Hands-on exercises and projects

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Table of Contents

1. Exercise 1: Complete installation
2. Exercise 2: GitOps deployment
3. Exercise 3: Helm with Flux
4. Exercise 4: Image Automation
5. Final project: Complete GitOps pipeline
6. Additional resources

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1 - Exercise 1: Complete installation

Objective

Install Flux and bootstrap a GitOps repository.

Steps

# 1. Créer un cluster local
kind create cluster --name flux-workshop

# 2. Vérifier les prérequis
flux check --pre

# 3. Exporter le token GitHub
export GITHUB_TOKEN=<your-token>

# 4. Bootstrap
flux bootstrap github \
  --owner=YOUR-USERNAME \
  --repository=flux-workshop \
  --branch=main \
  --path=clusters/demo \
  --personal

# 5. Vérifier l'installation
flux check
flux get all

Validation

• flux-system namespace created
• All controllers Running
• GitHub repository created with the structure
• Flux synchronizes itself

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2 - Exercise 2: GitOps deployment

Objective

Deploy an application with a Kustomization.

Create the structure

# Dans votre repo flux-workshop
mkdir -p apps/podinfo

# Créer les fichiers
cat > apps/podinfo/namespace.yaml << EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: podinfo
EOF

cat > apps/podinfo/deployment.yaml << EOF
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: podinfo
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: podinfo
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: podinfo
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: podinfo
          image: ghcr.io/stefanprodan/podinfo:6.5.0
          ports:
            - containerPort: 9898
EOF

cat > apps/podinfo/service.yaml << EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: podinfo
spec:
  selector:
    app: podinfo
  ports:
    - port: 80
      targetPort: 9898
EOF

cat > apps/podinfo/kustomization.yaml << EOF
apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Kustomization
resources:
  - namespace.yaml
  - deployment.yaml
  - service.yaml
EOF

Create the Flux Kustomization

cat > clusters/demo/podinfo.yaml << EOF
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: GitRepository
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1m
  url: https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/flux-workshop
  ref:
    branch: main
---
apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: Kustomization
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 5m
  path: ./apps/podinfo
  prune: true
  sourceRef:
    kind: GitRepository
    name: podinfo
  wait: true
EOF

Deploy

git add .
git commit -m "Add podinfo application"
git push

# Attendre ou forcer
flux reconcile kustomization flux-system --with-source

# Vérifier
kubectl get pods -n podinfo

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3 - Exercise 3: Helm with Flux

Objective

Deploy a Helm chart via HelmRelease.

Create the resources

# clusters/demo/infrastructure/sources/bitnami.yaml
apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1
kind: HelmRepository
metadata:
  name: bitnami
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1h
  url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

# clusters/demo/apps/redis.yaml
apiVersion: helm.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v2
kind: HelmRelease
metadata:
  name: redis
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 5m
  chart:
    spec:
      chart: redis
      version: "18.x"
      sourceRef:
        kind: HelmRepository
        name: bitnami
        namespace: flux-system
  install:
    createNamespace: true
  targetNamespace: redis
  values:
    architecture: standalone
    auth:
      enabled: false
    master:
      persistence:
        enabled: false

Deploy

git add .
git commit -m "Add Redis HelmRelease"
git push

flux reconcile kustomization flux-system --with-source
flux get helmreleases -A
kubectl get pods -n redis

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4 - Exercise 4: Image Automation

Objective

Configure automatic image updates.

Prerequisites

# Réinstaller Flux avec les controllers d'image
flux bootstrap github \
  --owner=YOUR-USERNAME \
  --repository=flux-workshop \
  --branch=main \
  --path=clusters/demo \
  --personal \
  --components-extra=image-reflector-controller,image-automation-controller

Create the resources

# clusters/demo/image-automation/podinfo-policy.yaml
apiVersion: image.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
kind: ImageRepository
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  image: ghcr.io/stefanprodan/podinfo
  interval: 1m
---
apiVersion: image.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
kind: ImagePolicy
metadata:
  name: podinfo
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  imageRepositoryRef:
    name: podinfo
  policy:
    semver:
      range: 6.x.x

Modify the deployment with a marker

# apps/podinfo/deployment.yaml
spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: podinfo
          image: ghcr.io/stefanprodan/podinfo:6.5.0 # {"$imagepolicy": "flux-system:podinfo"}

Create the automation

# clusters/demo/image-automation/automation.yaml
apiVersion: image.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta1
kind: ImageUpdateAutomation
metadata:
  name: flux-workshop
  namespace: flux-system
spec:
  interval: 1m
  sourceRef:
    kind: GitRepository
    name: podinfo
  git:
    checkout:
      ref:
        branch: main
    commit:
      author:
        email: [email protected]
        name: Flux Bot
      messageTemplate: 'chore: update image {{range .Updated.Images}}{{.}}{{end}}'
    push:
      branch: main
  update:
    path: ./apps
    strategy: Setters

Verify

flux get images all
# Devrait montrer la dernière version disponible

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5 - Final project: Complete GitOps pipeline

Objective

Create a complete GitOps stack with:

• Multi-environment (dev, staging, prod)
• Shared infrastructure
• Notifications
• Secrets with SOPS

Architecture

Project structure

flux-production/
├── clusters/
│   ├── dev/
│   │   ├── flux-system/
│   │   └── apps.yaml
│   ├── staging/
│   │   ├── flux-system/
│   │   └── apps.yaml
│   └── prod/
│       ├── flux-system/
│       └── apps.yaml
├── infrastructure/
│   ├── sources/
│   │   └── bitnami.yaml
│   ├── controllers/
│   │   ├── cert-manager.yaml
│   │   └── ingress-nginx.yaml
│   └── notifications/
│       └── slack.yaml
└── apps/
    ├── base/
    │   └── webapp/
    │       ├── deployment.yaml
    │       ├── service.yaml
    │       └── kustomization.yaml
    └── overlays/
        ├── dev/
        │   └── kustomization.yaml
        ├── staging/
        │   └── kustomization.yaml
        └── prod/
            └── kustomization.yaml

Expected deliverables

• Structured GitOps repository
• 3 environments configured
• Shared infrastructure (cert-manager, ingress)
• Application deployed to the 3 envs
• Working Slack notifications
• README documentation

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6 - Additional resources

Official documentation

Resource	URL
Flux Docs	https://fluxcd.io/docs/
GitHub	https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2
Examples	https://github.com/fluxcd/flux2-kustomize-helm-example

Complementary tools

Tool	Description
Weave GitOps	UI for Flux
Capacitor	Alternative UI
SOPS	Secrets encryption
Sealed Secrets	Encrypted Kubernetes secrets

Community

• CNCF Slack: #flux
• GitHub Discussions
• Flux Monthly Meetups

Certifications

• Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA)
• Certified GitOps Associate (CGOA)

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Congratulations!

You have completed the Flux CD course! You now master:

• Installation and bootstrap of Flux
• Git and Helm sources
• Kustomizations and HelmReleases
• Image Automation for automatic CD
• Notifications and alerts
• Multi-tenancy and best practices

Next steps

1. Practice on personal projects
2. Compare with Argo CD based on your needs
3. Explore Weave GitOps for the UI
4. Contribute to the Flux community

Flux vs Argo CD: Summary

For Flux	For Argo CD
Native Image Automation	Excellent native UI
Modular architecture	Simple all-in-one
CLI-first	Visual-first
Distributed multi-cluster	Centralized multi-cluster

Both are excellent and CNCF Graduated!

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