---
menu:
  workshop:
    parent: Additional Resources
title: Multisource Patterns
weight: 103
---

:toc:
include::modules/comm-attributes.adoc[]
:imagesdir: /images/workshop

[#meaning]
== What is MultiSource?

Using multiple-sources in our ArgoCD applications gives the Patterns framework a lot of flexibility in how applications are deployed. In the code snippet below we can see that we have a chart called `acm` where we have our normal values getting assigned, but also using values from another repository - in this case `https://github.com/f00/multicloud-gitops`

[source,yaml]
----
# MULTISOURCE
sources:
- ref: patternref
  repoURL: https://github.com/foo/multicloud-gitops
  targetRevision: test2
- chart: acm
  repoURL: https://charts.validatedpatterns.io/ # default
  targetRevision: 0.1.*
  helm:
    ignoreMissingValueFiles: true
    valueFiles:
    - $patternref/values-global.yaml
    - $patternref/values-hub.yaml
    - $patternref/values-AWS.yaml
    - $patternref/values-AWS-4.13.yaml
    - $patternref/values-AWS-hub.yaml
    - $patternref/values-4.13-hub.yaml
    parameters:
    ...
----

With a single source we can only apply values files from within the repository, or declare them within the `applications` key. The primary issue with this approach is readability and reusability. The values file grows to a point where it is hard to follow the changes being made.

[source,yaml]
----
# SINGLE SOURCE
source:
  repoURL: https://github.com/foo/multicloud-gitops
  path: common/acm
  targetRevision: test2
  helm:
    valueFiles:
    - /values-global.yaml
    - /values-hub.yaml
    - /values-AWS.yaml
    - /values-AWS-4.13.yaml
    - /values-AWS-hub.yaml
    - /values-4.13-hub.yaml
    parameters:
    ...
----

[#how]

== How it works

IMPORTANT: Multi-source needs to be enabled for the clusterGroup helm chart via: `main.multiSourceConfig.enabled`

Other applications stay `as-is` (e.g. single source like they have always been)

Switching an application to use the Patterns chart and multisource capability requires a small tweak in the `values-*.yaml`

NOTE: Yes, you can change the default VP repository

Here's what it would look like:

**Original Configuration:**
[source,yaml]
----
acm:
  name: acm
  path: common/acm
----

**Updated Configuration:**
[source,yaml]
----
acm:
  name: acm
  chart: acm
  chartVersion: 0.0.*
  # Tweak the default below to point to an alternative chart repo (OCI registries are
  # also supported)
  # repoURL: https://charts.validatedpatterns.io
----

[#status]
== Status

* link:https://github.com/validatedpatterns/patterns-operator/pull/85[Pattern Operator PRs merged]
* link:https://github.com/validatedpatterns/common/pull/350[Common repository PRs merged]
* link:https://charts.validatedpatterns.io[VP Helm Chart Repository] set up and populated
* Industrial Edge has all VP charts as multisource (clusterGroup, ACM, ESO, Vault)
* MultiCloud GitOps has the clusterGroup chart as multisource enabled

[#ux]

== User Experience

image::multisource-config.png[]

[#helmRepo]
== Helm Chart Repository

[.INFORMATION]
.How does it work?
====
* `common/` now has a github workflow which is triggered at every commit to main **chart-branches.yaml**
* If any commit changes one of the charts (except `operator-install`) the corresponding branch in common for that chart will be updated (`git subtree split`)
* This makes it so that the **link:https://github.com/validatedpatterns/common/tree/hashicorp-vault-main-single-chart[hashicorp-vault-main-single-chart]** branch only contains the code for the hashicorp-vault chart
* Then it takes that hashicorp-vault-main-single-chart branch and pushes it out to the `validatedpatterns/hashicorp-vault` git repository
====

== TL;DR

**validatedpatterns/{acm,clustergroup,hashicorp-vault...}** repos are automatically kept up to date every time we push to common

[#chart-release]

== Creating a chart release

1. Change the version in `common/(chart}/Chart.yaml` (e.g. acm ver 0.0.2)
2. Make sure the version propagated correctly in the vp/acm-chart repository
3. From within the acm-chart repository, tag and push the new version `v0.0.2`
4. In `validatedpatterns/helm-charts`, a github workflow is triggered that will:
** build the helm chart
** upload it in the assets of the helm-charts repository
** update index.yaml

[#next]
== Next Steps

* Continue to monitor for any issues in Argo
* Expand the usage in other patterns
* Create a simple way to test charts without pushing them to the main repo (dev/qa workflow)