Cloud Native Computing Foundation Crossplane Community Day EU 2021, 14 May 2021

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From YouTube: Lightning Talk: Notes from Crossplane Newbs - Jeremy Tanner & Gianluca Arbezzano, Equinix

Description

Don’t miss out! Join us at our upcoming event: KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2021 in Los Angeles, CA from October 12-15. Learn more at https://kubecon.io The conference features presentations from developers and end users of Kubernetes, Prometheus, Envoy, and all of the other CNCF-hosted projects.

Lightning Talk: Notes from Crossplane Newbs - Jeremy Tanner & Gianluca Arbezzano, Equinix

You’ve heard of Crossplane but you really aren’t sure what it is about. Is it Terraform for Kubernetes? Is it a multi-cloud toolkit? Does it do dishes? We’ll provide a new user perspective on the project, dispelling myths and highlighting what the most important features are today for everyday users.

A

Hello friends from the future we'd hope to be with you in person for this, but today is not that day. uh Future versions of us uh current day to those of you watching live can be found in the chat uh we'd offer to answer questions there, though it's more likely that we'll have questions for you as until a few weeks ago, neither of us had touched crossplane, and us is uh I'm jeremy, tanner and I'm joined by I'm.

B

Jean luca and uh yeah I never used cross plane before so we took a full week of testing and that's where we are so feel free to send any questions to us.

A

Yeah or we'll have questions for you.

B

So what is crossplane jeremy.

A

uh Crossplane, it's right there in the name. Crossplane is meant to be a cross cloud control plane cross cloud. So this is for folks who are wanting to do uh multi-cloud. The description is uh an open source. Kubernetes add-on enables platform teams to assemble infrastructure, multiple vendors high-level service, apis application teams without having to write any code being a kubernetes add-on.

A

It's a kubernetes system, uh so you know this as crossplane community day is happening attached to kubecon. It's very likely that you have some kubernetes familiarity.

B

And I mean if I'm not a cloud provider or a cross cloud provider person, I'm just using you know, aws or or gcp or equinix metal. Can I still benefit from crossplane or or not.

A

Do you need it? No is it useful it can be instead of if you're, instead of orchestrating multiple the same service across multiple clouds, you could be orchestrating many services inside the same cloud. Some clouds have, as many uh you know, more than 100 different services and so building those uh building. Those legos together manually instead of by configuration, can take time, and so there's still benefit if you're inside a uh if you're inside a single cloud.

B

So I want to tell you something: I learned: soul stack, chef, puppet and I tried pollumi. I know what terraform is and I also wrote not one but two cluster api api infrastructure provider.

B

So why is crossplane different and why I have to learn it as well.

A

You don't have to learn it as well, but can be very. You can be very useful, um so cluster api is looking to get kubernetes running. Crossplane doesn't necessarily have to be kubernetes. That's running. It can be pretty much anything on that on the infrastructure that you bring up, terraform and pollumi. uh They create and destroy resources.

A

Only when they're applied or run often times, that's just the one shot when you're starting up or a rerun when you've changed something. Let.

B

Me summarize, if I it works, has as kubernetes works for pods. So when you create a deployment or replica set when a post expires, something a control, loop creates my pod again and crossplane max makes that to happen for way more resources across cloud provider like s3, buckets or ac2 instances or whatever yeah.

A

And a and a pro and a provider can be uh anything that has an api that has the um provider written for it, uh so that can be that can uh order you a pizza every time it's run or uh any. So yes,.

B

It can orchestrate anything with an api. That's a very great use case for having a short. You know, cool cool time, so I want a pizza every 10 seconds. That's how that's, how it's gonna work! Okay, so and- and you tell me that I don't need to know code much, but what does it mean.

A

Okay, well, the claim was without having to write any code and then I suppose the debate then is is yaml code and so.

B

A

If, well, I think we fell on it's, it's serialized data which isn't necessarily code, but you are going to have to write some. uh You are going to have to write some yaml but you're not going to have to write a custom operator, which is definitely something there's already providers written for um most of the infrastructure providers that you'd like to use, and so um oh I'll label. This one mostly true, mostly true,.

B

Listen skills so yeah something cool about infrastructure as data versus infrastructure as code that made me think when I saw these lights um that jeremy, obviously you did is because it's cool because the state where you start from is the one that you declared has to do with pod, but it's it's calculated because it looks for the difference between what you declared.

B

So I want uh you know a situ or I want a pizza and what you, what you actually have so did I already get my pizza or not. If not the reconciliation loop will will kick it. It will kick their cast and send me a pizza or recreate a resource that it's over. So it's very it's a very nice. You know differentiation to do that. If that I think you you made here so.

A

B

So yeah I mean everybody speaks about githubs and I want to know if I can, you know, push my ml code somewhere.

A

Oh and so absolutely there are continuous delivery tools, like the argo project that are kubernetes operators using the kubernetes api, and so yes, works um works perfectly well, so the way that you'd be managing containers and the rest of kubernetes can now manage any sort of infrastructure networks. Machines, storage in the rest.

B

So what is cool is that it use operators, so everything that is in the kubernetes lens works with crossplane as well. So that's that's very important, but what? If, if I'm not running kubernetes? What should I do.

A

Oh not running, as in you, don't use kubernetes, that's going to be super odd if you're, a kubecon attendee but I'll allow it. Thank you it's it's. Maybe it's maybe not the tool for you um not running. As in you, don't have a management cluster running uh perfect um upbound, who are the creators of crossplane uh they'll run one for you.

B

That's cool but yeah. What what do, how I can start with crossplane.

A

Yeah yeah so to get started. You can either use uh upbound or, if you like, doing things like us. The hard way uh you'll need some kubernetes. So kubernetes and docker is fine. Just remember to start docker, if you like me, occasionally kill it to keep your laptop fans from taking off the desk that kubernetes in docker. You can brew, install kind, uh kubecuttle and helm if you're not using the the hosted version. Once you have these you'll install cross plane via helm, chart into your management cluster and then you'll.

A

Take a configuration and configurations are just the um the setup of the uh the app or the setup of the infrastructure that you'd like crossplane to bring up and those will be associated with a provider and so providers being uh equinix metal, aws, gcp azure that are places where you've, given them a credit card gotten in return an api key and are then able to uh bring up a bring up infrastructure.

B

And so you told me that crossplane will always do his best to keep my resources as I want. So exactly.

A

That was a thing that uh that was the thing that surprised me.

A

So the thing to watch out for is to uh is to be aware of zombies, the like the things that you kill, don't stay dead, and so, if you, um if you don't destroy the resources in the right way, they'll come back in around 30 seconds, and so, if you create a machine with cross plane and then destroy it via directly using the api or or if you destroy it inside a inside a dashboard, it will pop back up because you have a spec that says: I'd like this machine to exist, uh cross plane will notice it not existing and bring it back.

A

So. Resources forged in the fires of cross plane can only be destroyed in the fires of cross plane.

B

So there is no resiliency without control loop in this time, so but what's next jeremy, what what are the crossbrain people working on.

A

We got up to speed using mostly uh links from crossplane.io, that's an excellent resource.

A

We definitely have more questions, and so I'm curious how I might bring resources I've created elsewhere on those providers under cross planes control, and so, if you have a good idea how to do that, please hit us up on the slack or, if you think, answering many more questions would be fun and you'd like to get paid to teach myself. uh John luca and other friends about cross playing upbound is hiring a developer, advocate right now and so reach out to them.

B

So I think that's it. No more questions for us, jeremy, yeah,.

A

Yeah um I'd yeah I'd like to thank everyone for watching. We appreciate your time and attention and additional thanks to marcus johansen from uh my team, for clearing up some of the concepts and also to uh the video recorded version of dan, who is a wellspring of information on the crossplane project.