Work with private Git repositories in Namespace Provisioner

This topic tells you how to configure Namespace Provisioner to use private Git repositories for storing GitOps based installation files, and platform operator templated resources that you want to create in your developer namespace in Tanzu Application Platform (commonly known as TAP).

Git Authentication for using a private Git repository

Authentication is provided using a secret in the tap-namespace-provisioning namespace, or an existing secret in another namespace referred to in the secretRef in the additional_sources. For more details, see Customize Installation of Namespace Provisioner.

Create the Git Authentication secret in tap-namespace-provisioning namespace

The secrets for Git authentication allow the following keys: ssh-privatekey, ssh-knownhosts, username, and password. If ssh-knownhosts is not specified, Git does not perform strict host checking.

Important

Namespace Provisioner relies on kapp-controller for any tasks involving communication with external services, such as registries or Git repositories. When operating in air-gapped environments or other scenarios where external services are secured by a Custom CA certificate, you must configure kapp-controller with the CA certificate data to prevent X.509 certificate errors. For more information, see Deploy onto Cluster in the Cluster Essentials for VMware Tanzu documentation.

  1. Create the Git secret:

    Using HTTP(s) based Authentication
    If you are using Username and Password for authentication:
    cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: git-auth
      namespace: tap-namespace-provisioning
    type: Opaque
    stringData:
      username: GIT-USERNAME
      password: GIT-PASSWORD
    EOF
    
    Using SSH based Authentication
    If you are using SSH private key for authentication:
    cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: git-auth
      namespace: tap-namespace-provisioning
    type: Opaque
    stringData:
      ssh-privatekey: |
          -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
          ..
          -----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----
    EOF
    
  2. Add the secretRef section to the additional_sources and the gitops_install section of your tap-values.yaml file:

    Using Namespace Provisioner Controller
    Description
    namespace_provisioner:
      controller: true
      additional_sources:
      - git:
          ref: origin/main
          subPath: sources
          # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
          url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
          secretRef:
            name: git-auth
    
    Using GitOps
    Description

    In this example, the location where the list of namespaces resides is also a private repository. So you must create a secret named git-auth-install with the same authentication details.

    namespace_provisioner:
      controller: false
      additional_sources:
      - git:
          ref: origin/main
          subPath: tekton-pipelines
          # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
          url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
          secretRef:
            name: git-auth
      gitops_install:
        ref: origin/main
        subPath: gitops-install
        # This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
        url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
        secretRef:
          name: git-auth-install
    


Import from another namespace

If you already have a Git secret created in a namespace other than tap-namespace-provisioning namespace and you want to refer to that, the secretRef section should have the namespace mentioned with the create_export flag. The default value for create_export is false as it assumes the Secret is already exported for tap-namespace-provisioning namespace, but allows you to specify if you want the Namespace Provisioner to create a Carvel SecretExport for that secret.

The example refers to git-auth secret from tap-install in the secretRef section.

Using Namespace Provisioner Controller
Description
namespace_provisioner:
  controller: true
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: sources
      #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
          name: git-auth
          namespace: tap-install
          #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
          create_export: true
Using GitOps
Description
namespace_provisioner:
  controller: false
  additional_sources:
  - git:
      ref: origin/main
      subPath: tekton-pipelines
      #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
      url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
      secretRef:
          name: git-auth
          namespace: tap-install
          #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
          create_export: true
  gitops_install:
    ref: origin/main
    subPath: gitops-install
    #! This example URL is for SSH auth. Use https:// path if using HTTPS auth
    url: [email protected]:private-repo-org/repo.git
    secretRef:
      name: git-auth-install
      namespace: tap-install
      #! If this secret is already exported for this namespace, you can ignore the create_export key as it defaults to false
      create_export: true

After reconciling, Namespace Provisioner creates:

  • SecretExport for the secret in the provided namespace (tap-install in the above example) to the Namespace Provisioner namespace.
  • SecretImport for the secret in Namespace Provisioning namespace (tap-namespace-provisioning) so Carvel secretgen-controller can create the required secret for the Namespace Provisioner to connect to the private Git repository.

Git Authentication for Private Repository for Workloads and Supply chain

To either fetch or push source code from or to a repository that requires credentials, you must provide those through a Kubernetes secret object referenced by the intended Kubernetes object created for performing the action. The following sections provide details about how to appropriately set up Kubernetes secrets for carrying those credentials forward to the proper resources.

This section provides instructions on how to configure the default service account to work with private Git repositories for workloads and supply chain using Namespace Provisioner.

To configure the service account to work with private Git repositories, follow the steps below:

  1. Create a secret in the tap-install namespace or any namespace of your preference, that contains the Git credentials in YAML format.

    • host, username, and password, or personal access token values for HTTP based Git Authentication.
    • ssh-privatekey, identity, identity_pub, and known_hosts for SSH based Git Authentication.
    Note

    The stringData key of the secret must have .yaml or .yml suffix at the end.

    Using HTTP(s) based Authentication
    If using Username and Password for authentication.
    cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: workload-git-auth
      namespace: tap-install
    type: Opaque
    stringData:
      content.yaml: |
        git:
          #! For HTTP Auth. Recommend using https:// for the git server.
          host: GIT-SERVER
          username: GIT-USERNAME
          password: GIT-PASSWORD
    EOF
    
    Using SSH based Authentication
    If you are using SSH private key for authentication, create the Git secret with authentication details as follows:
    cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: workload-git-auth
      namespace: tap-install
    type: Opaque
    stringData:
      content.yaml: |
        git:
          host: GIT-SERVER
          #! For SSH Auth
          ssh_privatekey: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY
          identity: SSH-PRIVATE-KEY
          identity_pub: SSH-PUBLIC-KEY
          known_hosts: GIT-SERVER-PUBLIC-KEYS
    EOF
    
  2. To create a secret that will be added to the service account in the developer namespace within the GitOps repository, use this example or follow the example provided below.

    Instead of directly including the actual user name and password in the Git repository secret, use the data.values.imported keys to add references to the values from the git-auth secret created in Step 1.

    This secret represents the actual Git secret that will be created by the Namespace Provisioner in each managed namespace. It should be included in your Git repository linked in the additional_sources section of tap-values.yaml mentioned in Step 4.

    Using HTTP(s) based Authentication
    If using Username and Password for authentication.
    #@ load("@ytt:data", "data")
    ---
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: git
      annotations:
        tekton.dev/git-0: #@ data.values.imported.git.host
    type: kubernetes.io/basic-auth
    stringData:
      username: #@ data.values.imported.git.username
      password: #@ data.values.imported.git.token
    
    Using SSH based Authentication
    If using SSH private key for authentication:
    #@ load("@ytt:data", "data")
    ---
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: git
      annotations:
        tekton.dev/git-0: #@ data.values.imported.git.host
    type: kubernetes.io/ssh-auth
    stringData:
      identity: #@ data.values.imported.git.identity
      identity.pub: #@ data.values.imported.git.identity_pub
      known_hosts: #@ data.values.imported.git.known_hosts
      ssh-privatekey: #@ data.values.imported.git.ssh_privatekey
    
  3. Combine this tap-values.yaml:

    Using Namespace Provisioner Controller
    Add the following configuration to tap-values.yaml:
    namespace_provisioner:
      controller: true
      additional_sources:
      - git:
          ref: origin/main
          subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/credentials
          url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
      import_data_values_secrets:
      - name: workload-git-auth
        namespace: tap-install
        create_export: true
      default_parameters:
        supply_chain_service_account:
          secrets:
          - git
    
    Using GitOps
    Add the following configuration to tap-values.yaml:
    namespace_provisioner:
      controller: false
      additional_sources:
      - git:
          ref: origin/main
          subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/credentials
          url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
      gitops_install:
        ref: origin/main
        subPath: ns-provisioner-samples/gitops-install
        url: https://github.com/vmware-tanzu/application-accelerator-samples.git
      import_data_values_secrets:
      - name: workload-git-auth
        namespace: tap-install
        create_export: true
      default_parameters:
        supply_chain_service_account:
          secrets:
          - git
    
    • First additional source points to the location where the templated Git secret resides which will be created in all developer namespaces.
    • Import the newly created workload-git-auth secret into Namespace Provisioner to use in data.values.imported by adding the secret to the import_data_values_secrets.
    • Add the secret to be added to the ServiceAccount in the default_parameters. For more information, see Customize service accounts.
    Note

    create_export is set to true in import_data_values_secrets, as a result, a SecretExport is created for the workload-git-auth secret in the tap-install namespace automatically by Namespace Provisioner. After the changes are reconciled, the secret named git is in all provisioned namespaces and is also added to the default service account of those namespaces.

  4. In your tap-values.yaml file, in the ootb_supply_chain_*.gitops.ssh_secret section, specify the name of the Git secret that contains the credentials. This is necessary for the supply chain to include the secretRef when creating the Flux GitRepository resource. Here is an example:

    ootb_supply_chain_testing_scanning:
      gitops:
        ssh_secret: git  # Replace with the actual name of your Git secret for the workload, if different
    

    By providing this configuration, the supply chain associates the created GitRepository resource with the specified Git secret managed by the Namespace Provisioner.

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