Deploying CTRL

Purpose/Aim

This guide aims to provide a clear step-by-step process for deployment the CTRL platform using Kubernetes and Helm on a VM.

Tools

• helm - package manager for Kubernetes that automates the creation, packaging, and deployment of applications. It allows you to reuse charts (packages of YAML templates) and provides an easy way to manage configurable deployments through values.yaml.
• kubernetes - open-source container orchestration system used to automate the deployment, scaling, and management of containerised applications. It uses declarative configuration via YAML files and CLI tools (kubectl) to manage services and infrastructure.

Process

1. Set up Kubernetes (k3s recommended)

   Install a Kubernetes distribution in order to orchestrate the ctrl deployment (k3s is our preferred distribution, see instructions).

2. Prepare Configuration (values.yaml)

   Installation is via the GUARDIANS Helm chart which includes cert-manager for TLS and Nginx-ingress

   Refer: https://github.com/Garvan-Data-Science-Platform/guardians-charts/blob/main/guardians/values.yaml

   Create a values.yaml file to define deployment-specific configuration:

   
   elsa:
     enabled: false
   
   ctrl:
     config:
       smtp:
         - host: mailerexample.host.com
           port: 587
           username: user
           password: password
   
     userClient:
       hostname: admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
     adminClient:
       hostname: admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
   
     ingress:
       enabled: true
       annotations:
         acme.cert-manager.io/http01-edit-in-place: "true"
         cert-manager.io/issuer: "letsencrypt-prod"
       hosts:
         userClient:
           host: admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
         adminClient:
           host: admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
       tls:
         - hosts:
             - admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
           secretName: cert-manager-user-tls
         - hosts:
             - admin.[your.ctrl.org.au]
           secretName: cert-manager-admin-tls
   
   letsencryptEmail: you@example.com

   NOTE(s):

   • Make sure your domain names (e.g. your.ctrl.org.au) are pointing to your server or VM's public IP via DNS.
   • TLS support requires cert-manager (on by default)

3. Install Helm

   Install helm to automate the configuration using CTRLs helm charts (see instructions). Helm charts can also be installed with the helm Terraform provider.

4. Deploy CTRL w/ Helm

   helm upgrade --install <release-name> oci://australia-southeast1-docker.pkg.dev/dsp-registry-410602/garvan-public/guardians -f <path/to/values.yaml> --kubeconfig /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml

   NOTE(s):

   • <release-name> e.g. garvan-ctrl
   • <path/to/values.yaml> e.g. ~/values.yaml
   • /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml - This path by default. Replace with your actual kubeconfig path if different

5. Verify Deployment

   use kubectl to verify that the deployment was successful:

   # Check running pods
   kubectl get pods

   ✅ All pods will reach the Running state with no crash loops or errors.

6. Access CTRL in Browser

   Navigate to the domain(s) you configured to confirm that the CTRL user portal and admin portal are running.