blog install Grafana-operator using flux and kustomize (#977)

* blog install grafna-operator using flux
* Update docs/blog/kustomize-installation.md

Co-authored-by: Hubert Stefanski <35736504+HubertStefanski@users.noreply.github.com>

docs/blog/flux-gitops/grafana-operator.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+apiVersion: source.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
+kind: OCIRepository
+metadata:
+  name: grafana-operator
+  namespace: flux-system
+spec:
+  interval: 10m
+  url: oci://ghcr.io/grafana-operator/kustomize/grafana-operator
+  ref:
+    tag: v5.0.0-rc1
+---
+apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
+kind: Kustomization
+metadata:
+  name: grafana-operator
+  namespace: flux-system
+spec:
+  interval: 10m
+  targetNamespace: grafana
+  images:
+    - name: ghcr.io/grafana-operator/grafana-operator
+      newTag: v5.0.0-rc1
+  prune: true
+  sourceRef:
+    kind: OCIRepository
+    name: grafana-operator
+  path: ./overlays/namespace_scoped

docs/blog/flux-gitops/grafana.yaml

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+apiVersion: kustomize.toolkit.fluxcd.io/v1beta2
+kind: Kustomization
+metadata:
+  name: grafana
+  namespace: flux-system
+spec:
+  force: false
+  dependsOn:
+    - name: grafana-operator # Depends on the grafana-operator being synced
+  healthChecks: # Check that grafana-deployment comes up
+    - apiVersion: apps/v1
+      kind: Deployment
+      name: grafana-deployment
+      namespace: grafana
+  interval: 10m0s
+  targetNamespace: grafana
+  path: ./clusters/my-cluster/grafana
+  prune: true
+  sourceRef:
+    kind: GitRepository
+    name: flux-system

docs/blog/flux-gitops/grafana/dashboard.yaml

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+apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1
+kind: GrafanaDashboard
+metadata:
+  name: grafanadashboard-sample
+  namespace: grafana
+spec:
+  resyncPeriod: 30s
+  instanceSelector:
+    matchLabels:
+      dashboards: "grafana"
+  json: >
+    {
+      "id": null,
+      "title": "Simple Dashboard",
+      "tags": [],
+      "style": "dark",
+      "timezone": "browser",
+      "editable": true,
+      "hideControls": false,
+      "graphTooltip": 1,
+      "panels": [],
+      "time": {
+        "from": "now-6h",
+        "to": "now"
+      },
+      "timepicker": {
+        "time_options": [],
+        "refresh_intervals": []
+      },
+      "templating": {
+        "list": []
+      },
+      "annotations": {
+        "list": []
+      },
+      "refresh": "5s",
+      "schemaVersion": 17,
+      "version": 0,
+      "links": []
+    }

docs/blog/flux-gitops/grafana/grafana.yaml

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+apiVersion: grafana.integreatly.org/v1beta1
+kind: Grafana
+metadata:
+  name: grafana
+  namespace: grafana
+  labels:
+    dashboards: "grafana"
+spec:
+  config:
+    log:
+      mode: "console"
+    auth:
+      disable_login_form: "false"
+  deployment:
+    spec:
+      template:
+        spec:
+          containers:
+            - name: grafana
+              env:
+                - name: GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      key: GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER
+                      name: credentials
+                - name: GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD
+                  valueFrom:
+                    secretKeyRef:
+                      key: GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD
+                      name: credentials
+  ingress:
+    spec:
+      ingressClassName: nginx
+      rules:
+        - host: grafana.127.0.0.1.nip.io
+          http:
+            paths:
+              - backend:
+                  service:
+                    name: grafana-service
+                    port:
+                      number: 3000
+                path: /
+                pathType: Prefix

docs/blog/flux-gitops/grafana/kustomization.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
+kind: Kustomization
+resources:
+  - grafana.yaml
+  - dashboard.yaml

docs/blog/kustomize-installation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,200 @@
+---
+author: "Edvin 'NissesSenap' Norling"
+date: 2023-03-29
+title: "Install Grafana-operator using Flux and Kustomize"
+linkTitle: "Install Grafana-operator using Flux and Kustomize"
+description: "How to install grafana-operator using Flux and Kustomize"
+---
+
+As a part of grafana-operator v5.0.0-rc1 we introduce Kustomize as a way of installing the operator.
+
+To showcase this new feature, I thought why not use GitOps?
+
+GitOps is a rather well-used term nowadays, but you can summarize it in 4 steps.
+
+- Declarative
+- Versioned and immutable
+- Pulled automatically
+- Continuously reconciled
+
+To find out more about GitOps look at the CNCF GitOps working groups [documentation](https://opengitops.dev/).
+
+In this case I have decided to use [Flux](https://fluxcd.io/) to deploy grafana-operator through GitOps, but there are other options.
+For example [ArgoCD](https://argo-cd.readthedocs.io/) which is also a graduated CNCF project just like Flux.
+
+This blog's focus is to showcase how you can use Kustomize to install the grafana-operator, I will take many shortcuts to keep this blog **simple**, read the official Flux documentation for best practices.
+
+## What we will do?
+
+We will install the grafana-operator using Flux and to manage our grafana instance and dashboard.
+
+Assuming that you follow the instructions of this blog, your Flux fleet-infra repository will look something like this.
+
+```.txt
+├── clusters
+│   └── my-cluster
+│       ├── flux-system
+│       │   ├── gotk-components.yaml
+│       │   ├── gotk-sync.yaml
+│       │   └── kustomization.yaml
+│       ├── grafana
+│       │   ├── dashboard.yaml
+│       │   ├── grafana.yaml
+│       │   └── kustomization.yaml
+│       ├── grafana-operator.yaml
+│       └── grafana.yaml
+```
+
+You can find all the files available to copy in the grafana-operator [repository](https://github.com/grafana-operator/grafana-operator/tree/master/docs/blog/flux-gitops),
+or you can just copy paste them from the blog.
+
+## Prerequisite
+
+In this example, I will use [Kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/) as my cluster because I think it's simple, but the walkthrough should work with any Kubernetes solution.
+I will use GitHub for my GitOps repository but Flux supports multiple source control management (SCM) providers.
+
+So what will you need?
+
+- [Kind](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start)
+- [Flux cli](https://fluxcd.io/flux/installation/)
+- github repository
+- github token
+
+### Setup cluster
+
+Create a Kind cluster with [ingress support](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/ingress/).
+
+```shell
+cat <<EOF | kind create cluster --config=-
+kind: Cluster
+apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
+nodes:
+- role: control-plane
+  kubeadmConfigPatches:
+  - |
+    kind: InitConfiguration
+    nodeRegistration:
+      kubeletExtraArgs:
+        node-labels: "ingress-ready=true"
+  extraPortMappings:
+  - containerPort: 80
+    hostPort: 80
+    protocol: TCP
+  - containerPort: 443
+    hostPort: 443
+    protocol: TCP
+EOF
+```
+
+When the cluster is up, install [ingress-nginx](https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx).
+
+```shell
+kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/deploy/static/provider/kind/deploy.yaml
+# Wait for ingress-nginx to become ready
+kubectl wait --namespace ingress-nginx \
+  --for=condition=ready pod \
+  --selector=app.kubernetes.io/component=controller \
+  --timeout=90s
+```
+
+### Bootstrap Flux
+
+Read the official documentation on how to bootstrap your Flux setup, as I mentioned earlier, I will use [github](https://fluxcd.io/flux/cmd/flux_bootstrap_github/).
+
+Before bootstrapping your cluster, you need to create a github [PAT](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/creating-a-personal-access-token)(Personal Access Token) with enough access.
+
+I have been unable to find exactly what the minimal access needed for the token, so I just created a PAT with all the access. **You** should not do the same.
+
+```shell
+export GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_soooLongAndSecretPAT
+flux bootstrap github --owner=<github-username> --repository=fleet-infra --private=false --personal=true --path=clusters/my-cluster
+```
+
+This will create a repository called fleet-infra in your GitHub account, install Flux to your cluster and setup an autosync to GitHub.
+You should now be able to view Flux running in the `fleet-infra` namespace.
+
+## Install operator using Flux and Kustomize
+
+We are using Flux to package our Kustomize files through OCI, and they are built and released just as our helm solution.
+
+There are two ways of installing the operator, either with namespace access or cluster access,
+take a look at our [documentation](https://grafana-operator.github.io/grafana-operator/docs/grafana/#where-should-the-operator-look-for-grafana-resources) for more information.
+Add the following file to your Flux repo under `clusters/my-cluster/grafana-operator.yaml`.
+
+{{< readfile file="flux-gitops/grafana-operator.yaml" code="true" lang="yaml" >}}
+
+Depending on if you want to install cluster scoped or namespace scoped, you need to change the path.
+
+## Install operator using Kustomize
+
+If you want to install the grafana-operator without using GitOps, you can also download the generated artifact and install it manually.
+For example, you can run the following Flux command to download the artifact and unpack it. Then you can run a normal kubectl apply command.
+
+```shell
+flux pull artifact oci://ghcr.io/grafana-operator/kustomize/grafana-operator:v5.0.0-rc1 --output ./grafana-opreator
+```
+
+But of course we recommend that you manage your grafana-operator installation through your GitOps solution, no matter if it's Flux or some other solution.
+
+## Install Grafana
+
+Okay great, we got grafana-operator installed, but don't we actually want to install a Grafana instance as well?
+
+Let's setup a Grafana instance and some dashboard trough code.
+
+Since we already setup our kind cluster with ingress-nginx I will use one of our basic HTTP examples.
+
+Let's not make this more complicated than it has to be, you should have your secrets in some KMS/vault/sealed-secrets, SOAP or similar solution, but definitely not checked in to your GitOps repository non-encrypted.
+But this is an example, so for this time let's create our admin and password secrets manual.
+
+```shell
+cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
+kind: Secret
+apiVersion: v1
+metadata:
+  name: credentials
+  namespace: grafana
+stringData:
+  GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_PASSWORD: secret
+  GF_SECURITY_ADMIN_USER: root
+type: Opaque
+EOF
+```
+
+Now create our Grafana instance together with a very basic dashboard.
+
+The Grafana instance should be stored in `clusters/my-cluster/grafana/grafana.yaml`
+
+{{< readfile file="flux-gitops/grafana/grafana.yaml" code="true" lang="yaml" >}}
+
+The Grafana dashboard should be stored in `clusters/my-cluster/grafana/dashboard.yaml`
+
+{{< readfile file="flux-gitops/grafana/dashboard.yaml" code="true" lang="yaml" >}}
+
+We also need a Kustomization file to `clusters/my-cluster/grafana/kustomization.yaml` to help Flux to find the files.
+
+{{< readfile file="flux-gitops/grafana/kustomization.yaml" code="true" lang="yaml" >}}
+
+And finally create the Flux kustomization file (yes, the naming is a bit confusing).
+Lets store it in `clusters/my-cluster/grafana.yaml`
+
+{{< readfile file="flux-gitops/grafana.yaml" code="true" lang="yaml" >}}
+
+After pushing the changes to your Flux repository, the changes should be applied to your cluster.
+
+If you don't want to wait for the automatic reconcile, you can run which will trigger a reconcile of the git repo.
+
+```shell
+flux reconcile source git flux-system -n flux-system
+```
+
+You should now be able to go to the Grafana URL that you defined, in my case [http://grafana.127.0.0.1.nip.io](http://grafana.127.0.0.1.nip.io)
+
+And you should see the simple dashboard among your dashboards.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+We have used very basic setup of Flux to install grafana-operator to our cluster. When that was done, we installed a basic Grafana instance and a dashboard giving us dashboards as code.
+
+The dashboard wasn't the prettiest, but it's an easy example.
+Hopefully someone will make a more in depth blog on how to use grafana-operator to bootstrap entire clusters monitoring in the future.