Streamline Your Kubernetes Workflow with Helm
What is Helm?
Helm is a powerful package manager for Kubernetes, similar to Debian’s Apt and Python’s pip. It simplifies the process of finding, sharing, and managing Kubernetes applications by providing a convenient way to define, install, and upgrade them without directly managing Kubernetes manifests.
Getting Started with Helm
To follow along with this tutorial, you’ll need a basic understanding of Kubernetes objects, a Kubernetes cluster (local or remote), and kubectl installed and configured.
Installing Helm
The Helm client is a command-line interface (CLI) that enables you to develop charts, manage repositories, releases, and charts on a cluster, and interface with the Kubernetes API server. We’ll be using Helm3 for this tutorial. To install Helm, execute the following commands:
helm install
Helm Charts
Once Helm is installed, you can add chart repositories, which are required to install Kubernetes applications available on the charts. To add the official Helm stable chart, execute:
helm repo add stable https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com
Discovering Awesome Helm Charts
Helm Hub is a great resource to discover awesome Helm charts that represent Kubernetes applications. You can browse charts, read instructions on how to use them, and explore other details.
Installing a Chart
Let’s install a WordPress application using the Bitnami Helm Chart repository. This chart packages the Bitnami MariaDB chart, which is required to bootstrap a MariaDB deployment for the database requirements of the WordPress application.
helm install myblog bitnami/wordpress
Managing Charts
Helm allows you to delete, upgrade, or roll back a chart release. To uninstall an application and delete all Kubernetes objects tied to it, execute:
helm uninstall myblog
Creating a Chart
Helm enables you to scaffold the creation of a chart, which creates the basic files required for a chart. To create a chart, run the following command:
helm create mychart
Understanding Chart Structure
A Helm chart consists of several files, including:
Chart.yaml: contains a detailed description of the chartcharts/: contains other charts, called subchartsvalues.yaml: contains default values for a charttemplates/: contains template files
Best Practices for Creating Your Own Helm Chart
The official Helm documentation outlines some best practices for creating your own Helm chart.
Why Use Helm?
Helm is a useful tool for your Kubernetes workflow because it helps you avoid directly writing or modifying Kubernetes manifests. It abstracts a lot of complexity and helps you deploy and manage applications more efficiently.
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