ArgoRollouts

Argo Rollouts Skill

Comprehensive guide for Argo Rollouts - a Kubernetes controller providing advanced deployment capabilities including blue-green, canary, and experimentation for Kubernetes.

Quick Reference

Resource	Description
Rollout	Replaces Deployment, adds progressive delivery strategies
AnalysisTemplate	Defines metrics queries for automated analysis
AnalysisRun	Instantiated analysis from template
Experiment	Runs ReplicaSets for A/B testing
ClusterAnalysisTemplate	Cluster-scoped AnalysisTemplate

Core Concepts

Rollout CRD

The Rollout resource replaces standard Kubernetes Deployment and provides:

• Blue-Green Strategy: Instant traffic switching between versions
• Canary Strategy: Gradual traffic shifting with analysis gates
• Traffic Management: Integration with service meshes and ingress controllers
• Automated Analysis: Metrics-based promotion/rollback decisions

Deployment Strategies

Blue-Green:

strategy:
  blueGreen:
    activeService: my-app-active
    previewService: my-app-preview
    autoPromotionEnabled: false

Canary:

strategy:
  canary:
    steps:
    - setWeight: 20
    - pause: {duration: 5m}
    - setWeight: 50
    - analysis:
        templates:
        - templateName: success-rate

Traffic Management Integrations

Provider	Configuration Key
Istio	trafficRouting.istio
NGINX Ingress	trafficRouting.nginx
AWS ALB	trafficRouting.alb
Linkerd	trafficRouting.linkerd
SMI	trafficRouting.smi
Traefik	trafficRouting.traefik
Ambassador	trafficRouting.ambassador

CLI Commands (kubectl-argo-rollouts)

# Installation
kubectl argo rollouts version

# Rollout Management
kubectl argo rollouts get rollout <name>
kubectl argo rollouts status <name>
kubectl argo rollouts promote <name>
kubectl argo rollouts abort <name>
kubectl argo rollouts retry <name>
kubectl argo rollouts undo <name>
kubectl argo rollouts pause <name>
kubectl argo rollouts restart <name>

# Dashboard
kubectl argo rollouts dashboard

# Validation
kubectl argo rollouts lint <file>

Analysis Providers

Provider	Use Case
Prometheus	Metrics queries with PromQL
Datadog	Datadog metrics API
New Relic	NRQL queries
Wavefront	Wavefront queries
Kayenta	Canary analysis platform
CloudWatch	AWS CloudWatch metrics
Web	HTTP endpoint checks
Job	Kubernetes Job-based analysis

Reference Documentation

• Summary - Overview and architecture
• Deployment Strategies - Blue-green and canary details
• CLI Commands - kubectl plugin reference
• Analysis & Metrics - AnalysisTemplate configuration
• Examples - Complete YAML examples

Common Patterns

Canary with Automated Analysis

steps:
- setWeight: 10
- pause: {duration: 1m}
- analysis:
    templates:
    - templateName: success-rate
    args:
    - name: service-name
      value: my-service
- setWeight: 50
- pause: {duration: 2m}

Blue-Green with Pre-Promotion Analysis

strategy:
  blueGreen:
    activeService: active-svc
    previewService: preview-svc
    prePromotionAnalysis:
      templates:
      - templateName: smoke-tests
    autoPromotionEnabled: false

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Rollout stuck in Paused	Run kubectl argo rollouts promote <name>
Analysis failing	Check AnalysisRun status and metric queries
Traffic not shifting	Verify traffic management provider config
Pods not scaling	Check HPA and resource limits

Best Practices

1. Always use analysis gates for production canaries
2. Set appropriate pause durations between weight increases
3. Configure rollback thresholds in AnalysisTemplates
4. Use preview services for blue-green validation
5. Monitor AnalysisRuns during deployments
6. Version your AnalysisTemplates alongside application code