Can a deploy with multiple ReplicaSets run CMD different command? - kubernetes

Question

I want to create few pods from same image (I have the Dockerfile) so i want to use ReplicaSets.
but the final CMD command need to be different for each container.
for exmple
(https://www.devspace.sh/docs/5.x/configuration/images/entrypoint-cmd):
image:
frontend:
image: john/appfrontend
cmd:
- run
- dev
And the other container will do:
image:
frontend:
image: john/appfrontend
cmd:
- run
- <new value>
Also I would like to move the CMD value from a list, so i would like the value there to be variable (it will be in a loop so each Pod will have to be created separately).
Is it possible?

Answer 1

You can't directly do this as you've described it. A ReplicaSet manages some number of identical Pods, where the command, environment variables, and every other detail except for the Pod name are the same across every replica.
In practice you don't usually directly use ReplicaSets; instead, you create a Deployment, which creates one or more ReplicaSets, which create Pods. The same statement and mechanics apply to Deployments, though.
Since this is specifically in the context of a Helm chart, you can have two separate Deployment YAML files in your chart, but then use Helm templating to reduce the amount of code that needs to be repeated. You can add a helper template to templates/_helpers.tpl that contains most of the data for a container
# templates/_helpers.tpl
{{- define "myapp.container" -}}
image: my-image:{{ .Values.tag }}
env:
- name: FOO
value: bar
- name: ET
value: cetera
{{ end -}}
Now you can have two template Deployment files, but provide a separate command: for each.
# templates/deployment-one.yml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: {{ include "myapp.name" . }}-one
labels:
{{ include "myapp.labels" . | indent 4 }}
spec:
replicas: {{ .Values.one.replicas }}
template:
metadata:
labels:
{{ include "myapp.labels" . | indent 8 }}
spec:
containers:
- name: frontend
{{ include "myapp.container" . | indent 10 }}
command:
- npm
- run
- dev
There is still a fair amount to copy and paste, but you should be able to cp the whole file. Most of the boilerplate is Kubernetes boilerplate and every Deployment will have these parts; little of it is specific to any given application.
If your image has a default CMD (this is good practice) then you can omit the command: override on one of the Deployments, and it will run that default CMD.
In the question you make specific reference to Dockerfile CMD. One important terminology difference is that Kubernetes command: overrides Docker ENTRYPOINT, and Kubernetes args: matches CMD. If you are using an entrypoint wrapper script, in this example you will need to provide args: instead of command: so that the wrapper is still invoked.