There are two deployment options for the sidecar.

As a Helper Process

This usage model applies to any container-based environment and requires that the sidecar binaries be bundled along with the application in the same Docker image. Binary tarballs are available at the Amalgam8 releases page on GitHub. To use the binary tarballs, add the following line to your Dockerfile:

RUN curl -sSL https://github.com/amalgam8/amalgam8/releases/download/${VERSION}/a8sidecar.sh | sh

If you are using wget

RUN wget -qO- https://github.com/amalgam8/amalgam8/releases/download/${VERSION}/a8sidecar.sh | sh

Replace ${VERSION} with the specific version of Amalgam8 you would like. The set of releases are available here.

Note: The above script is intended for Debian and Ubuntu based docker images only.

Make sure to launch the sidecar along with your application. The sidecar can be launched using the a8sidecar command. Refer to the configuration options page for details on how to configure the sidecar.

A typical docker file will look like this:

FROM <somebaseimage>
RUN curl -sSL https://github.com/amalgam8/amalgam8/releases/download/${VERSION}/a8sidecar.sh | sh

## Install your app stuff here

## script_to_launch_sidecar_and_app

The sidecar can also serve as a supervisor process that automatically starts up your application. When the application dies, the sidecar exits with the same exit code as the application, causing the container to terminate as well.

To use the sidecar to manage your application, set the ENTRYPOINT of your Dockerfile as follows:

ENTRYPOINT ["a8sidecar", "--config", "path/to/sidecar/config.yaml"]

In the sidecar’s configuration file, provide the following arguments:

supervise: true
app: [ "python", "helloworld.py" ]

As a Helper Container in the Same Pod

This model applies to Kubernetes-based deployments. Each pod would have the microservice running in one container and the sidecar in another. No changes are needed to the application’s Dockerfile. Modify your service’s YAML file to launch the sidecar as another container in the same pod as your application container. The latest version of the sidecar is available in Docker Hub in two formats:

amalgam8/a8-sidecar - ubuntu-based version
amalgam8/a8-sidecar:alpine - alpine linux based version

A typical Kubernetes YAML file for a service would look like the following:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ReplicationController
metadata:
  name: service_name
  labels:
    name: service_name
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    name: service_name
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: service_name
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: myMicroservice
        image: myMicroservice_docker_image
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        ports:
        - containerPort: <SomePort>
      - name: sidecar
        image: amalgam8/a8-sidecar:alpine
        imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
        ports:
        - containerPort: 6379
        env:
        - name: A8_REGISTER
          value: "true"
        - name: A8_PROXY
          value: "true"
        - name: A8_CONTROLLER_URL
          value: http://controllerURL
        - name: A8_CONTROLLER_POLL
          value: 5s
        - name: A8_REGISTRY_POLL
          value: 5s
        - name: A8_REGISTRY_URL
          value: http://registryURL
        - name: A8_SERVICE
          value: service_name:service_version,other_tags
        - name: A8_ENDPOINT_HOST
          valueFrom:
            fieldRef:
              fieldPath: status.podIP
        - name: A8_ENDPOINT_PORT
          value: "<Port_where_service_is_listening>"