How do I deploy a service?¶

Keyword: How do I deploy a service on SmartTouch?

SmartTouch uses a GitOps deployment model. You push code; GitHub Actions builds and tests it; Argo CD detects the manifest change and deploys to the target environment. You don't run kubectl apply or access the cluster directly.

Goal¶

Deploy a new version of the Remote Access Service to the dev environment.

Prerequisites¶

A valid smarttouch.yaml SSD file committed to your repository—see Create the Remote Access Service SSD
Container image built and pushed to Harbor—see Build and push the Remote Access Service image
stctl installed and authenticated

How the deployment pipeline works¶

git push (feature branch)
        ↓
GitHub Actions: lint → test → build image → push to Harbor
        ↓
GitHub Actions: update image tag in k8s/overlays/dev/
        ↓
Argo CD: detects manifest change → syncs cluster
        ↓
Service running in dev environment

Argo CD polls Git every 3 minutes. A deployment to dev typically completes within 5 minutes of a push.

Steps¶

Step 1—Update the image tag in your SSD¶

When you release a new version, update the image tag in smarttouch.yaml:

deployment:
  image: harbor.smarttouch.io/myteam/remote-access-service:1.1.0

Commit and push:

git add smarttouch.yaml
git commit -m "feat: update remote-access-service to v1.1.0"
git push origin feature/v1.1.0

Step 2—Open a pull request¶

Open a pull request against main. GitHub Actions runs automatically:

✔  Lint passed
✔  Unit tests passed (47/47)
✔  Image built: harbor.smarttouch.io/myteam/remote-access-service:1.1.0
✔  Image pushed to Harbor
✔  Harbor vulnerability scan: PASS
✔  Manifest updated: k8s/overlays/dev/kustomization.yaml

The pipeline automatically commits manifest update to the k8s/overlays/dev/ overlay. You don't need to update the overlay manually.

Step 3—Merge the pull request¶

When all checks pass and the required reviewer has approved, merge the pull request to main.

Argo CD detects the manifest change within 3 minutes and begins the deployment.

Step 4—Monitor the deployment¶

Track deployment progress:

stctl status --env dev --service remote-access-service

During a rolling update, the output shows the old and new replica counts:

Service:     remote-access-service
Environment: dev
Status:      Deploying
Replicas:    1/2 ready  (1 old, 1 new)
Image:       harbor.smarttouch.io/myteam/remote-access-service:1.1.0

Wait until Replicas: 2/2 ready before proceeding.

Step 5—Verify the new version¶

stctl status --env dev --service remote-access-service

Expected output after a successful deployment:

Service:     remote-access-service
Environment: dev
Status:      Running
Replicas:    2/2 ready
Image:       harbor.smarttouch.io/myteam/remote-access-service:1.1.0
Deployed:    2 minutes ago by github-actions

Run a probe to confirm the session broker accepting connections:

stctl remote-access probe --env dev

Expected:

✔  Probe session opened and closed successfully
Broker latency: 18ms

Validation¶

The deployment is successful when:

Check	Command	Expected
Service running	`stctl status --env dev --service remote-access-service`	`Status: Running, 2/2 ready`
Correct version deployed	Same command	Image tag matches your new version
Session broker active	`stctl remote-access probe --env dev`	Probe succeeds

Troubleshooting¶

Deployment stuck in Deploying for more than 10 minutes

Check whether the new pods are starting:

stctl pods --env dev --service remote-access-service

If any pod shows CrashLoopBackOff or ImagePullBackOff, see Why is my deployment failing?.

Argo CD hasn't picked up the manifest change¶

Force a sync:

stctl argocd sync --env dev --app remote-access-service