What is Helm?
Helm helps you manage Kubernetes applications — Helm Charts helps you define, install, and upgrade even the most complex Kubernetes application.
Charts are easy to create, version, share, and publish — so start using Helm and stop the copy-and-paste madness.
List of stable maintained charts
https://github.com/helm/charts/tree/master/stable
Curated applications for Kubernetes
https://github.com/helm/charts
Installation
Installing Helm Client
> mkdir /tmp
> curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/helm/master/scripts/get > install-helm.sh
> chmod u+x install-helm.sh
> ./install-helm.sh
Install Service Account
> kubectl -n kube-system create serviceaccount tiller
> kubectl create clusterrolebinding tiller --clusterrole cluster-admin --serviceaccount=kube-system:tiller
Initialize Helm
Once you have Helm ready, you can initialize the local CLI and also install Tiller into your Kubernetes cluster in one step:
> helm init --service-account tiller
$ helm init --service-account tiller $HELM_HOME has been configured at /Users/john.mehan/.helm. Tiller (the Helm server-side component) has been installed into your Kubernetes Cluster. Please note: by default, Tiller is deployed with an insecure 'allow unauthenticated users' policy. To prevent this, run `helm init` with the --tiller-tls-verify flag. For more information on securing your installation see: https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/#securing-your-helm-installation Happy Helming!
You should see tiller installed by issuing the following command:
> kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
$ kubectl get pods --namespace kube-system NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE etcd-docker-for-desktop 1/1 Running 0 25m kube-apiserver-docker-for-desktop 1/1 Running 0 25m kube-controller-manager-docker-for-desktop 1/1 Running 0 25m kube-dns-86f4d74b45-qhtdj 3/3 Running 0 26m kube-proxy-84lg7 1/1 Running 0 26m kube-scheduler-docker-for-desktop 1/1 Running 0 25m kubernetes-dashboard-669f9bbd46-j2k2r 1/1 Running 0 22m tiller-deploy-75f9fbff5d-sg4jn 1/1 Running 0 5m
Using Helm
Let's start by installing the kubernetes dashboard using helm.
Installing a Chart
> helm install stable/kubernetes-dashboard --name dashboard
List Releases
> helm list
NAME REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION NAMESPACE dashboard 1 Tue Apr 2 08:37:56 2019 DEPLOYED kubernetes-dashboard-0.8.0 1.10.0 default
Rolling Back a Release
> helm rollback dashboard 1
Deleting a Release
> helm delete dashboard
> helm delete --purge dashboard
References
| Reference | URL |
|---|---|
| Helm Home Page | https://helm.sh/ |
| How To Install Software on Kubernetes Clusters with the Helm Package Manager | https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-install-software-on-kubernetes-clusters-with-the-helm-package-manager |
| An Introduction to Helm, the Package Manager for Kubernetes | https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/an-introduction-to-helm-the-package-manager-for-kubernetes |
| Helm on Github | https://github.com/helm/helm |
| Quickstart Guide | https://docs.helm.sh/using_helm/#quickstart-guide |