, ensuring high availability and minimizing downtime during updates.
Definition of Key Terms
Before diving into the specifics of Argo Rollouts, it's essential to understand some key terms related to containerization and orchestration. These terms form the foundation of the concepts that Argo Rollouts is built upon.
Containerization is the process of encapsulating an application and its dependencies into a container, which can run independently on any computing environment. It ensures consistency across various deployment environments, making it easier to build, test, and deploy applications.
Orchestration
Orchestration, in the context of software, refers to the automated configuration, coordination, and management of computer systems and services. In the world of containerization, orchestration tools help manage the lifecycles of containers, especially in large, dynamic environments.
Kubernetes, the most popular orchestration platform, is a prime example of an orchestration tool. It helps manage, scale, and maintain containerized applications, making it an integral part of many DevOps workflows.
Argo Rollouts
Argo Rollouts is a Kubernetes controller and a Continuous Delivery tool that provides advanced deployment capabilities. It offers features like automated rollbacks, promotion, analysis, and more. It's designed to work with Kubernetes, providing a Kubernetes-native way to manage application deployments.
Argo Rollouts supports several deployment strategies, including Blue-Green and Canary deployments. These strategies allow for safer, more controlled updates, reducing the risk of introducing breaking changes to the production environment.
History of Argo Rollouts
Argo Rollouts is a part of the Argo Project, which was initially developed by Applatix, a company specializing in container-native applications for multi-cloud deployments. The Argo Project was later donated to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), where it is currently maintained.
The Argo Project includes several tools designed to enhance the capabilities of Kubernetes, including Argo CD for Continuous Delivery, Argo Events for event-based dependency management, and Argo Workflows for workflow automation. Argo Rollouts was developed to extend the deployment capabilities of Argo CD, providing more advanced strategies for rolling out updates.
Evolution of Argo Rollouts
Since its inception, Argo Rollouts has evolved to support a wide range of deployment strategies. Initially, it only supported basic Rolling updates. However, with the introduction of version 0.7 in 2019, support for Blue-Green and Canary deployments was added.
Over time, Argo Rollouts has continued to improve, with new features and enhancements being added regularly. It has grown into a robust tool for managing deployments in Kubernetes, with a strong community of developers contributing to its development.
Use Cases of Argo Rollouts
Argo Rollouts can be used in a variety of scenarios where advanced deployment strategies are required. It's particularly useful in environments where high availability is critical, and downtime during updates must be minimized.
For instance, Argo Rollouts can be used to manage deployments for large-scale web applications, microservices, and other distributed systems. It can also be used in conjunction with other Argo tools, like Argo CD and Argo Workflows, to create a comprehensive Continuous Delivery pipeline.
Blue-Green Deployments
In a Blue-Green deployment, two identical production environments (Blue and Green) are maintained. At any given time, one environment is live (serving traffic), while the other is idle. When an update is ready, it's deployed to the idle environment. Once the update is verified, the traffic is switched to the updated environment. This strategy reduces downtime and risk by providing a rapid way to rollback if necessary.
Argo Rollouts can manage Blue-Green deployments automatically, handling the creation of the environments, the deployment of the updates, and the switching of traffic. This automation reduces the complexity of managing Blue-Green deployments, making them more accessible to teams of all sizes.
Canary Deployments
Canary deployments are named after the "canary in a coal mine" concept. In this strategy, an update is gradually rolled out to a small subset of users before being deployed to everyone. This allows teams to test the update in a live environment and monitor for any issues.
With Argo Rollouts, managing Canary deployments becomes a breeze. It can automatically adjust the traffic distribution between the old and new versions, gradually increasing the traffic to the new version as confidence in the update grows. If any issues are detected, it can also automatically rollback the update, minimizing the impact on users.
Examples of Argo Rollouts
Argo Rollouts is used by many organizations to manage their application deployments. Here are a few specific examples of how it's being used in the real world.
Intuit, a financial software company, uses Argo Rollouts to manage deployments for their Kubernetes-based applications. They leverage the Canary deployment strategy to gradually roll out updates, allowing them to test new features in a controlled manner and rollback quickly if issues arise.
BlackRock
BlackRock, an investment management company, uses Argo Rollouts in conjunction with Argo CD to create a comprehensive Continuous Delivery pipeline. They use the Blue-Green deployment strategy to ensure high availability and minimize downtime during updates.
The use of Argo Rollouts allows BlackRock to automate their deployment process, reducing the risk of human error and freeing up their developers to focus on building new features.
Adobe
Adobe, a multinational software company, uses Argo Rollouts to manage deployments for their cloud-based services. They leverage the advanced deployment strategies provided by Argo Rollouts to ensure smooth, safe updates.
By using Argo Rollouts, Adobe is able to maintain high availability for their services, ensuring a seamless experience for their users even during updates.
Conclusion
Argo Rollouts is a powerful tool for managing containerized application deployments. It provides advanced deployment strategies, automated rollbacks, and integration with Kubernetes, making it an invaluable tool for any team working with containerized applications.
Whether you're a small startup or a large enterprise, Argo Rollouts can help you streamline your deployment process, reduce risk, and ensure high availability for your applications. With its robust feature set and active community, it's a tool worth considering for any DevOps toolkit.