Installation

Argo CD has two type of installations: multi-tenant and core.

Multi-Tenant

The multi-tenant installation is the most common way to install Argo CD. This type of installation is typically used to service multiple application developer teams in the organization and maintained by a platform team.

The end-users can access Argo CD via the API server using the Web UI or argocd CLI. The argocd CLI has to be configured using argocd login <server-host> command (learn more here).

Two types of installation manifests are provided:

Non High Availability:

Not recommended for production use. This type of installation is typically used during evaluation period for demonstrations and testing.

  • install.yaml - Standard Argo CD installation with cluster-admin access. Use this manifest set if you plan to use Argo CD to deploy applications in the same cluster that Argo CD runs in (i.e. kubernetes.svc.default). It will still be able to deploy to external clusters with inputted credentials.

  • namespace-install.yaml - Installation of Argo CD which requires only namespace level privileges (does not need cluster roles). Use this manifest set if you do not need Argo CD to deploy applications in the same cluster that Argo CD runs in, and will rely solely on inputted cluster credentials. An example of using this set of manifests is if you run several Argo CD instances for different teams, where each instance will be deploying applications to external clusters. It will still be possible to deploy to the same cluster (kubernetes.svc.default) with inputted credentials (i.e. argocd cluster add <CONTEXT> --in-cluster --namespace <YOUR NAMESPACE>).

Note: Argo CD CRDs are not included into namespace-install.yaml. and have to be installed separately. The CRD manifests are located in the manifests/crds directory. Use the following command to install them: kubectl apply -k https://github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/manifests/crds\?ref\=stable

High Availability:

High Availability installation is recommended for production use. This bundle includes the same components but tuned for high availability and resiliency.

  • ha/install.yaml - the same as install.yaml but with multiple replicas for supported components.

  • ha/namespace-install.yaml - the same as namespace-install.yaml but with multiple replicas for supported components.

Core

The core installation is most suitable for cluster administrators who independently use Argo CD and don’t need multi-tenancy features. This installation includes fewer components and is easier to setup. The bundle does not include the API server or UI, and installs the lightweight (non-HA) version of each component.

The end-users need Kubernetes access to manage Argo CD. The argocd CLI has to be configured using the following commands:

  1. kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=argocd # change current kube context to argocd namespace
  2. argocd login --core

The Web UI is also available and can be started using the argocd admin dashboard command.

Installation manifests are available at core-install.yaml.

Kustomize

The Argo CD manifests can also be installed using Kustomize. It is recommended to include the manifest as a remote resource and apply additional customizations using Kustomize patches.

  1. apiVersion: kustomize.config.k8s.io/v1beta1
  2. kind: Kustomization
  4. namespace: argocd
  5. resources:
  6. - github.com/argoproj/argo-cd/manifests/ha/base?ref=v2.6.2

Helm

The Argo CD can be installed using Helm. The Helm chart is currently community maintained and available at argo-helm/charts/argo-cd.

Supported versions

Similar to the Kubernetes project, the supported versions of Argo CD at any given point in time are the latest patch releases for the N and N - 1 minor versions. These Argo CD versions are supported on the same versions of Kubernetes that are supported by Kubernetes itself (normally the last 3 released versions).

Essentially the Argo CD project follows the same support scheme as Kubernetes but for N, N-1 while Kubernetes supports N, N-1, N-2 versions.

For example if the latest minor version of ArgoCD are 2.4.3 and 2.3.5 while supported Kubernetes versions are 1.24, 1.23 and 1.22 then the following combinations are supported:

  • Argo CD 2.4.3 on Kubernetes 1.24
  • Argo CD 2.4.3 on Kubernetes 1.23
  • Argo CD 2.4.3 on Kubernetes 1.22
  • Argo CD 2.3.5 on Kubernetes 1.24
  • Argo CD 2.3.5 on Kubernetes 1.23
  • Argo CD 2.3.5 on Kubernetes 1.22