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Lab 005: Deploy Drupal on Kubernetes

Requirements​

The Nautilus Application Development team is planning to deploy Drupal application on Kubernetes cluster as part of their infrastructure modernization initiative. Drupal is a powerful and flexible content management system that requires database backend and persistent storage for proper operation.

The deployment should include:

  • MySQL or MariaDB database backend
  • Drupal application deployment with persistent storage for file uploads and configurations
  • Service to expose Drupal externally via NodePort
  • ConfigMap for Drupal configuration
  • Secrets for database credentials
Note

This lab demonstrates deploying a full-stack content management system on Kubernetes with proper separation of concerns using Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, and Secrets.

Prerequisites​

  • Access to Kubernetes cluster via kubectl
  • kubectl configured to work with the target cluster
  • Sufficient cluster resources for Drupal and MySQL deployments
  • Understanding of multi-tier application deployment patterns

Steps​

Create the necessary Kubernetes manifests for Drupal deployment:

# Step 1: Create database secret
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: drupal-db-secret
type: Opaque
stringData:
  username: drupal_user
  password: drupal_secure_password
  database: drupal_db
---
# Step 2: Create MySQL deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: mysql-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: mysql
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: mysql
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: mysql
        image: mysql:5.7
        env:
        - name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: password
        - name: MYSQL_DATABASE
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: database
        - name: MYSQL_USER
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: username
        ports:
        - containerPort: 3306
---
# Step 3: Create MySQL service
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: mysql-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: mysql
  ports:
  - port: 3306
    targetPort: 3306
  type: ClusterIP
---
# Step 4: Create Drupal deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: drupal-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: drupal
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: drupal
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: drupal
        image: drupal:9-apache
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
        env:
        - name: DRUPAL_DB_HOST
          value: mysql-service
        - name: DRUPAL_DB_NAME
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: database
        - name: DRUPAL_DB_USER
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: username
        - name: DRUPAL_DB_PASSWORD
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: drupal-db-secret
              key: password
        volumeMounts:
        - name: drupal-storage
          mountPath: /var/www/html/sites/default/files
      volumes:
      - name: drupal-storage
        emptyDir: {}
---
# Step 5: Create Drupal service
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: drupal-service
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: drupal
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    nodePort: 30080

Apply the manifests:

# Apply all resources
kubectl apply -f drupal-deployment.yaml

# Monitor deployment
kubectl get deployments
kubectl get services
kubectl get pods

Verification​

Verify that both MySQL and Drupal deployments are running properly:

# Check MySQL deployment
kubectl get deployment mysql-deployment
kubectl get service mysql-service

# Check Drupal deployment
kubectl get deployment drupal-deployment
kubectl get service drupal-service

# Check pod status
kubectl get pods

# View logs
kubectl logs deployment/mysql-deployment
kubectl logs deployment/drupal-deployment

# Access Drupal
# Via NodePort: http://<node-ip>:30080
# Via port-forward: kubectl port-forward service/drupal-service 8080:80

Resources​