Backstage
score-compose and score-k8s7 minute read
Overview
In this example we will walk you through how you can deploy a containerized Backstage application using a PostgreSQL database, and this with both score-compose and score-k8s.
flowchart TD
dns[DNS] --> backstage-workload(Backstage)
subgraph Workloads
backstage-workload
end
backstage-workload-->postgres[(PostgreSQL)]
1. score.yaml
Open your IDE and paste in the following score.yaml file, which describes a simple web server exposed via a DNS that queries a PostgreSQL database on each request. The demo code can be found here.
apiVersion: score.dev/v1b1
metadata:
name: backstage
containers:
backstage:
image: .
command:
- "node"
args:
- packages/backend
- "--config"
- app-config.yaml
- "--config"
- app-config.production.yaml
variables:
POSTGRES_HOST: ${resources.pg.host}
POSTGRES_PASSWORD: ${resources.pg.password}
POSTGRES_PORT: ${resources.pg.port}
POSTGRES_USER: ${resources.pg.username}
APP_CONFIG_auth_providers_guest_dangerouslyAllowOutsideDevelopment: "true"
APP_CONFIG_app_baseUrl: ${resources.dns.url}
APP_CONFIG_backend_baseUrl: ${resources.dns.url}
APP_CONFIG_backend_cors_origin: ${resources.dns.url}
service:
ports:
tcp:
port: 7007
targetPort: 7007
resources:
pg:
type: postgres-instance
dns:
type: dns
route:
type: route
params:
host: ${resources.dns.host}
path: /
port: 7007
From here, we will now see how you can deploy this exact same Score file:
- Either with
score-compose - Or with
score-k8s
2. score-compose
To begin, follow the installation instructions to install the latest version of score-compose.
init
Initialize your current score-compose workspace, run the following command in your terminal:
score-compose init --no-sample \
--provisioners https://raw.githubusercontent.com/score-spec/community-provisioners/refs/heads/main/dns/score-compose/10-dns-with-url.provisioners.yaml
The init command will create the .score-compose directory with the default resource provisioners available. We are also importing one external file to support the dns dependencies: dns provisioner.
You can see the resource provisioners available by running this command:
score-compose provisioners list
The Score file example illustrated uses three resource types: postgres-instance, dns and route.
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| TYPE | CLASS | PARAMS | OUTPUTS | DESCRIPTION |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| dns | (any) | | host, url | Outputs a *.localhost domain as |
| | | | | the hostname and associated URL |
| | | | | in http on port 8080 |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| postgres-instance | (any) | | host, password, port, username | Provisions a dedicated |
| | | | | PostgreSQL instance |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| route | (any) | host, path, port | | Provisions an Ingress route on |
| | | | | a shared Nginx instance |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
generate
Convert the score.yaml file into a runnable compose.yaml, run the following command in your terminal:
score-compose generate score.yaml --image ghcr.io/mathieu-benoit/backstage:latest
The generate command will add the input score.yaml workload with a particular container image to the .score-compose/state.yaml state file and generate the output compose.yaml.
If you want to build the container image when this compose.yaml will be deployed, you can run this generate command with the --build parameter instead:
score-compose generate score.yaml --build 'main={"context":".","tags":["backstage:local"]}'
See the generated compose.yaml by running this command:
cat compose.yaml
If you make any modifications to the score.yaml file, run score-compose generate score.yaml to regenerate the output compose.yaml.
resources
Get the information of the resources dependencies of the workload, run the following command:
score-compose resources list
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| UID | OUTPUTS |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| dns.default#backstage.dns | host, url |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| postgres-instance.default#backstage.pg | host, password, port, username |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| route.default#backstage.route | |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
At this stage, we can already see the value of the dns resource generated:
score-compose resources get-outputs dns.default#backstage.dns
{
"host": "dnsjdtv57.localhost",
"url": "http://dnsjdtv57.localhost:8080"
}
Same for the postgres-instance resource:
score-compose resources get-outputs postgres-instance.default#backstage.pg
{
"host": "pg-OuoTNo",
"password": "REDACTED",
"port": 5432,
"username": "REDACTED"
}
docker compose
Run docker compose up to execute the generated compose.yaml file:
docker compose up -d
[+] Running 4/4
✔ Container deploy-backstage-with-score-pg-OuoTNo-1 Healthy
✔ Container deploy-backstage-with-score-wait-for-resources-1 Exited
✔ Container deploy-backstage-with-score-routing-6uaxax-1 Started
✔ Container deploy-backstage-with-score-backstage-backstage-1 Started
docker ps
See the running containers:
docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
9b2ff62333ff ghcr.io/mathieu-benoit/backstage:latest "node packages/backe…" 5 hours ago Up 5 hours deploy-backstage-with-score-backstage-backstage-1
4b1203acbf41 mirror.gcr.io/postgres:17-alpine "docker-entrypoint.s…" 5 hours ago Up 5 hours (healthy) 5432/tcp deploy-backstage-with-score-pg-mwgmNx-1
716b626ad841 mirror.gcr.io/nginx:1-alpine "/docker-entrypoint.…" 5 hours ago Up 5 hours 0.0.0.0:8080->80/tcp, [::]:8080->80/tcp deploy-backstage-with-score-routing-idouo7-1
curl localhost:8080
Test the running container, run the following command:
curl localhost:8080 -H "Host: dnsjdtv57.localhost"
...
<title>Scaffolded Backstage App</title>
...
Congrats! You’ve successfully deploy, with the score-compose implementation, a sample containerized Backstage workload talking to PostgreSQL and exposed via a DNS. You provisioned them through Docker, without writing the Docker Compose file by yourself.
3. score-k8s
To begin, follow the installation instructions to install the latest version of score-k8s.
init
Initialize your current score-k8s workspace, run the following command in your terminal:
score-k8s init --no-sample \
--provisioners https://raw.githubusercontent.com/score-spec/community-provisioners/refs/heads/main/dns/score-k8s/10-dns-with-url.provisioners.yaml
The init command will create the .score-k8s directory with the default resource provisioners available. We are also importing one external file to support the dns dependencies: dns provisioner.
You can see the resource provisioners available by running this command:
score-k8s provisioners list
The Score file example illustrated uses three resource types: postgres-instance, dns and route.
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| TYPE | CLASS | PARAMS | OUTPUTS | DESCRIPTION |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| dns | (any) | | host, url | Outputs a *.localhost domain as |
| | | | | the hostname and associated URL |
| | | | | in http on port 80 |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| postgres-instance | (any) | | host, password, port, username | Provisions a dedicated |
| | | | | PostgreSQL instance |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
| route | (any) | host, path, port | | Provisions an Ingress route on |
| | | | | a shared Nginx instance |
+-------------------+-------+------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------------------+
generate
Convert the score.yaml file into a runnable manifests.yaml, run the following command in your terminal:
score-k8s generate score.yaml --image ghcr.io/mathieu-benoit/backstage:latest
The generate command will add the input score.yaml workload with a particular container image to the .score-k8s/state.yaml state file and generate the output manifests.yaml.
See the generated manifests.yaml by running this command:
cat manifests.yaml
If you make any modifications to the score.yaml file, run score-k8s generate score.yaml to regenerate the output manifests.yaml.
resources
Get the information of the resources dependencies of the workload, run the following command:
score-k8s resources list
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| UID | OUTPUTS |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| dns.default#backstage.dns | host, url |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| postgres-instance.default#backstage.pg | host, password, port, username |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
| route.default#backstage.route | |
+----------------------------------------+--------------------------------+
At this stage, we can already see the value of the dns resource generated:
score-k8s resources get-outputs dns.default#backstage.dns
{
"host": "dnsnocrke.localhost",
"url": "http://dnsnocrke.localhost:80"
}
Same for the postgres-instance resource:
score-k8s resources get-outputs postgres-instance.default#backstage.pg
{
"host": "pg-backstage-d7058793",
"password": "REDACTED",
"port": 5432,
"username": "REDACTED"
}
kubectl apply
Here you will need to have access to a Kubernetes cluster to execute the following commands. You can follow these instructions if you want to set up a Kind cluster.
Run kubectl apply to execute the generated manifests.yaml file:
kubectl apply -f manifests.yaml
secret/pg-backstage-d7058793 created
statefulset.apps/pg-backstage-d7058793 created
service/pg-backstage-d7058793 created
httproute.gateway.networking.k8s.io/route-backstage-76d19d47 created
service/backstage created
deployment.apps/backstage created
kubectl get all
See the running containers:
kubectl get all,httproute
NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
pod/backstage-7667f68bf9-vnlw9 1/1 Running 0 37s
pod/pg-backstage-d7058793-0 1/1 Running 0 37s
NAME TYPE CLUSTER-IP EXTERNAL-IP PORT(S) AGE
service/backstage ClusterIP 10.96.146.148 <none> 7007/TCP 37s
service/pg-backstage-d7058793 ClusterIP 10.96.21.104 <none> 5432/TCP 37s
NAME READY UP-TO-DATE AVAILABLE AGE
deployment.apps/backstage 1/1 1 1 37s
NAME DESIRED CURRENT READY AGE
replicaset.apps/backstage-7667f68bf9 1 1 1 37s
NAME READY AGE
statefulset.apps/pg-backstage-d7058793 1/1 37s
NAME HOSTNAMES AGE
httproute.gateway.networking.k8s.io/route-backstage-76d19d47 ["dnsnocrke.localhost"] 37s
curl localhost
Test the running container, run the following command:
curl localhost -H "Host: dnsnocrke.localhost"
...
<title>Scaffolded Backstage App</title>
...
Congrats! You’ve successfully deploy, with the score-k8s implementation, a sample containerized Backstage workload talking to PostgreSQL and exposed via a DNS. You provisioned them through kubectl, without writing the Kubernetes manifests file by yourself.
Next steps
- Deep dive with the associated step-by-step guide: Go through the associated step-by-step guide to understand the different concepts with both: Backstage and Score.
- Explore more examples: Check out more examples to dive into further use cases and experiment with different configurations.
- Join the Score community: Connect with fellow Score developers on our CNCF Slack channel or start find your way to contribute to Score.