tendermint/mintnet-kubernetes/README.rst

Using Kubernetes
================

.. figure:: assets/t_plus_k.png
   :alt: Tendermint plus Kubernetes

   Tendermint plus Kubernetes

This should primarily be used for testing purposes or for
tightly-defined chains operated by a single stakeholder (see `the
security precautions <#security>`__). If your desire is to launch an
application with many stakeholders, consider using our set of Ansible
scripts.

Quick Start
-----------

For either platform, see the `requirements <https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube#requirements>`__

MacOS
^^^^^

::

    curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl && chmod +x kubectl && sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
    curl -Lo minikube https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/v0.18.0/minikube-darwin-amd64 && chmod +x minikube && sudo mv minikube /usr/local/bin/
    minikube start

    git clone https://github.com/tendermint/tools.git && cd tools/mintnet-kubernetes/examples/basecoin && make create

Linux
^^^^^

::

    curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl && chmod +x kubectl && sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
    curl -Lo minikube https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/v0.18.0/minikube-linux-amd64 && chmod +x minikube && sudo mv minikube /usr/local/bin/
    minikube start

    git clone https://github.com/tendermint/tools.git && cd tools/mintnet-kubernetes/examples/basecoin && make create

Verify it worked
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Using a shell:**

First wait until all the pods are ``Running``:

``kubectl get pods -w -o wide -L tm``

then query the Tendermint app logs from the first pod:

``kubectl logs -c tm -f tm-0``

finally, use `Rest API <rpc.html>`__ to fetch the status of the second pod's Tendermint app.
Note we are using ``kubectl exec`` because pods are not exposed (and should not be) to the
outer network:

``kubectl exec -c tm tm-0 -- curl -s http://tm-1.basecoin:46657/status | json_pp``

**Using the dashboard:**

::

    minikube dashboard

Clean up
~~~~~~~~

::

    make destroy

Usage
-----

Setup a Kubernetes cluster
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-  locally using `Minikube <https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube>`__
-  on GCE with a single click in the web UI
-  on AWS using `Kubernetes
   Operations <https://github.com/kubernetes/kops/blob/master/docs/aws.md>`__
-  on Linux machines (Digital Ocean) using
   `kubeadm <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/kubeadm/>`__
-  on AWS, Azure, GCE or bare metal using `Kargo
   (Ansible) <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/kargo/>`__

Please refer to `the official
documentation <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/>`__
for overview and comparison of different options. 

Kubernetes on Digital Ocean
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Available options:

- `kubeadm (alpha) <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/kubeadm/>`__
- `kargo <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/kargo/>`__
- `rancher <http://rancher.com/>`__
- `terraform <https://github.com/hermanjunge/kubernetes-digitalocean-terraform>`__

As you can see, there is no single tool for creating a cluster on DO.
Therefore, choose the one you know and comfortable working with. If you know
and used `terraform <https://www.terraform.io/>`__ before, then choose it. If you
know Ansible, then pick kargo. If none of these seem familiar to you, go with
``kubeadm``. Rancher is a beautiful UI for deploying and managing containers in
production.

Kubernetes on Google Cloud Engine
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Review the `Official Documentation <https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/gce/>`__ for Kubernetes on Google Compute
Engine. 

**Create a cluster**

The recommended way is to use `Google Container
Engine <https://cloud.google.com/container-engine/>`__. You should be able
to create a fully fledged cluster with just a few clicks.

**Connect to it**

Install ``gcloud`` as a part of `Google Cloud SDK <https://cloud.google.com/sdk/>`__.

Make sure you have credentials for GCloud by running ``gcloud auth login``.

In order to make API calls against GCE, you must also run ``gcloud auth
application-default login``.

Press ``Connect``:

.. figure:: assets/gce1.png

and execute the first command in your shell. Then start a proxy by
executing ``kubectl` proxy``.

.. figure:: assets/gce2.png

Now you should be able to run ``kubectl`` command to create resources, get
resource info, logs, etc.

**Make sure you have Kubernetes >= 1.5, because you will be using
StatefulSets, which is a beta feature in 1.5.**

Create a configuration file
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Download a template:

::

    curl -Lo app.yaml https://github.com/tendermint/tools/raw/master/mintnet-kubernetes/app.template.yaml

Open ``app.yaml`` in your favorite editor and configure your app
container (navigate to ``- name: app``). Kubernetes DSL (Domain Specific
Language) is very simple, so it should be easy. You will need to set
Docker image, command and/or run arguments. Replace variables prefixed
with ``YOUR_APP`` with corresponding values. Set genesis time to now and
preferable chain ID in ConfigMap.

Please note if you are changing ``replicas`` number, do not forget to
update ``validators`` set in ConfigMap. You will be able to scale the
cluster up or down later, but new pods (nodes) won't become validators
automatically.

Deploy your application
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

::

    kubectl create -f ./app.yaml

Observe your cluster
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

`web UI <https://github.com/kubernetes/dashboard>`__

The easiest way to access Dashboard is to use ``kubectl``. Run the following
command in your desktop environment:

::

    kubectl proxy

``kubectl`` will handle authentication with apiserver and make Dashboard
available at http://localhost:8001/ui

**shell**

List all the pods:

::

    kubectl get pods -o wide -L tm

StatefulSet details:

::

    kubectl describe statefulsets tm

First pod details:

::

    kubectl describe pod tm-0

Tendermint app logs from the first pod:

::

    kubectl logs tm-0 -c tm -f

App logs from the first pod:

::

    kubectl logs tm-0 -c app -f

Status of the second pod's Tendermint app:

::

    kubectl exec -c tm tm-0 -- curl -s http://tm-1.<YOUR_APP_NAME>:46657/status | json_pp

Security
--------

Due to the nature of Kubernetes, where you typically have a single
master, the master could be a SPOF (Single Point Of Failure). Therefore,
you need to make sure only authorized people can access it. And these
people themselves had taken basic measures in order not to get hacked.

These are the best practices:

-  all access to the master is over TLS
-  access to the API Server is X.509 certificate or token based
-  etcd is not exposed directly to the cluster
-  ensure that images are free of vulnerabilities
   (`1 <https://github.com/coreos/clair>`__)
-  ensure that only authorized images are used in your environment
-  disable direct access to Kubernetes nodes (no SSH)
-  define resource quota

Resources:

-  https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/accessing-the-api/
-  http://blog.kubernetes.io/2016/08/security-best-practices-kubernetes-deployment.html
-  https://blog.openshift.com/securing-kubernetes/

Fault tolerance
---------------

Having a single master (API server) is a bad thing also because if
something happens to it, you risk being left without an access to the
application.

To avoid that you can `run Kubernetes in multiple
zones <https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/multiple-zones/>`__, each zone
running an `API
server <https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/high-availability/>`__ and load
balance requests between them. Do not forget to make sure only one
instance of scheduler and controller-manager are running at once.

Running in multiple zones is a lightweight version of a broader `Cluster
Federation feature <https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/federation/>`__.
Federated deployments could span across multiple regions (not zones). We
haven't tried this feature yet, so any feedback is highly appreciated!
Especially, related to additional latency and cost of exchanging data
between the regions.

Resources:

-  https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/high-availability/

Starting process
----------------

.. figure:: assets/statefulset.png
   :alt: StatefulSet

   StatefulSet

Init containers (``tm-gen-validator``) are run before all other
containers, creating public-private key pair for each pod. Every ``tm``
container then asks other pods for their public keys, which are served
with nginx (``pub-key`` container). When ``tm`` container have all the
keys, it forms a genesis file and starts the Tendermint process.