Viewing and Managing Applications

This topic explains how to deploy production-ready, cloud-native applications, services, or tools hosted by Megaport ONE using Helm chartsHelm is an application package manager that describes the structure of an application in a packaging format called charts. A Helm chart contains a bundle of the YAML configuration files needed to run an application, including dependencies and libraries..

To view applications

Log in to the Megaport ONE Portal.
Choose Compute > Applications.

Application Page

The Applications page shows all deployed applications, their runtime status, the name and location of the cluster they are contained in, and the date and time the application was deployed. You can show or hide core applications, which are applications that have been deployed from the Core Charts repository. The default setting is Hide.

Note

If you don’t find an application Helm chart in the repository, you can create your own and add it to the repository. For details, see Packaging an Application in a Helm Chart.

To view application details and resources

Choose Compute > Repositories.
Select the application name.
The application details from the application provider appear, including installation and upgrade requirements, any environmental variables you need to set up, and the current Helm chart version.

To view the default chart values.yaml file

Choose Compute > Applications.
Select the application name.
Select the Configuration tab.
Select the Default Chart Values tab.
The contents of the chart’s default values.yaml file appear. You might need to scroll down to see the Default Chart Values since the deployed values.yaml file contents will appear above the default section.

To view the application Helm chart READ.ME file

Choose Compute > Applications.
Select the application name.
Select the Configuration tab.
Select the READ.ME tab.
The READ.ME file supplied by the application provider appears. Application packages originating from the Megaport ONE Helm chart template include a READ.ME file supplied by Megaport ONE.

Deploying an application

When you’re ready to share your application, you deploy it to a cluster. You can deploy any application listed in the Megaport ONE repository.

To deploy an application

Log in to the Megaport ONE Portal.
Choose Compute > Applications.
Click Deploy New Application.
The application repositories appear. You can add or edit a repository with permission, if required.
Select an application under Core Charts or enter an application name to search the repositories.
A page appears describing the application details.
Click Deploy.
The Application Configuration page appears.

To configure an application

Enter the application name. Use lowercase letters, numbers, or hyphens. Don’t use dots, spaces, or underscores.
Select a Helm chart version from the drop-down list. If an earlier chart version was selected on the initial application overview page, that version is selected by default.
Select a preconfigured cluster to receive the application.
The drop-down list of clusters includes all clusters for the account in which the application can run.

The Manage Secrets button appears. Click Manage Secrets to add, view, or edit the cluster secrets, including labels and annotations. For details, see Creating a Kubernetes Secret.
Select or create a namespaceA Kubernetes namespace provides a way to divide and logically group cluster resources. For example, you can create a database namespace to store and share all of your database resources.. The default namespace is preselected by default.

How namespaces divide a cluster is up to you, there are many use cases. Basically you create namespaces to isolate environments within a cluster and that helps organize, maintain, and secure it. Multiple namespaces can also prevent conflicts when you have many teams configuring and deploying the same application. Separate namespaces prevent one team from overriding another team’s work, because the teams sharing the cluster set their authorization and policy for PodsA Pod represents a set of running containers in your cluster., services, and deployments in separate namespaces, such as who can modify the production site.
- Click use an existing namespace and select a namespace from the list.
–Or–
- Click enter a custom namespace and enter a new namespace using alphanumeric characters and dashes. Do not use spaces or capital letters.
  
  The system places the application in this namespace on the cluster. If the cluster doesn’t recognize the namespace, it creates one.
Click Deploy Application when your configuration is complete.
Verify the application deployment details, including the receiving cluster.
Click Confirm.
The application status becomes READY after the Helm chart deploys successfully.

Redeploying an application

After an unsuccessful deployment, you can quickly fix and redeploy an application without editing the Helm chart directly.

To redeploy an application

Log in to the Megaport ONE Portal.
Choose Compute > Applications.
The status message next to the application indicates a failure. Select the application or hover the mouse over the question mark for details.
Click Redeploy next to the application.
You can also select the application and choose Redeploy Application from the Options menu.

Note

When an application deployment fails, the tabs on the Application Configuration page are unavailable until the application deploys successfully.
Correct the issue on the application configuration page then click Deploy Application.

For example, update the values.yaml file with the correct values.

The status becomes REDEPLOYING until the deployment succeeds or fails.

Modifying an application

YAML is the standard format used in a Kubernetes configuration file. The Nginx values.yaml file associated with an application contains the configuration parameters relevant for integration into the Helm chart. The values.yaml file passes the values into the Helm chart when the application is deployed.

You can optionally override the default values in the values.yaml file after you deploy the application. For details, see To view the default chart values.yaml file.

Updating an application

You can either select a different Helm chart version or edit the values.yaml file to update your application. Because YAML files are sensitive to syntax and formatting errors, the system uses a templated approach to render the yaml file as a form, preventing errors from stopping a successful deployment.

Customizing an application

Replace the default values with your own to customize your deployment. Custom values override the default values in the application’s Helm Chart. Use system variables to pass specific values to an application.

When you select an application from the application repository, check the provider description for installation specifics and custom value examples that you can copy.

Customize Application

To update an application

Choose Compute > Applications.
The Applications page lists the deployed applications.
Select an application.
Select the Configuration tab.
The tab loads the latest application version.
To release a new chart version, select the new version from the drop-down list. You can select a previous version to roll back the application.
To update by editing the values.yaml file, enter the new values under yaml.values from scratch or copy the values under Default Chart Values, paste them under yaml.values, and edit the values.
Click Save Updates.
The system updates the application on the cluster.

Deleting an application

You can delete an application from the repository.

To delete an application from the repository

Choose Compute > Applications.
The Applications page lists the deployed applications.
Click Delete next to the application.
Enter DELETE in all caps and click Delete.

The system acknowledges the request and changes the status to DELETING. After it deletes the application, the application disappears from the Applications list and is deleted from the cluster as well.

Note

When you delete an application that isn’t in a READY state, the system attempts to delete it from the cluster, but its state might prevent deletion. To confirm that the application is no longer on the cluster, go to the Kubernetes dashboard.

Viewing application history

When troubleshooting an application or reviewing its life cycle, the History tab is a useful source of information. This tab is where the system displays every change to an application, including its transition states, error messages with details, and when the change occurred.

To view application history

Choose Compute > Applications.
The Applications page lists the deployed applications.
Select an application.
Select the History tab.

Application History

Viewing running services and pods

You can view the services and pods that are running for an application. The Services tab lists all services that are running within the app, and the Pods tab lists all related pods that are running. Each tab provides links where you can view more information about the resource in the Kubernetes Dashboard.

To view running services and pods

Choose Compute > Applications.
The Applications page lists the deployed applications.
Select an application.
Select the Services and Pods tabs.
On each tab, click the More Info link to view more information about the service or pod in the Kubernetes Dashboard. On the Pods tab, click Logs to view the pod logs in the Kubernetes Dashboard.

Application Pods Tab

Viewing Ingresses

Ingress is used to manage external access to an application or cluster, for example, to provide load balancing. Typically this is HTTP or HTTPS.
The Ingresses tab lists all available endpoints that can access the application. The Access box above the table also shows links for all public endpoints. If a wildcard endpoint is used then the wildcard domain is shown instead, which can be copied.

To view ingresses

Choose Compute > Applications.
The Applications page lists the deployed applications.
Select an application.
Select the Ingresses tab.
Click the More Info link to view the ingress in the Kubernetes Dashboard.

Application Ingress Tab

Last update: 2023-09-01