How to Run and Deploy Ballerina Programs
Running Ballerina Programs and Services
A Ballerina application can either be:
-
A
public functionincludingmain()function that runs as a terminating process. -
A
service<>, which is a hosted non-terminating process.
Both of these are considered "entrypoints" for program execution.
These applications can be structured into a single program file or a Ballerina module. A collection of modules or source files can be managed together with versioning and dependency management as part of a Ballerina project.
Source files and modules can contain zero or more entrypoints, and the runtime engine has precedence and sequence rules for choosing which entrypoint to execute.
Running Standalone Source Code
A single Ballerina source code file can be placed into any folder.
If the source file contains at least one entrypoint, it can be executed using the run command. If the entrypoint is not a main function or a service, it should be specified.
$ ballerina run foo.bal[:entryfunction]
You can compile a source file with an entrypoint into a linked binary that has a .balx extension.
$ ballerina build a/b/c/foo.bal [-o outputfilename.balx]
And you can run .balx files directly:
$ ballerina run filename.balx
Running a Project
A project is a folder that manages source files and modules as part of a common versioning, dependency management, build, and execution. You can build and run items collectively or individually as modules. See How To Structure Ballerina Code for in-depth structuring of projects.
Build all source files and modules of a project:
$ ballerina build
Build a single modules in a project:
$ ballerina build <module-name>
Options for running programs with entrypoints in a project:
$ ballerina run main.balx
$ ballerina run target/main.balx
$ ballerina run [--sourceroot <path>] <module>[:entryfunction]
The <module> is the module name, which is the same as the name of the directory that holds the source files. main() is considered as the entry function by default.
Configuring Your Ballerina Runtimes
Ballerina Runtime Configuration Files
A Ballerina runtime can be configured using configuration parameters, which are arbitrary key/value pairs with structure. The ballerina/config module provides an API for sourcing configuration parameters and using them within your source code. See Config API Documentation for details.
The configuration APIs accept a key and an optional default value. If a mapping does not exist for the specified key, the default value is returned as the configuration value. The default values of these optional configurations are the default values of the return types of the functions.
Sourcing Parameters Into Ballerina Programs
Configuration parameters for your programs and apps can be defined on the CLI, as an environment variable, or from a configuration file, with loading and override precedence in the same order.
Sourcing CLI Parameters
Consider the following example, which reads a Ballerina config value and prints it.
import ballerina/io;
import ballerina/config;
public function main() {
string name = config:getAsString("hello.user.name");
io:println("Hello, " + name + " !");
}
The config key is hello.user.name. To pass a value to this config from the CLI, we can run the following command. The -e argument passes the key and value to the program.
$ ballerina run -e hello.user.name=Ballerina main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
Sourcing Environment Parameters
The value can be passed as an environment variable as well. Here as the value we are passing the name of the environment variable with the @env:{} syntax.
$ export NAME=Ballerina
$ ballerina run -e hello.user.name=@env:{NAME} main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
Sourcing Configuration Values
The value can be passed as a config file as well. A configuration file should conform to the TOML format. Ballerina only supports the following features of TOML: value types (string, int, float, and boolean), tables, and nested tables. Given below is a sample ballerina.conf:
[hello.user]
name="Ballerina"
When running a program with config API lookups, Ballerina looks for a ballerina.conf file in the directory where the source files are located.
If ballerina.conf resides in the same directory as main.bal, balllerina run can be used without any argument.
$ ballerina run main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
To explicitly specify a configuration file, use either the --config or the -c flag. The path to the configuration file can be either an absolute or a relative path.
$ ballerina run -c ../../ballerina.conf main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
$ ballerina run --config ../../ballerina.conf main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
$ ballerina run -c /Users/Test/Desktop/ballerina.conf main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
$ ballerina run --config /Users/Test/Desktop/ballerina.conf main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
Configure Secrets as Configuration Items
Ballerina provides support for encrypting sensitive data such as passwords and allows access to them securely through the configuration API in the code.
Creating a Secured Value
The ballerina encrypt command will encrypt parameters that can be securely sourced from your code files. For example, let's create a secure parameter named Ballerina with the value 12345 as the secret.
$ ballerina encrypt
Enter value:
Enter secret:
Re-enter secret to verify:
Add the following to the runtime config:
@encrypted:{FeSTxZriX6WcdgP+Hl3dERi7DoCIXcDLo7gS+T2rt3M=}
Or add to the runtime command line:
-e<param>=@encrypted:{FeSTxZriX6WcdgP+Hl3dERi7DoCIXcDLo7gS+T2rt3M=}
Using the Secured Value at Runtime
The secured value can be placed in a config file as a value or passed on the command line.
[hello.user]
name="@encrypted:{FeSTxZriX6WcdgP+Hl3dERi7DoCIXcDLo7gS+T2rt3M=}"
or (Enter secret 12345 when prompted.):
$ ballerina run -e hello.user.name=@encrypted:{FeSTxZriX6WcdgP+Hl3dERi7DoCIXcDLo7gS+T2rt3M=} main.bal
ballerina: enter secret for config value decryption:
Hello, Ballerina !
Decrypting the Value
If a configuration contains an encrypted value, Ballerina looks for a secret.txt file in the directory where the source files are located. The secret.txt should contain the secret used to encrypt the value. The secret.txt file will be deleted after it is read.
$ echo 12345 > secret.txt
$ ballerina run --config ../ballerina.conf main.bal
Hello, Ballerina !
If the secret.txt file is not present, then CLI prompts the user for the secret. Enter secret 12345 when prompted.
$ ballerina run --config ../ballerina.conf main.bal
ballerina: enter secret for config value decryption:
Hello, Ballerina !
Deploying Ballerina Programs and Services
Deploying a Ballerina program or service is the process of creating assets that ready the program and services(s) for activation in another runtime, such as Docker Engine, Moby, Kubernetes, or Cloud Foundry. The Ballerina compiler is able to generate the necessary artifacts for different deployment annotations based upon annotations that decorate the source code, which provide compiler instructions for artifact generation.
How Deployment Works
Ballerina has builder extensions that run after the compilation phase. These extensions analyze code to generate deployment artifacts and utilities to make deployment of your apps and services easier.
When you start building a project, the system starts parsing. This is followed by dependency analysis, compilation, and a phase at which deployment artifact generation can take place.
These deployment artifacts can be a form of simple files or complex types, like container images, virtual images, etc. The Ballerina builder extension supports the following list of deployment artifacts.
- Dockerfiles
- Docker images
- Kubernetes artifacts
It is possible for third parties and the ecosystem to create their own annotations and builder extensions that generate different kinds of deployment artifacts. You can publish these extensions within Ballerina Central for others to use. For more information, see How to Extend Ballerina.
How to Enable Deployment
A developer enables deployment artifact generation by adding annotations to their Ballerina code:
- Import the relevant extension module in the code.
- Add relevant annotations within the code.
- Build the Ballerina project.
Docker-Based Deployment
See the following example on how a developer can add Docker support in the code.
Add the following code to the hello_world_docker.bal file.
import ballerina/http;
import ballerinax/docker;
@http:ServiceConfig {
basePath:"/helloWorld"
}
@docker:Config {
registry:"docker.abc.com",
name:"helloworld",
tag:"v1.0"
}
service helloWorld on new http:Listener(9090) {
resource function sayHello (http:Caller caller, http:Request request) {
http:Response response = new;
response.setTextPayload("Hello, World! \n");
_ = caller -> respond(response);
}
}
Now your code is ready to generate deployment artifacts. In this case it is a Docker image.
$ ballerina build hello_world_docker.bal
Compiling source
hello_world_docker.bal
Generating executable
./target/hello_world_docker.balx
@docker - complete 3/3
Run the following command to start a Docker container:
docker run -d -p 9090:9090 docker.abc.com/helloworld:v1.0
$ tree
.
├── hello_world_docker.bal
├── hello_world_docker.balx
└── docker
└── Dockerfile
$ docker images
REPOSITORY TAG IMAGE ID CREATED SIZE
docker.abc.com/helloworld v1 df83ae43f69b 2 minutes ago 102MB
You can run a Docker container by copying and pasting the Docker run command that displays as output of the Ballerina build command.
$ docker run -d -p 9090:9090 docker.abc.com/helloworld:v1.0
130ded2ae413d0c37021f2026f3a36ed92e993c39c260815e3aa5993d947dd00
$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
130ded2ae413 docker.abc.com/helloworld:v1.0 "/bin/sh -c 'balleri…" Less than a second ago Up 3 seconds 0.0.0.0:9090->9090/tcp thirsty_hopper
Invoke the hello world service with a cURL command:
$ curl http://localhost:9090/helloWorld/sayHello
Hello, World!
The following features are supported by the Docker builder extension.
- Dockerfile generation
- Docker image generation
- Docker push support with Docker registry
- Docker-based Ballerina debug support
- Copy file support
Supported Docker Annotations
@docker:Config{} - Supported with Ballerina services or endpoints.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the Docker image | output .balx file name |
| registry | Docker registry | None |
| tag | Docker image tag | latest |
| buildImage | Whether to build Docker image | true |
| dockerHost | Docker host IP and Docker PORT (e.g., minikube IP and Docker PORT) | unix:///var/run/docker.sock |
| dockerCertPath | Docker cert path | null |
| baseImage | Base image to create the Docker image | ballerina/ballerina:latest |
| enableDebug | Enable debug for Ballerina | false |
| debugPort | Remote debug port | 5005 |
| push | Push to remote registry | false |
| username | Username for Docker registry | None |
| password | Password for Docker registry | None |
@docker:CopyFiles{} - Supported with Ballerina services or endpoints.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| source | Source path of the file (on your machine) | None |
| target | Target path (inside container) | None |
| isBallerinaConf | Whether the file is a Ballerina config file | false |
@docker:Expose{} - Supported with Ballerina endpoints.
For more information, see the Docker build extension GitHub repo.
Kubernetes-Based Deployment
The Kubernetes builder extension offers native support for running Ballerina programs on Kubernetes with the use of annotations that you can include as part of your service code. Also, it will take care of the creation of the Docker images, so you don't need to explicitly create Docker images prior to deployment on Kubernetes.
The following Kubernetes configurations are supported: - Kubernetes deployment support - Kubernetes service support - Kubernetes liveness probe support - Kubernetes ingress support - Kubernetes horizontal pod autoscaler support - Docker image generation - Docker push support with remote Docker registry - Kubernetes secret support - Kubernetes config map support - Kubernetes persistent volume claim support
The following Ballerina code section explains how you can use some of these Kubernetes capabilities by using Kubernetes annotation support in Ballerina. Full example can be found at Database Interaction Guide
import ballerina/config;
import ballerina/http;
import ballerina/mysql;
import ballerinax/kubernetes;
// Create SQL endpoint to MySQL database
mysql:Client employeeDB = new ({
host:config:getAsString("db-host"),
port:3306,
name:config:getAsString("db"),
username:config:getAsString("db-username"),
password:config:getAsString("db-password")
});
@kubernetes:Ingress {
hostname:"ballerina.guides.io",
name:"ballerina-guides-employee-database-service",
path:"/"
}
@kubernetes:Service {
serviceType:"NodePort",
name:"ballerina-guides-employee-database-service"
}
listener http:Listener ep = new (9090, config = {
secureSocket:{
keyStore:{
path:"${ballerina.home}/bre/security/ballerinaKeystore.p12",
password:config:getAsString("key-store-password")
},
trustStore:{
path:"${ballerina.home}/bre/security/ballerinaTruststore.p12",
password:config:getAsString("trust-store-password")
}
}
});
@kubernetes:ConfigMap {
ballerinaConf:"./conf/data-service.toml"
}
@kubernetes:Deployment {
image:"ballerina.guides.io/employee_database_service:v1.0",
name:"ballerina-guides-employee-database-service",
copyFiles:[{target:"/ballerina/runtime/bre/lib",
source:"./conf/mysql-connector-java-8.0.11.jar"}]
}
@http:ServiceConfig {
basePath:"/records"
}
service employee_data_service on ep {
Sample content of data-service.toml:
# Ballerina database config file
db-host = "mysql-server"
db = "EMPLOYEE_RECORDS"
db-username = "root"
db-password = "root"
key-store-password = "abc123"
trust-store-password = "xyz123"
Here we have used @kubernetes:Deployment to specify the Docker image name that will be created as part of building this service. The CopyFiles field is used to copy the MySQL JAR file into the Ballerina bre/lib folder.
The @kubernetes:Service {} annotation will create a Kubernetes service that will expose the Ballerina service running on a Pod.
In addition, you can use @kubernetes:Ingress, which is the external interface to access your service (with path / and host name ballerina.guides.io).
Minikube users please see the Kubernetes Extension samples for additional configurations required for Minikube.
Now you can use the following command to build the Ballerina service that we developed above. This will also create the corresponding Docker image and the Kubernetes artifacts using the Kubernetes annotations that you have configured above.
$ ballerina build data_backed_service.bal
@kubernetes:Service - complete 1/1
@kubernetes:Ingress - complete 1/1
@kubernetes:Secret - complete 1/1
@kubernetes:ConfigMap - complete 1/1
@kubernetes:Docker - complete 3/3
@kubernetes:Deployment - complete 1/1
Run the following command to deploy Kubernetes artifacts:
kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes/
You can use the docker images command to verify that the Docker image that we specified in @kubernetes:Deployment was created. The Kubernetes artifacts related to your service will be generated in addition to the .balx file.
$ tree
├── conf
│ ├── ballerina.conf
│ └── mysql-connector-java-8.0.11.jar
├── data_backed_service.bal
├── data_backed_service.balx
└── kubernetes
├── data_backed_service_config_map.yaml
├── data_backed_service_deployment.yaml
├── data_backed_service_ingress.yaml
├── data_backed_service_secret.yaml
├── data_backed_service_svc.yaml
└── docker
├── Dockerfile
└── mysql-connector-java-8.0.11.jar
Now you can create the Kubernetes deployment using:
$ kubectl apply -f ./kubernetes
configmap "employee-data-service-ballerina-conf-config-map" created
deployment "ballerina-guides-employee-database-service" created
ingress "ballerina-guides-employee-database-service" created
secret "listener-secure-socket" created
service "ballerina-guides-employee-database-service" created
You can verify Kubernetes deployment, service, and ingress are running properly by using the following Kubernetes commands.
$ kubectl get pods
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
ballerina-guides-employee-database-service-57479b7c67-l5v9k 1/1 Running 0 26s
This is the container based on the deployment annotation. This container has the .balx file, secrets, config-maps, and dependencies wrapped within.
$ kubectl get svc
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
ballerina-guides-employee-database-service NodePort 10.96.24.77 <none> 9090:30281/TCP 51s
This is the Kubernetes service that exposes the listener endpoint.
$ kubectl get ingress
NAME HOSTS ADDRESS PORTS AGE
ballerina-guides-employee-database-service ballerina.guides.io 80, 443 1m
This is the Kubernetes nginx rule that exposes the hostname to the outside world.
$ kubectl get secrets
NAME TYPE DATA AGE
listener-secure-socket Opaque 2 1m
The secrets are generated automatically for endpoint keystores and truststores. This secret is mounted to ${ballerina_home} of the container.
$ kubectl get configmap
NAME DATA AGE
employee-data-service-ballerina-conf-config-map 1 2m
This is the config-map created for the ballerina.conf file, as the ballerinaConf:"./conf/data-service.toml" attribute is used. At run time, it is an equivalent of:
$ ballerina run <source>.balx --config ./conf/data-service.toml
The Kubernetes extension automatically passes the config file to the Ballerina program.
If everything is successfully deployed, you can invoke the service either via Node port or ingress.
Access via Node Port:
$ curl -v -X POST -d '{"name":"Alice", "age":20,"ssn":123456789,"employeeId":1}' \
"http://localhost:<Node_Port>/records/employee" -H "Content-Type:application/json"
Access via Ingress:
Add an /etc/hosts entry to match hostname.
127.0.0.1 ballerina.guides.io
Access the service:
$ curl -v -X POST -d '{"name":"Alice", "age":20,"ssn":123456789,"employeeId":1}' \
"http://ballerina.guides.io/records/employee" -H "Content-Type:application/json"
Supported Kubernetes Annotations
@kubernetes:Deployment{} - Supported with Ballerina services or endpoints.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the deployment | \<outputfilename>-deployment |
| labels | Labels for deployment | "app: \<outputfilename>" |
| replicas | Number of replicas | 1 |
| enableLiveness | Enable or disable liveness probe | disable |
| initialDelaySeconds | Initial delay in seconds before performing the first probe | 10s |
| periodSeconds | Liveness probe interval | 5s |
| livenessPort | Port that the liveness probe checks | \<ServicePort> |
| imagePullPolicy | Docker image pull policy | IfNotPresent |
| image | Docker image with tag | |
| env | List of environment variables | null |
| buildImage | Building Docker image | true |
| copyFiles | Copy external files for Docker image | null |
| dockerHost | Docker host IP and Docker PORT (e.g., "tcp://192.168.99.100:2376") | null |
| dockerCertPath | Docker cert path | null |
| push | Push Docker image to registry. This can only be true if image build is true. | false |
| username | Username for the Docker registry | null |
| password | Password for the Docker registry | null |
| baseImage | Base image to create the Docker image | ballerina/ballerina:latest |
| singleYAML | Generate a single yaml file for all k8s resources | false |
@kubernetes:Service{} - Supported with Ballerina endpoints.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the service | \<ballerina service name>-service |
| labels | Labels for the service | "app: \<outputfilename>" |
| serviceType | Service type of the service | ClusterIP |
| port | Service port | Port of the Ballerina service |
@kubernetes:Ingress{} - Supported with Ballerina endpoints.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of Ingress | \<ballerina service name>-ingress |
| labels | Labels for service | "app: \<outputfilename>" |
| hostname | Host name of Ingress | \<ballerina service name>.com |
| path | Resource path. | / |
| targetPath | This is used for URL rewrite. | null |
| ingressClass | Ingress class | nginx |
| enableTLS | Enable ingress TLS | false |
@kubernetes:HPA{} - Supported with Ballerina services.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the Horizontal Pod Autoscaler | \<ballerina service name>-hpa |
| labels | Labels for service | "app: \<outputfilename>" |
| minReplicas | Minimum number of replicas | No of replicas in deployment |
| maxReplicas | Maximum number of replicas | minReplicas+1 |
| cpuPrecentage | CPU percentage to start scaling | 50 |
@kubernetes:Secret{} - Supported with Ballerina services.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the secret volume mount | \<service_name>-secret |
| mountPath | Path to mount on container | null |
| readOnly | Is mount read only | true |
| data | Paths to data files | null |
@kubernetes:ConfigMap{} - Supported with Ballerina services.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the configmap volume mount | \<service_name>-config-map |
| mountPath | Path to mount on container | null |
| readOnly | Is mount read only | true |
| ballerinaConf | Ballerina conf file location | null |
| data | Paths to data files | null |
@kubernetes:PersistentVolumeClaim{} - Supported with Ballerina services.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the volume mount | null |
| mountPath | Path to mount on container | null |
| readOnly | Is mount read only | false |
| accessMode | Access mode | ReadWriteOnce |
| volumeClaimSize | Size of the volume claim | null |
@kubernetes:Job{}
- Supported with the Ballerina main() function.
| Annotation Name | Description | Default value |
|---|---|---|
| name | Name of the job | \<output file name>-job |
| labels | Labels for job | "app: \<outputfilename>" |
| restartPolicy | Restart policy | Never |
| backoffLimit | Restart tries before termination | 3 |
| activeDeadlineSeconds | Active deadline seconds | 20 |
| schedule | Schedule for cron jobs | none |
| imagePullPolicy | Docker image pull policy | IfNotPresent |
| image | Docker image with tag | \<output file name>:latest |
| env | List of environment variables | null |
| buildImage | Building Docker image | true |
| dockerHost | Docker host IP and Docker PORT (e.g., "tcp://192.168.99.100:2376") | null |
| dockerCertPath | Docker cert path | null |
| push | Push Docker image to registry. This can only be true if image build is true. | false |
| username | Username for the Docker registry | null |
| password | Password for the Docker registry | null |
| baseImage | Base image to create the Docker image | ballerina/ballerina:latest |
Extend Ballerina Deployment and Annotations
Ballerina can be augmented with your own annotations that represent your own unique deployment artifacts. You can also write builder extensions that generate these files during compilation. For more information on how to extend Ballerina, see How to Extend Ballerina.
