How to use Workload Identity when configuring external clusters in Argo CD?

Question

I think Workload Identity is supported for adding external (AKS) clusters in Argo CD but I can't find a detailed guide anywhere for how to do this.

The official docs contain some info about how to configure kubelogin to achieve what I want, but this isn't a complete guide. Any ideas?

Answer 1

You need to create a secret in the argocd namespace. If you want to use the cluster managed identity, use:

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: argocd-cluster-mycluster
  labels:
    argocd.argoproj.io/secret-type: cluster
  namespace: argocd
type: Opaque
stringData:
  name: mycluster-cluster
  server: https://mycluster-h78yh3n4.privatelink.northeurope.azmk8s.io:443
  config: |
    {
      "execProviderConfig": {
        "command": "argocd-k8s-auth",
        "env": {
          "AAD_ENVIRONMENT_NAME": "AzurePublicCloud",
          "AZURE_TENANT_ID": "f819aa9e-a2bf-4407-886f-4b68f2ce1d87",
          "AAD_SERVICE_PRINCIPAL_CLIENT_ID": "acb689c3-412a-4358-ab19-c48f39c6768b",
          "AAD_LOGIN_METHOD": "msi"
        },
        "args": ["azure"],
        "apiVersion": "client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1"
      },
      "tlsClientConfig": {
        "insecure": false,
        "caData": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJUSUZJQ0FU..."
      }
    }

For Workload Identity use:

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: argocd-cluster-mycluster
  labels:
    argocd.argoproj.io/secret-type: cluster
  namespace: argocd
type: Opaque
stringData:
  name: mycluster-cluster
  server: https://mycluster-h78yh3n4.privatelink.northeurope.azmk8s.io:443
  config: |
    {
      "execProviderConfig": {
        "command": "argocd-k8s-auth",
        "env": {
          "AAD_ENVIRONMENT_NAME": "AzurePublicCloud",
          "AAD_LOGIN_METHOD": "workloadidentity"
        },
        "args": ["azure"],
        "apiVersion": "client.authentication.k8s.io/v1beta1"
      },
      "tlsClientConfig": {
        "insecure": false,
        "caData": "LS0tLS1CRUdJTiBDRVJUSUZJQ0FU..."
      }
    }

The only tricky part is to understand the tlsClientConfig. You need to go to your cluster and run

kubectl get cm -n kube-system kube-root-ca.crt -o jsonpath="{['data']['ca\.crt']}" | tr -d '\n' | base64

Notice that you are retrieving a ConfigMap and the content of the caData is not sensitive.

In order to setup Workload Identity in ArgoCD, I use a kustomization.yaml with the following patches:

patches:
  - target:
      kind: ServiceAccount
      name: argocd-application-controller
    patch: &managedidentity |-
      - op: add
        path: /metadata/annotations/azure.workload.identity~1client-id
        value: 6f602cae-9e6b-4f59-b3e1-f3cd071b106d
  - target:
      kind: ServiceAccount
      name: argocd-applicationset-controller
    patch: *managedidentity
  - target:
      kind: ServiceAccount
      name: argocd-server
    patch: *managedidentity
  - target:
      kind: StatefulSet
      name: argocd-application-controller
    patch: |-
      - op: add
        path: /spec/template/metadata/labels/azure.workload.identity~1use
        value: "true"
  - target:
      kind: Deployment
      name: argocd-applicationset-controller
    patch: |-
      - op: add
        path: /spec/template/metadata/labels/azure.workload.identity~1use
        value: "true"
  - target:
      kind: Deployment
      name: argocd-server
    patch: |-
      - op: add
        path: /spec/template/metadata/labels/azure.workload.identity~1use
        value: "true"