Set and Use Secrets in a Kubernetes Deployment

Before making any changes, check what is already running in the orbit namespace. Look at the Deployment spec and its current pod state to understand the baseline.

kubectl get all -n orbit
kubectl describe deployment config-deployment -n orbit

Documentation

• Deployments

kubectl can create Secrets directly from the command line without a YAML file. Look into the kubectl create secret generic command and its --from-literal flag to pass key-value pairs inline.

Don't forget to target the correct namespace.

Documentation

• Secrets
• kubectl create secret generic

Kubernetes lets you reference individual Secret keys as environment variables inside a container using secretKeyRef under the env field.

Export the current Deployment spec to a file, edit it to add the env entries referencing config-secret, then reapply with kubectl apply.

Check the Kubernetes docs for the exact structure of valueFrom.secretKeyRef.

Documentation

• Use Secret as Environment Variables

A Secret manifest has already been prepared for you on the dev-machine at:

/opt/course/extra-config-secret.yaml

Inspect the file to understand its structure, then use kubectl apply to create the Secret in the cluster. Confirm it lands in the correct namespace.

Documentation

• Managing Secrets using kubectl

To make Secret data available as files inside a container, you need two things in the Deployment spec:

• A volume entry under .spec.template.spec that references the Secret by name
• A volumeMount entry under the container that maps that volume to a path

The target mount path inside the container is:

/tmp/extra-config

This path is inside the running pod, not on the dev-machine.

After applying the changes, use kubectl rollout status to confirm the Deployment updated successfully, then exec into the pod to verify the files are present.

Documentation

• Use Secrets as Files from a Pod