Kubernetes: Managing environment config - docker

Question

The reccomended method for managing environment configuration containers running in a pod is through the use of configmap. See the docs here.
This is great although we have containers that require massive amounts of environment variables, this will only expand in the future. Using the prescribed configmap method this become unweildy and hard to manage.
For example a simple deplyment file becomes massive:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: my-app-api
labels:
name: my-app-api
environment: staging
spec:
type: LoadBalancer
ports:
- port: 80
targetPort: 80
protocol: TCP
name: http
selector:
name: my-app-api
environment: staging
---
apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: my-app-api
spec:
replicas: 2
revisionHistoryLimit: 10
template:
metadata:
labels:
name: my-app-api
environment: staging
spec:
containers:
- name: my-app-api
imagePullPolicy: Always
image: myapp/my-app-api:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 80
env:
- name: API_HOST
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: API_ENV
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: API_DEBUG
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: API_KEY
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: EJ_API_ENDPOINT
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: WEB_HOST
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: AWS_ACCESS_KEY
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: AWS_SECRET_KEY
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: CDN
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: STRIPE_KEY
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: STRIPE_SECRET
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: DB_HOST
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: MYSQL_DATABASE
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
- name: REDIS_HOST
value: XXXXXXXXXXX
imagePullSecrets:
- name: my-registry-key
Are there alternate easy to inject a central environment configuration?
UPDATE
This was proposed for 1.5 although did not make the cut and looks like it will be included in 1.6. Fingers crossed...

Answer 1

There is a proposal currently targeted for 1.5 that aims to make this easier. As proposed, you would be able to pull all variables from a ConfigMap in one go, without having to spell out each one separately.
If implemented, it would allow you to do something like this:
Warning: This doesn't actually work yet!
ConfigMap:
apiVersion: v1
data:
space-ships: 1
ship-type: battle-cruiser
weapon: laser-cannon
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
name: space-config
Deployment:
apiVersion: extensions/v1beta1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: space-simulator
spec:
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: space-simulator
spec:
containers:
- name: space-simulator
image: foo/space-simulator
# This is the magic piece that would allow you to avoid all that boilerplate!
- envFrom:
configMap: space-config