Deploy an application on k3s cluster

We will deploy the mealie application on our kuberentes cluster and expose it for external access.

Step 1. Create a dedicated namespace for Mealie

k create ns mealie

## view namespaces
k get ns

Step 2. Create a deployment

Method 1: Create a YAML template using nginx image and modify the file with our application image and other app requirements.

Generate a deployment YAML file:

k create deploy mealie --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml -n mealie > deploy.yaml

Edit the deploy.yaml file to customize it for Mealie.

Make the following changes:

• Replace the image with the Mealie image:

image: ghcr.io/mealie-recipes/mealie:v3.11.0

• Add a ports section to expose the container port:

ports:
  - containerPort: 9000

Save and exit the file.

Apply the updated deployment:

k apply -f deploy.yaml

Method 2: You could just run this single command to create the deployment:

k create deploy mealie --image=ghcr.io/mealie-recipes/mealie:v3.11.0 --port=9000 -o yaml -n mealie

If you want a manifest (YAML file), dry run the above command and then apply that file like this:

k create deploy mealie --image=ghcr.io/mealie-recipes/mealie:v3.11.0 --port=9000 --dry-run=client -o yaml -n mealie > deploy.yaml

k apply -f deploy.yaml

Verify that the pods are running:

k get pods -o wide -n mealie

Step 3. Access the application internally

curl <pod_ip>:9000

We can get the pod's IP from the previous command.

Step 4. Expose application for external access

Now, we can expose the application using a service:

k expose deployment mealie --type=LoadBalancer --port=8080 --target-port=9000 -n mealie

k3s automatically assigns an external IP for service of type LoadBalancer.

Step 5. Access application externally

Get the external IP of the service from:

k get svc -n mealie

We can now reach our application from an external browser using the external ip and port number:

http://<external_ip>:8080

We are able to curl directly to the External IP.

Now try to access it from another desktop:

There we go! We have successfully deployed the mealie application and made it available to reach from anywhere!