Modernize enterprise apps on GKE: Getting started with Online Boutique

Summary

Olivier, a Developer Advocate at Google, introduces Online Boutique as an end-to-end sample retail application created to help developers learn how to modernize enterprise applications using Google Cloud products. The demo illustrates integrations with Google Kubernetes Engine, Cloud Service Mesh, and Cloud Monitoring. Hosted publicly on GitHub under the microservices-demo repository, the project includes quickstart instructions, detailed architectural documentation, and optional components managed via Kustomize for testing different operational use cases.

The application architecture consists of eleven microservices implemented in five distinct programming languages: Python, Java, C#, Go, and Node.js. The primary components include a web front end, a load generator designed to mimic realistic user traffic patterns, and a collection of underlying domain services such as product catalog, ad, recommendation, cart, currency, shipping, payment, email, and checkout services. State management across the application is backed by a Redis database.

Setting up the environment begins by creating an Autopilot cluster in Google Kubernetes Engine through the Google Cloud console. Once cluster provisioning commences, the user opens Google Cloud Shell, clones the Online Boutique repository from GitHub, and applies the release manifests using the command line tool kubectl. After the Kubernetes manifests are applied and the cluster workloads finish deploying, the application becomes accessible online.

The demonstration concludes with a walkthrough of the deployed storefront interface. The catalog displays a selection of retail items such as sunglasses, tank tops, watches, loafers, hairdryers, and candle holders. Users can navigate product pages, adjust quantities, add items to the cart, review shipping and payment details, and submit an order to receive a confirmation summary.