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Example: Deploying WordPress and MySQL with Persistent Volumes

This tutorial shows you how to deploy a WordPress site and a MySQL database using Minikube. Both applications use PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims to store data.

A PersistentVolume (PV) is a piece of storage in the cluster that has been manually provisioned by an administrator, or dynamically provisioned by Kubernetes using a StorageClass. A PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) is a request for storage by a user that can be fulfilled by a PV. PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims are independent from Pod lifecycles and preserve data through restarting, rescheduling, and even deleting Pods.

Warning: This deployment is not suitable for production use cases, as it uses single instance WordPress and MySQL Pods. Consider using WordPress Helm Chart to deploy WordPress in production.

Note: The files provided in this tutorial are using GA Deployment APIs and are specific to kubernetes version 1.9 and later. If you wish to use this tutorial with an earlier version of Kubernetes, please update the API version appropriately, or reference earlier versions of this tutorial.

• Objectives
• Before you begin
• Create PersistentVolumeClaims and PersistentVolumes
• Create a Secret for MySQL Password
• Deploy MySQL
• Deploy WordPress
• Cleaning up
• What's next

Objectives

• Create PersistentVolumeClaims and PersistentVolumes
• Create a Secret
• Deploy MySQL
• Deploy WordPress
• 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. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using Minikube, or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:

• Katacoda
• Play with Kubernetes

To check the version, enter kubectl version.

Download the following configuration files:

1. mysql-deployment.yaml

2. wordpress-deployment.yaml

Create PersistentVolumeClaims and PersistentVolumes

MySQL and Wordpress each require a PersistentVolume to store data. Their PersistentVolumeClaims will be created at the deployment step.

Many cluster environments have a default StorageClass installed. When a StorageClass is not specified in the PersistentVolumeClaim, the cluster’s default StorageClass is used instead.

When a PersistentVolumeClaim is created, a PersistentVolume is dynamically provisioned based on the StorageClass configuration.

Warning: In local clusters, the default StorageClass uses the hostPath provisioner. hostPath volumes are only suitable for development and testing. With hostPath volumes, your data lives in /tmp on the node the Pod is scheduled onto and does not move between nodes. If a Pod dies and gets scheduled to another node in the cluster, or the node is rebooted, the data is lost.

Note: If you are bringing up a cluster that needs to use the hostPath provisioner, the --enable-hostpath-provisioner flag must be set in the controller-manager component.

Note: If you have a Kubernetes cluster running on Google Kubernetes Engine, please follow this guide.

Create a Secret for MySQL Password

A Secret is an object that stores a piece of sensitive data like a password or key. The manifest files are already configured to use a Secret, but you have to create your own Secret.

1. Create the Secret object from the following command. You will need to replace YOUR_PASSWORD with the password you want to use.

     kubectl create secret generic mysql-pass --from-literal=password=YOUR_PASSWORD

2. Verify that the Secret exists by running the following command:

     kubectl get secrets

   The response should be like this:

     NAME                  TYPE                    DATA      AGE
     mysql-pass            Opaque                  1         42s
   

Note: To protect the Secret from exposure, neither get nor describe show its contents.

Deploy MySQL

The following manifest describes a single-instance MySQL Deployment. The MySQL container mounts the PersistentVolume at /var/lib/mysql. The MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD environment variable sets the database password from the Secret.

application/wordpress/mysql-deployment.yaml

apiVersion: v1 kind: Service metadata: name: wordpress-mysql labels: app: wordpress spec: ports: - port: 3306 selector: app: wordpress tier: mysql clusterIP: None --- apiVersion: v1 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim metadata: name: mysql-pv-claim labels: app: wordpress spec: accessModes: - ReadWriteOnce resources: requests: storage: 20Gi --- apiVersion: apps/v1 # for versions before 1.9.0 use apps/v1beta2 kind: Deployment metadata: name: wordpress-mysql labels: app: wordpress spec: selector: matchLabels: app: wordpress tier: mysql strategy: type: Recreate template: metadata: labels: app: wordpress tier: mysql spec: containers: - image: mysql:5.6 name: mysql env: - name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD valueFrom: secretKeyRef: name: mysql-pass key: password ports: - containerPort: 3306 name: mysql volumeMounts: - name: mysql-persistent-storage mountPath: /var/lib/mysql volumes: - name: mysql-persistent-storage persistentVolumeClaim: claimName: mysql-pv-claim

1. Deploy MySQL from the mysql-deployment.yaml file:

     kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/wordpress/mysql-deployment.yaml

2. Verify that a PersistentVolume got dynamically provisioned.

     kubectl get pvc

   Note:

     It can take up to a few minutes for the PVs to be provisioned and bound.
   

   The response should be like this:

     NAME             STATUS    VOLUME                                     CAPACITY ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
     mysql-pv-claim   Bound     pvc-91e44fbf-d477-11e7-ac6a-42010a800002   20Gi     RWO            standard       29s
   

3. Verify that the Pod is running by running the following command:

     kubectl get pods

   Note:

     It can take up to a few minutes for the Pod’s Status to be RUNNING.
   

   The response should be like this:

     NAME                               READY     STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
     wordpress-mysql-1894417608-x5dzt   1/1       Running   0          40s
   

Deploy WordPress

The following manifest describes a single-instance WordPress Deployment and Service. It uses many of the same features like a PVC for persistent storage and a Secret for the password. But it also uses a different setting: type: LoadBalancer. This setting exposes WordPress to traffic from outside of the cluster.

application/wordpress/wordpress-deployment.yaml

apiVersion: v1 kind: Service metadata: name: wordpress labels: app: wordpress spec: ports: - port: 80 selector: app: wordpress tier: frontend type: LoadBalancer --- apiVersion: v1 kind: PersistentVolumeClaim metadata: name: wp-pv-claim labels: app: wordpress spec: accessModes: - ReadWriteOnce resources: requests: storage: 20Gi --- apiVersion: apps/v1 # for versions before 1.9.0 use apps/v1beta2 kind: Deployment metadata: name: wordpress labels: app: wordpress spec: selector: matchLabels: app: wordpress tier: frontend strategy: type: Recreate template: metadata: labels: app: wordpress tier: frontend spec: containers: - image: wordpress:4.8-apache name: wordpress env: - name: WORDPRESS_DB_HOST value: wordpress-mysql - name: WORDPRESS_DB_PASSWORD valueFrom: secretKeyRef: name: mysql-pass key: password ports: - containerPort: 80 name: wordpress volumeMounts: - name: wordpress-persistent-storage mountPath: /var/www/html volumes: - name: wordpress-persistent-storage persistentVolumeClaim: claimName: wp-pv-claim

1. Create a WordPress Service and Deployment from the wordpress-deployment.yaml file:

     kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/examples/application/wordpress/wordpress-deployment.yaml

2. Verify that a PersistentVolume got dynamically provisioned:

     kubectl get pvc

   Note:

     It can take up to a few minutes for the PVs to be provisioned and bound.
   

   The response should be like this:

     NAME             STATUS    VOLUME                                     CAPACITY ACCESS MODES   STORAGECLASS   AGE
     wp-pv-claim      Bound     pvc-e69d834d-d477-11e7-ac6a-42010a800002   20Gi     RWO            standard       7s
   

3. Verify that the Service is running by running the following command:

     kubectl get services wordpress

   The response should be like this:

     NAME        TYPE        CLUSTER-IP   EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)        AGE
     wordpress   ClusterIP   10.0.0.89    <pending>     80:32406/TCP   4m
   

   Note:

     Minikube can only expose Services through NodePort. The EXTERNAL-IP is always pending.
   

4. Run the following command to get the IP Address for the WordPress Service:

     minikube service wordpress --url

   The response should be like this:

     http://1.2.3.4:32406
   

5. Copy the IP address, and load the page in your browser to view your site.

You should see the WordPress set up page similar to the following screenshot.

Warning: Do not leave your WordPress installation on this page. If another user finds it, they can set up a website on your instance and use it to serve malicious content.

Either install WordPress by creating a username and password or delete your instance.

Cleaning up

1. Run the following command to delete your Secret:

     kubectl delete secret mysql-pass

2. Run the following commands to delete all Deployments and Services:

     kubectl delete deployment -l app=wordpress
     kubectl delete service -l app=wordpress

3. Run the following commands to delete the PersistentVolumeClaims. The dynamically provisioned PersistentVolumes will be automatically deleted.

     kubectl delete pvc -l app=wordpress

What's next

• Learn more about Introspection and Debugging
• Learn more about Jobs
• Learn more about Port Forwarding
• Learn how to Get a Shell to a Container

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