1 - Updating Configuration via a ConfigMap

This page provides a step-by-step example of updating configuration within a Pod via a ConfigMap and builds upon the Configure a Pod to Use a ConfigMap task.
At the end of this tutorial, you will understand how to change the configuration for a running application.
This tutorial uses the alpine and nginx images as examples.

Before you begin

You need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. It is recommended to run this tutorial on a cluster with at least two nodes that are not acting as control plane hosts. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using minikube or you can use one of these Kubernetes playgrounds:

You need to have the curl command-line tool for making HTTP requests from the terminal or command prompt. If you do not have curl available, you can install it. Check the documentation for your local operating system.

Objectives

  • Update configuration via a ConfigMap mounted as a Volume
  • Update environment variables of a Pod via a ConfigMap
  • Update configuration via a ConfigMap in a multi-container Pod
  • Update configuration via a ConfigMap in a Pod possessing a Sidecar Container

Update configuration via a ConfigMap mounted as a Volume

Use the kubectl create configmap command to create a ConfigMap from literal values:

kubectl create configmap sport --from-literal=sport=football

Below is an example of a Deployment manifest with the ConfigMap sport mounted as a volume into the Pod's only container.

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: configmap-volume
  labels:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: configmap-volume
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app.kubernetes.io/name: configmap-volume
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app.kubernetes.io/name: configmap-volume
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: alpine
          image: alpine:3
          command:
            - /bin/sh
            - -c
            - while true; do echo "$(date) My preferred sport is $(cat /etc/config/sport)";
              sleep 10; done;
          ports:
            - containerPort: