DevOps Bootstrap — Local Kubernetes Lab (WSL2 / Ubuntu)

Goal: Spin up a production-like GitOps environment entirely on your laptop using WSL2, Kind, and ArgoCD.
Stack: Docker · kubectl · Kind · Terraform · AWS CLI · ArgoCD · NGINX Ingress · Prometheus · Grafana · Loki · Promtail

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Repository Layout

DevOps-Bootstrap/
├── devops-bootstrap.sh          ← Install all CLI tools in one shot
├── Kind-Cluster-Setup/
│   └── kind-config.yaml         ← Kind cluster definition (1 control-plane + 2 workers)
├── GitOps-Argocd-Setup/
│   ├── argocd-install.sh        ← Interactive: install / upgrade / delete ArgoCD
│   ├── argocd-ingress.yaml      ← Exposes ArgoCD UI at /argocd via NGINX
│   ├── argocd-diag.sh           ← Quick diagnostics (pods, ingress, logs)
│   └── gitops-agent.yaml        ← Harness GitOps agent manifest (optional)
└── Applications/
    ├── tic-tac-toe/             ← Example containerised web app
    │   ├── Dockerfile
    │   ├── index.html
    │   ├── argocd-manifest.yaml ← ArgoCD Application CR
    │   ├── tic-tac-toe-manifests.yaml
    │   └── manifest/
    │       └── config.yaml      ← Namespace + Deployment + Service + Ingress
    └── monitoring/              ← Full observability stack
        ├── README.md            ← Monitoring-specific docs
        ├── prometheus/
        │   └── argocd-manifest.yaml
        ├── grafana/
        │   └── argocd-manifest.yaml
        ├── loki/
        │   └── argocd-manifest.yaml
        └── promtail/
            └── argocd-manifest.yaml

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Quick Start (End-to-End)

Run these steps in order on a fresh WSL2 / Ubuntu environment.

Step 1 — Install all tools

chmod +x devops-bootstrap.sh
./devops-bootstrap.sh

Installs: Docker, kubectl, Kind, Terraform, AWS CLI v2, ArgoCD CLI — and adds bash completions for each.

After first-time Docker install, log out and back in so group membership takes effect.

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Step 2 — Create the Kind cluster

kind create cluster --config Kind-Cluster-Setup/kind-config.yaml

Property	Value
Cluster name	devops
Topology	1 control-plane + 2 workers
HTTP host port	8080 → container port 80
HTTPS host port	8443 → container port 443
kubeconfig context	kind-devops

Verify:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-devops
kubectl get nodes

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Step 3 — Install NGINX Ingress Controller

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/deploy/static/provider/kind/deploy.yaml

# Wait until ready
kubectl wait --namespace ingress-nginx \
  --for=condition=ready pod \
  --selector=app.kubernetes.io/component=controller \
  --timeout=90s

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Step 4 — Install ArgoCD

cd GitOps-Argocd-Setup
chmod +x argocd-install.sh
./argocd-install.sh
# Select option 1 (Install)

The script:

1. Creates the argocd namespace
2. Applies the official ArgoCD install manifest (version of your choice)
3. Patches argocd-server to run --insecure with rootpath=/argocd
4. Applies argocd-ingress.yaml to expose the UI at /argocd
5. Prints admin credentials and logs in via CLI

Access the UI:

http://localhost:8080/argocd

Credential	Value
Username	admin
Password	printed by script, or run: kubectl get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -n argocd -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d && echo

Change the default password after first login:

argocd account update-password

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How the Ingress Works

Browser → localhost:8080/<path>
              ↓
  Kind extraPortMapping  (hostPort 8080 → containerPort 80)
              ↓
  NGINX Ingress Controller  (ingress-nginx namespace)
              ↓
  Path-based routing:
    /argocd      → argocd-server  (no rewrite; ArgoCD handles rootpath itself)
    /tic-tac-toe → tic-tac-toe    (rewrite-target strips prefix)
    /prometheus  → prometheus     (no rewrite; routePrefix set in Prometheus config)
    /grafana     → grafana        (no rewrite; serve_from_sub_path in Grafana config)

All services speak plain HTTP — no NodePort or kubectl port-forward required.

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Deploying Applications

Tic-Tac-Toe (sample app)

kubectl apply -f Applications/tic-tac-toe/argocd-manifest.yaml

ArgoCD syncs from GitHub (techwhisper-in/tic-tac-toe) and deploys:

Resource	Detail
Namespace	ns-tic-tac-toe
Image	techwhisper/ankit-public:tic-tac-toe_v0.0.1
Replicas	1 (RollingUpdate)
URL	http://localhost:8080/tic-tac-toe

---

Monitoring Stack (Prometheus + Grafana + Loki + Promtail)

kubectl apply -f Applications/monitoring/prometheus/argocd-manifest.yaml
kubectl apply -f Applications/monitoring/grafana/argocd-manifest.yaml
kubectl apply -f Applications/monitoring/loki/argocd-manifest.yaml
kubectl apply -f Applications/monitoring/promtail/argocd-manifest.yaml

Service	URL	Credentials
Grafana	http://localhost:8080/grafana	admin / admin123
Prometheus	http://localhost:8080/prometheus	—
Loki	internal only (no ingress)	—

Pre-loaded Grafana dashboards:

Dashboard	ID
Kubernetes Cluster	7249
Node Exporter Full	1860
Loki Kubernetes Logs	13639

See Applications/monitoring/README.md for full component details, in-cluster service URLs, and lessons learned.

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Managing ArgoCD

The argocd-install.sh script offers three options at runtime:

Option	Action
1	Install ArgoCD (or reinstall)
2	Upgrade ArgoCD to a new version
3	Delete ArgoCD and remove all CRDs

Useful ArgoCD CLI commands

argocd app list                 # List all applications
argocd app get <app-name>       # App health + sync status
argocd app sync <app-name>      # Trigger manual sync
argocd app rollback <app-name>  # Roll back to previous version
argocd app delete <app-name>    # Delete app + cascade resources

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Diagnostics

# ArgoCD-specific (pods, ingress, logs)
bash GitOps-Argocd-Setup/argocd-diag.sh

# Cluster-level
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A
kubectl get ingress -A

# Watch monitoring rollout
kubectl get pods -n ns-monitoring -w

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GitOps Workflow (Day-to-Day)

Developer  →  git push  →  GitHub Repo
                                ↓
                      ArgoCD detects diff (every 3 min, or webhook)
                                ↓
                       Auto-sync to Kind cluster
                          (prune: true · selfHeal: true)
                                ↓
                      App is Synced + Healthy ✅

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Tool Versions Installed

Run the bootstrap script and it will print installed versions at the end:

Docker:     docker version ...
kubectl:    Client Version ...
kind:       kind v...
Terraform:  Terraform v...
AWS CLI:    aws-cli/2.x.x
ArgoCD CLI: argocd v...

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Prerequisites Summary

Tool	Purpose	Installed by
Docker	Container runtime (required by Kind)	devops-bootstrap.sh
kubectl	Kubernetes CLI	devops-bootstrap.sh
kind	Kubernetes-in-Docker	devops-bootstrap.sh
Terraform	Infrastructure as Code	devops-bootstrap.sh
AWS CLI v2	AWS cloud operations	devops-bootstrap.sh
ArgoCD CLI	GitOps app management	devops-bootstrap.sh
NGINX Ingress	In-cluster ingress routing	Step 3 above