What's supported

This topic lists the supported CD features and integrations you can use in Harness for deploying and verifying your apps.

For a comprehensive list that includes all Harness modules, go to Supported platforms and technologies.

Deployment types

Kubernetes

• Overview:

  • Kubernetes
  • Helm charts (v2 and v3)
  • Kustomize
  • Local (Harness Community Edition)

• Supported connectors for deployment:

  • Kubernetes connector
    • Username and password
    • Client key and secret
    • OIDC authentication
    • Kubernetes service account
    • Assume role binding on delegate configuration
  • Google Cloud connector (GKE authentication)
    • Service Account
    • Google Cloud Role on Delegate
    • Workload Identity
  • Azure Cloud Connector (AKS Authentication)
    • Subscription Id
    • Principal and Service Account
    • GovCloud Support
  • AWS Cloud Connector (EKS Authentication)
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support

• Supported platforms for deployment:

  • Self Hosted Kubernetes
  • Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Azure Kubernetes Engine
  • AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service
  • Red Hat OpenShift

• Versions and tooling support:

  • Kubectl Client Versions:
    • 1.16
    • 1.27
    • We support what each of the Cloud Providers support. We recommend users to keep their binary versions up to date.
    • By default Harness ships with kubectl client - 1.25
  • Tooling:
    • OpenShift - oc client binary
    • Kustomize - kustomize binary
    • Helm - Helm 3.12 and 2.8 binary.
    • Helm 3.8 can be supported via feature flag.

• Limitations:

  • Helm:
    • Helm Hooks are not supported for this swimlane. Harness manages and orchestrates the manifests and their release.
    • Kustomize:
      • Kustomize Patches are only supported in YAML, not JSON
      • Kustomize Containerized Plugins are not supported
    • Harness managed resources:
      • Deployment
      • Secrets
      • ConfigMap
      • StatefulSet
      • HorizontalPodAutoScalar
      • PodDisruptionBudget

• Supported integrations:

  • Traffic Shifting for Advanced Deployment Strategies:
    • Istio
    • Nginx Ingress Controller
  • All manifest type sources for fetching Kubernetes resources:
    • Github
    • Gitlab
    • Bitbucket
    • Custom Remote Source Repository
    • Harness Local File Store
  • For Helm Chart Type Manifests we also support:
    • Generic Git Provider
    • Google Cloud Storage
    • Amazon S3 Storage
    • Helm OCI Repository (ACR, ECR, GAR, Artifactory)
    • Helm HTTP Server Repository (Nexus, Artifactory)
  • Artifact repository supported to deploy with manifest:
    • DockerHub
    • Amazon Elastic Container Registry
    • Google Container Registry
    • Azure Container Registry
    • Custom Artifact Source
    • Google Artifact Registry
    • Github Package Registry
    • Nexus 3
    • Artifactory

For details on what you can deploy, go to What Can I Deploy in Kubernetes?.

Kubernetes version support

The following versions are tested and supported for Kubernetes Canary, Rolling, and Blue/Green deployments:

• 1.13.0
• 1.14.0
• 1.15.0
• 1.16.0
• 1.17.0
• 1.18.0
• 1.19.4
• 1.20.0
• 1.21.0
• 1.22.0
• 1.23.0
• 1.24.3
• 1.24.9
• 1.25.6

For details on other tools and versions included in Harness, see Delegate-required SDKs.

Guidelines:

• Harness will officially support 3 previous versions from the last stable release. For example, the current most recent stable release is 1.25.6, and so Harness supports 1.24, 1.23, and 1.22.
• Harness supports any other versions of Kubernetes you are using on a best effort basis.
• Harness commits to support new minor versions within 3 months of the first stable release. For example, if the stable release of 1.25.6 occurs on April 15th, we will support it for compatibility by July 15th.

Helm notes

Helm chart dependencies are not supported in Git source repositories. Helm chart dependencies are supported in Helm Chart Repositories.

Azure AKS clusters

To use an AKS cluster for deployment, the AKS cluster parameter disableLocalAccounts can be set either true or false.

Native Helm

• Overview:
  • Native Helm
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • Kubernetes Connector
    • Username + Password
    • Client Key and Secret
    • OIDC Authentication
    • Kubernetes Service Account
    • Assume Rolebinding on Delegate Configuration
  • Google Cloud Connector (GKE Authentication)
    • Service Account
    • Google Cloud Role on Delegate
    • Workload Identity
  • Azure Cloud Connector (AKS Authentication)
    • Subscription ID
    • Principal and Service Account
    • GovCloud Support
  • AWS Cloud Connector (EKS Authentication)
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • Self Hosted Kubernetes
  • Google Kubernetes Engine
  • Azure Kubernetes Engine
  • AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service
  • Red Hat OpenShift
• Versions and tooling support:
  • Helm Client Versions: 2.8 - 3.8
  • We support what each of the Cloud Providers support, we recommend users to keep their binary versions up to date
  • By default Harness ships with helm client 2.8 and 3.12.
  • Tooling:
    • OpenShift - oc client binary
    • Kustomize - kustomize binary
    • Helm - Helm 3.12 & 2.8 binary. Helm 3.8 can be supported via feature flag.
• Limitations:
  • Helm 2 is deprecated so there is limited support for Helm 2.
  • Helm 3 is now the default for Harness Helm Chart Deployments.
  • Helm Plugins are not supported
  • Only Basic Deployment Strategy supported (No Canary or Blue-Green Support Out of the box)
• Supported integrations:
  • Manifest Sources for fetching Helm Chart:
    • Github
    • Gitlab
    • Bitbucket
    • Generic Git Provider
    • Custom Remote Source Repository
    • Google Cloud Storage
    • Amazon S3 Storage
    • Helm OCI Repository (ACR, ECR, GAR, Artifactory)
    • Helm HTTP Server Repository (Nexus, Artifactory)
    • Harness Local File Store
  • Artifact Repository for Container Images to deploy with Chart:
    • DockerHub
    • Amazon Elastic Container Registry
    • Google Container Registry
    • Azure Container Registry
    • Custom Artifact Source
    • Google Artifact Registry
    • Github Package Registry
    • Nexus 3
    • Artifactory

Notes

Helm chart dependencies are not supported in Git source repositories. Helm chart dependencies are supported in Helm Chart Repositories.

Amazon ECS

• Overview:
  • AWS ECS
• Supported connectors for deployment:
• AWS Cloud Connector
  • IRSA
  • Access Key and Secret Key
  • IAM Role
  • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud, any region
  • AWS - Launch Types:
    • Amazon ECS - EC2 - Generally Provisioned Instances
    • Amazon ECS - EC2 - Spot Backed Instances
    • Amazon ECS - Fargate
• Versions and tooling support:
  • AWS SDK
• Supported integrations:
  • ECS Service Discovery - Supported via Service Definition
  • ECS Circuit Breaker - Supported via Service Definition
  • Artifact Repository:
    • DockerHub
    • Amazon Elastic Container Registry
    • Azure Container Registry
    • Custom Artifact Source
    • Github Package Registry
    • Nexus 3
    • Artifactory

Amazon AMI/ASG

• Overview:
  • AWS AMI/ASG
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • AWS cloud connector
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS cloud, any region
• Versions and tooling support:
  • AWS SDK

AWS Lambda

• Overview:
  • AWS Lambda
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud Connector
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS cloud, any region
• Versions and tooling support:
  • AWS SDK
• Supported integrations:
  • Artifact Repository Supported to Deploy with Function Definition:
    • Amazon Elastic Container Registry
    • Amazon S3

Traditional: WinRM

• Overview:
  • WinRM
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud Connector
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support
  • Azure Cloud Connector (AKS Authentication)
    • Subscription Id
    • Principal and Service Account
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud
  • Azure Cloud
  • Physical Datacenter

Traditional: SSH

• Overview:
  • SSH
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud Connector
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
    • GovCloud Support
  • Azure Cloud Connector (AKS Authentication)
    • Subscription Id
    • Principal and Service Account
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud
  • Azure Cloud
  • Physical Datacenter
• Linux SSH Setups
  • Ubuntu Version 22+
  • RHEL9 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9)
  • SSH libraries supported:
    • SSHJ: used in our HashiCorp Vault SSH integrations.
    • JSCH: used in our SSH deployment types.
    • To see the hostkey formats for these libraries, go to the SSH implementation comparison.
• Limitations:
  • Google Compute Engine (Virtual Machine Targets)
    • Limited Support, Harness can connect to Google VMs via an SSH Key, not via Google Cloud Authentication

Tanzu Application Service (formerly Pivotal Cloud Foundry)

• Overview:
  • Tanzu Application Services
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • Tanzu Connector
    • Endpoint URL, Username and Password
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • On Premise Cloud Foundry Installations
  • VMware Tanzu Platform
• Versions and tooling support:
  • Binary Versions:
    • CF CLI v7

Google Functions

• Overview:
  • Google Cloud Functions
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • Google Cloud Connector
  • Service Account
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • Google Cloud, any region
• Versions and tooling support:
  • Google SDK. Supported versions:
    • Google Functions Gen 1
    • Google Functions Gen 2
• Deployment strategies:
  • Google Functions Gen 1: Basic.
  • Google Functions Gen 2: Basic, blue green, canary.
• Supported integrations:
  • Artifact Repository:
    • Google Cloud Storage
    • Google Source Repository (Gen 1 Only)

Spot Instances

• Overview:
  • Spot Elastigroup deployments
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • Spot Connector
    • AccountID + API Token
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS cloud, any region
• Limitations:
  • Deployment Behavior:
    • Incremental Traffic Shifting for SpotInst Deployment is not supported
    • VM-based Deployments are supported via Elastigroup configuration

Serverless.com Framework

• Overview:
  • Serverless.com Framework (AWS Lambda)
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • AWS Cloud Connector
    • IRSA
    • Access Key and Secret Key
    • IAM Role
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • AWS cloud, any region
• Versions and tooling support:
  • Supported Binary Versions:
    • serverless.com 1.x
    • serverless.com 2.x
    • serverless.com 3.x
• Limitations:
  • Deployment Behavior:
    • Harness only supports AWS Lambda Functions to be deployed via Serverless.com Framework
    • Harness builds and deploys Lambda Functions, users cannot split up the tasks to build functions and deploy functions separately natively via the swimlane
  • Not supported application types:
    • Google Functions
    • Azure Functions
  • Serverless.com 1.x (limited support). Not all capabilities supported.
  • Basic deployment supported. No out-of-the-box canary and blue green deployment supported.
• Supported integrations:
  • Serverless.com plugins:
    • Harness supports all the Serverless.com plugins. Please make sure they are compatible with the version of Serverless.com you are using.
  • Artifact Repository:
    • DockerHub
    • Amazon Elastic Container Registry
    • Artifactory
    • Amazon S3

Azure WebApps

• Overview:
  • Azure Web Apps
• Supported connectors for deployment:
  • Azure Cloud Connector (AKS Authentication)
    • Subscription Id
    • Principal and Service Account
    • GovCloud Support
• Supported platforms for deployment:
  • Azure cloud, any Region
• Versions and tooling support:
  • Azure SDK

Builds in CD

Continuous Integration (CI) can be performed in Harness using the module and CI pipelines.

If you are using Harness Continuous Delivery (CD) but not Harness Continuous Integration (CI), you can still perform CI using the Jenkins step in your CD stage.

Harness integrates with Jenkins, enabling you to run Jenkins jobs and dynamically capture inputs and outputs from the jobs.

• Overview:
  • Run Jenkins jobs in CD pipelines

GitOps

• Overview:
  • GitOps
  • GitOps Quickstart

Harness GitOps lets you perform GitOps deployments in Harness. You define the desired state of the service you want to deploy in your Git manifest, and then use Harness GitOps to sync state with your live Kubernetes cluster.

GitOps supports the following:

• Source Repositories:
  • All Git providers.
  • HTTP Helm repos.
• Target clusters:
  • Kubernetes clusters hosted on any platform:
    • GKE.
    • AKS.
    • EKS.
    • Other Kubernetes-compliant clusters.
    • OpenShift version 3.11, 4.x.
    • Minikube.
    • Kubernetes Operations (kops).
• Repository Certificates:
  • TLS Certificate (PEM format).
  • SSH Known Host Entry.
• GnuPG Keys:
  • GnuPG Public Key Data (ASCII-armored).

Local (Harness Community Edition)

Harness CD Community Edition is a lightweight version of Harness that you can download and run on your laptop or any VM.

Harness CD Community Edition is intended to get devs started with Harness quickly without having to sign up for a Harness SaaS account.

• Overview:
  • Harness CD Community Edition overview
  • Harness Community Edition deployments

Custom

For non-native deployments, Harness provides a custom deployment option using Deployment Templates.

• Overview:
  • Custom deployments using Deployment Templates

Provision

Harness supports the following infrastructure provisioning tools:

• Terraform
• Terragrunt
• Azure ARM and Blueprint
• AWS CloudFormation
• Shell script (custom)

Terraform version support

Harness does not include Terraform on the Harness Delegate. You must install Terraform on the Delegate when using Terraform in Harness. For more information, go to Terraform How-tos.

Harness supports the following Terraform versions:

• v1.3.5
• v1.1.9
• v1.0.0
• v0.15.5
• v0.15.0
• v0.14.0

Here's an example install script for the Harness delegate:

# Install TF
microdnf install unzip
curl -O -L https://releases.hashicorp.com/terraform/1.3.5/terraform_1.3.5_darwin_amd64.zip
unzip terraform_1.3.5_darwin_amd64.zip
mv ./terraform /usr/bin/
# Check TF install
terraform --version

Some Harness features might require specific Terraform versions.

Controls/Utilities

• Controls:
  • Strategies: basic, rolling, canary, blue green, custom.
  • Barriers
  • Resource Constraints
  • Queue steps
  • Deployment freeze
  • Failure strategies
  • Conditional executions
  • Looping strategies
  • Triggers
  • Input set and overlays
• Utilities:
  • Run a Docker container in a CD stage
  • Using HTTP requests in CD pipelines
  • Using shell scripts in CD stages
  • Use the Command step to download or copy artifacts and configs, or run scripts
  • Run a step on multiple target instances
  • Pausing pipeline execution using the Wait step

Files

Manifests, specifications, config files, and other deployment files can be pulled from the following providers:

• Harness File Store
• Git on any platform
• Github
• GitLab
• Bitbucket
• AWS CodeCommit
• Azure Repos

The following table lists where you can store your manifests or config files for each integration.

	Github	Gitlab	Bitbucket	Harness File Store	Any Git	OCI Helm	HTTP Helm	AWS S3	Custom	Google Cloud Storage	Inherit from manifest
Kubernetes	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Values YAML	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅				✅		✅
Kustomize	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Kustomize Patches	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅						✅
OpenShift Template	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅				✅
OpenShift Params	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅				✅
AWS ECS	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅						✅
Helm Chart	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Serverless.com Framework	✅	✅	✅		✅
SSH				✅
WinRM				✅
Azure Web Apps				✅
Google Cloud Function	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅

Artifacts

All artifact sources are covered in CD artifact sources.

• Docker registry on any platform
• Google Container Registry (GCR)
• Google Cloud Storage (GCS)
• Google Artifact Registry
• Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)
• AWS S3
• Azure Container Registry (ACR)
• Azure DevOps Artifacts
• Nexus 2 and 3
• Artifactory
• Jenkins
• Bamboo
• Github packages
• HTTP Helm
• OCI Helm
• Custom artifact source

Harness uses Metadata only when downloading artifact sources.

For pulling Docker images from Docker repos, Harness is restricted by the limits of the Docker repo. For example, Docker Hub limits.

The maximum number of artifact image tags fetched by Harness that is 10000.

The following table lists Harness integrations and their artifact source support:

	Docker Hub	ECR	GCR	GCS	ACR	Artifactory	Nexus 3	Custom	Google Artifact Registry	Github Artifact Registry	Jenkins	AWS S3
Kubernetes	✅	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅	✅	✅	✅
Helm	✅	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅	✅
AWS ECS	✅	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅	✅
AWS ASG
AWS Lambda		✅										✅
Azure Web Apps	✅				✅	✅	✅
Tanzu	✅	✅	✅		✅	✅	✅
SSH						✅	✅	✅			✅	✅
WinRM						✅	✅	✅			✅	✅
Serverless.com Framework		✅				✅						✅
Google Cloud Function				✅

Ticketing/Approvals

You can use the following ticketing systems for creating and updating tickets, and as approval gates:

• Jira (ticketing, approvals)
• ServiceNow (ticketing, approvals)
• Harness manual approvals

Governance

Harness Policy As Code uses Open Policy Agent (OPA) as the central service to store and enforce policies for the different entities and processes across the Harness platform.

You can centrally define and store policies and then select where (which entities) and when (which events) they will be applied.

Currently, you can define and store policies directly in the OPA service in Harness.

Soon, you will be able to use remote Git or other repos (e.g. OCI-compatible registries) to define and store the policies used in Harness.

• Harness Policy As Code overview
• Harness Policy As Code quickstart
• Add a Policy step to a pipeline

Notes

• AWS and Azure GovCloud: Harness is now certified in Azure GovCloud and AWS GovCloud.