Backstage Lab 🧪

A GitOps-managed Kubernetes lab for testing Backstage plugins.

Used to test the following Backstage plugins:

• Jenkins
• ArgoCD
• GitHub Actions
• Tekton
• MCP Chat
• Gitlab
• Multi Source Security Viewer

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🧩 Overview

This repository installs and manages the following services through ArgoCD:

• Jenkins
• ArgoCD
• Tekton Pipelines
• Ollama, Open WebUI, and various LLM models

These manifests run on any Kubernetes cluster with a load balancer.
I personally use K3s, but this setup also works with Minikube or other distros.

It also provides Github and Gitlab workflows with test data.

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📁 Repository Structure

├── apps
│   └── applicationset.yaml
├── manifests
│   ├── argocd
│   │   ├── base
│   │   │   ├── argocd-apps.yaml
│   │   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   │   ├── namespace.yaml
│   │   │   ├── roles.yaml
│   │   │   ├── secrets.yaml
│   │   │   └── service-accounts.yaml
│   │   └── overlays
│   │       └── defaults
│   │           └── kustomization.yaml
│   ├── jenkins
│   │   ├── base
│   │   │   ├── deployment.yaml
│   │   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   │   ├── namespace.yaml
│   │   │   ├── pvc.yaml
│   │   │   └── service.yaml
│   │   ├── docker
│   │   │   ├── casc
│   │   │   │   ├── base.yaml
│   │   │   │   └── jobs.yml
│   │   │   ├── compose.yml
│   │   │   ├── Dockerfile
│   │   │   └── plugins.txt
│   │   └── overlays
│   │       └── defaults
│   │           └── kustomization.yaml
│   ├── llms
│   │   ├── base
│   │   │   ├── deployment.yaml
│   │   │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│   │   │   ├── namespace.yaml
│   │   │   ├── pvc.yaml
│   │   │   └── service.yaml
│   │   └── overlays
│   │       └── defaults
│   │           └── kustomization.yaml
│   └── tekton
│       ├── base
│       │   ├── kustomization.yaml
│       │   ├── namespace.yaml
│       │   ├── roles.yaml
│       │   ├── secrets.yaml
│       │   ├── service-account.yaml
│       │   └── tekton.yaml
│       └── overlays
│           └── defaults
│               └── kustomization.yaml
├── README.md
└── test-artifacts
    ├── Jenkinsfile
    └── sbom-logs

Each service folder contains a base manifest and environment overlays managed by ArgoCD ApplicationSets.

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⚙️ Requirements

Kubernetes

These manifests are designed for Kubernetes clusters with a LoadBalancer available.

Note: If you're using Minikube, you may need to run the tunnel command to expose LoadBalancer services.

ArgoCD

ArgoCD is used as the GitOps delivery tool.

Install ArgoCD

kubectl create namespace argocd
kubectl apply -n argocd -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/argoproj/argo-cd/stable/manifests/install.yaml

Wait for ArgoCD to finish installing:

kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready pods --all -n argocd --timeout=300s

Expose the ArgoCD server:

kubectl patch svc argocd-server -n argocd -p '{"spec": {"type": "NodePort"}}'

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Get Server URL and Port

Note: Remove the default port at the end of the URL if present. The cluster server may not be the first one listed — adjust the .clusters[index] value as needed.

kubectl config view -o jsonpath='{.clusters[0].cluster.server}'

kubectl get svc argocd-server -n argocd -o jsonpath='{.spec.ports[0].nodePort}'

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Retrieve ArgoCD Admin Credentials

kubectl -n argocd get secret argocd-initial-admin-secret -o jsonpath="{.data.password}" | base64 -d

Default username: admin

Access the ArgoCD UI at:

https://<k8s-server-url>:<argocd-svc-port>

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Install Argo Rollouts (Optional)

kubectl create namespace argo-rollouts
kubectl apply -n argo-rollouts -f https://github.com/argoproj/argo-rollouts/releases/latest/download/install.yaml

Install Tekton Pipelines

kubectl apply --filename https://storage.googleapis.com/tekton-releases/pipeline/latest/release.yaml

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🚀 Deploying the Applications

Once ArgoCD is running, apply the ApplicationSet that manages all environments:

kubectl apply -f apps/applicationset.yaml

Check the ArgoCD applications:

kubectl get applications -n argocd

Once synced, ArgoCD will deploy all services defined under manifests/.

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🖥️ After setting up

You can run the after-setup.sh script to get information on:

• ArgoCD Serve port
• ArgoCD Admin creds
• ArgoCD Service Account token
• Tekton Service Account Token
• Service Ports

------------------------------
Backstage Lab 🧪 - After Setup
------------------------------
🖥️ ArgoCD Server port 30314

🔓 ArgoCD Admin creds
Username: admin
Password: <password>

🔄 ArgoCD Service Account
Name: backstage-rollouts
🪙 Token

<token>

⚓ Service Ports
jenkins     8080:31862/TCP,50000:30806/TCP
ollama      11434:31861/TCP
open-webui  3000:31343/TCP

⚗️ Tekton Service Account:
Name: backstage-tekton
🪙 Token

<token>

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🌐 Accessing Your Services

After all pods are live, view service endpoints:

kubectl get svc -A -o wide

Port Cheat Sheet

Service	Port
Jenkins	8080
Open WebUI	3000
Ollama	11434

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🧭 Architecture Overview

graph TD
    GitRepo[(GitOps Repo)]
    ArgoCD -->|Syncs manifests| K8sCluster[(Kubernetes Cluster)]
    K8sCluster --> Jenkins
    K8sCluster --> ArgoCD
    K8sCluster --> Tekton
    K8sCluster --> Ollama
    K8sCluster --> OpenWebUI

Loading

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🧹 Cleanup (Optional)

To remove all GitOps-managed resources:

kubectl delete -f manifests/applicationset.yaml -n argocd
kubectl delete ns backstage-jenkins backstage-llms backstage-tekton

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