can i use a configmap created from an init container in the pod - kubernetes

Question

I am trying to "pass" a value from the init container to a container. Since values in a configmap are shared across the namespace, I figured I can use it for this purpose. Here is my job.yaml (with faked-out info):
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
name: installer-test
spec:
template:
spec:
containers:
- name: installer-test
image: installer-test:latest
env:
- name: clusterId
value: "some_cluster_id"
- name: in_artifactoryUrl
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: test-config
key: artifactorySnapshotUrl
initContainers:
- name: artifactory-snapshot
image: busybox
command: ['kubectl', 'create configmap test-config --from-literal=artifactorySnapshotUrl=http://artifactory.com/some/url']
restartPolicy: Never
backoffLimit: 0
This does not seem to work (EDIT: although the statements following this edit note may still be correct, this is not working because kubectl is not a recognizable command in the busybox image), and I am assuming that the pod can only read values from a configmap created BEFORE the pod is created. Has anyone else come across the difficulty of passing values between containers, and what did you do to solve this?
Should I deploy the configmap in another pod and wait to deploy this one until the configmap exists?
(I know I can write files to a volume, but I'd rather not go that route unless it's absolutely necessary, since it essentially means our docker images must be coupled to an environment where some specific files exist)

Answer 1

You can create an EmptyDir volume, and mount this volume onto both containers. Unlike persistent volume, EmptyDir has no portability issue.
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
name: installer-test
spec:
template:
spec:
containers:
- name: installer-test
image: installer-test:latest
env:
- name: clusterId
value: "some_cluster_id"
volumeMounts:
- name: tmp
mountPath: /tmp/artifact
initContainers:
- name: artifactory-snapshot
image: busybox
command: ['/bin/sh', '-c', 'cp x /tmp/artifact/x']
volumeMounts:
- name: tmp
mountPath: /tmp/artifact
restartPolicy: Never
volumes:
- name: tmp
emptyDir: {}
backoffLimit: 0

Answer 2

If for various reasons, you don't want to use share volume. And you want to create a configmap or a secret, here is a solution.
First you need to use a docker image which contains kubectl : gcr.io/cloud-builders/kubectl:latest for example. (docker image which contains kubectl manage by Google).
Then this (init)container needs enough rights to create resource on Kubernetes cluster. Ok by default, kubernetes inject a token of default service account named : "default" in container, but I prefer to make more explicit, then add this line :
...
initContainers:
- # Already true by default but if use it, prefer to make it explicit
automountServiceAccountToken: true
name: artifactory-snapshot
And add "edit" role to "default" service account:
kubectl create rolebinding default-edit-rb --clusterrole=edit --serviceaccount=default:myapp --namespace=default
Then complete example :
apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: Job
metadata:
name: installer-test
spec:
template:
spec:
initContainers:
- # Already true by default but if use it, prefer to make it explicit.
automountServiceAccountToken: true
name: artifactory-snapshot
# You need to use docker image which contains kubectl
image: gcr.io/cloud-builders/kubectl:latest
command:
- sh
- -c
# the "--dry-run -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -" is to make command idempotent
- kubectl create configmap test-config --from-literal=artifactorySnapshotUrl=http://artifactory.com/some/url --dry-run -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -
containers:
- name: installer-test
image: installer-test:latest
env:
- name: clusterId
value: "some_cluster_id"
- name: in_artifactoryUrl
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
name: test-config
key: artifactorySnapshotUrl

Answer 3

First of all, kubectl is a binary. It was downloaded in your machine before you could use the command. But, In your POD, the kubectl binary doesn't exist. So, you can't use kubectl command from a busybox image.
Furthermore, kubectl uses some credential that is saved in your machine (probably in ~/.kube path). So, If you try to use kubectl from inside an image, this will fail because of missing credentials.
For your scenario, I will suggest the same as #ccshih, use volume sharing.
Here is the official doc about volume sharing between init-container and container.
The yaml that is used here is ,
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: init-demo
spec:
containers:
- name: nginx
image: nginx
ports:
- containerPort: 80
volumeMounts:
- name: workdir
mountPath: /usr/share/nginx/html
# These containers are run during pod initialization
initContainers:
- name: install
image: busybox
command:
- wget
- "-O"
- "/work-dir/index.html"
- http://kubernetes.io
volumeMounts:
- name: workdir
mountPath: "/work-dir"
dnsPolicy: Default
volumes:
- name: workdir
emptyDir: {}
Here init-containers saves a file in the volume and later the file was available in inside the container. Try the tutorial by yourself for better understanding.