Capstone: Guestbook Project

This capstone ties together everything you have learned. You will deploy a simple guestbook application three different ways:

1. Raw Kubernetes manifests
2. A Helm chart
3. An ArgoCD Application

Architecture

The application consists of a frontend web UI and a Redis backend (one master and two replicas).

Included Files

• deployment.yaml — Guestbook frontend Deployment with 3 replicas.
• service.yaml — NodePort Service exposing the frontend on port 30080.
• helm/ — A complete Helm chart for the guestbook application.
• argocd-application.yaml — An ArgoCD Application manifest that syncs the Helm chart.

Local Deployment Instructions

Option A: kind

kind create cluster --name k8s-guide
cd capstone
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml -f service.yaml
kubectl port-forward svc/guestbook 8080:80
# Open http://localhost:8080

Option B: k3d

k3d cluster create k8s-guide
cd capstone
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml -f service.yaml
kubectl port-forward svc/guestbook 8080:80
# Open http://localhost:8080

Option C: Helm

cd capstone/helm
helm install guestbook .
kubectl port-forward svc/guestbook-guestbook 8080:80
# Open http://localhost:8080

Option D: ArgoCD

# Install ArgoCD in your cluster first
kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml
kubectl apply -f argocd-application.yaml

Download the Capstone

Download all capstone files as a ZIP archive.

Rebel Training: Operation Homecoming

Convoy Sigma's final run. Deliver the Guestbook payload to the target colony. Prove you can deploy, scale, and debug under pressure — four tiers, no shortcuts.

T1 — Recall

T2 — Build

T3 — Order

T4 — Debug