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Chapter 20. Exposing services on the application network using YAML

After creating an application network by linking sites, you can expose services from one site using connectors and consume those services on other sites using listeners. A routing key is a string that matches one or more connectors with one or more listeners. For example, if you create a connector with the routing key backend, you need to create a listener with the routing key backend to consume that service.

This section assumes you have created and linked at least two sites.

20.1. Creating a connector using YAML
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A connector binds a local workload to listeners in remote sites. Listeners and connectors are matched using routing keys.

For more information about connectors see Connector concept

Procedure

  1. Create a workload that you want to expose on the network, for example: 

    kubectl create deployment backend --image quay.io/skupper/hello-world-backend --replicas 3
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  2. Create a connector resource YAML file: 

    apiVersion: skupper.io/v2alpha1
kind: Connector
metadata:
  name: backend
  namespace: east
spec:
  routingKey: backend
  selector: app=backend
  port: 8080
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    This creates a connector in the east site and exposes the backend deployment on the network on port 8080. You can create a listener on a different site using the matching routing key backend to address this service.

    To create the connector resource: 

    kubectl apply -f <filename>
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    where <filename> is the name of a YAML file that is saved on your local filesystem.

  3. Check the connector status: 

    kubectl get connector
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    For example: 

    NAME    STATUS  ROUTING-KEY     SELECTOR        HOST    PORT    HAS MATCHING LISTENER    MESSAGE
backend Pending backend         app=backend             8080    false   No matching listeners
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    📌 NOTE By default, the routing key name is set to the name of the connector. If you want to use a custom routing key, set the --routing-key to your custom name.

There are many options to consider when creating connectors using YAML, see CLI Reference, including frequently used options.

20.2. Creating a listener using YAML
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A listener binds a local connection endpoint to connectors in remote sites. Listeners and connectors are matched using routing keys.

Procedure

  1. Identify a connector that you want to use. Note the routing key of that connector.

  2. Create a listener resource YAML file: 

    apiVersion: skupper.io/v2alpha1
kind: Listener
metadata:
  name: backend
  namespace: west
spec:
  routingKey: backend
  host: east-backend
  port: 8080
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    This creates a listener in the west site and matches with the connector that uses the routing key backend. It also creates a service named east-backend exposed on port 8080 in the current namespace.

    To create the connector resource: 

    kubectl apply -f <filename>
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    where <filename> is the name of a YAML file that is saved on your local filesystem.

  3. Check the listener status: 

    kubectl get listener
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    For example: 

    NAME      ROUTING KEY   PORT   HOST           STATUS   HAS MATCHING CONNECTOR   MESSAGE
backend   backend       8080   east-backend   Ready    true                     OK
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    📌 NOTE There must be a MATCHING-CONNECTOR for the service to operate.

There are many options to consider when creating connectors using YAML, see CLI Reference, including frequently used options.

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