Chapter 21

Helm

The package manager for kubernetes and much more..

Helm is the best way to find, share, and use software built for kubernetes.

Read this post before adopting Helm

Also read Helm 3 design proposal

Installation

Download Helm binaries

Go to https://github.com/helm/helm/releases
Copy download location from Installation and Upgrading section.

$ wget https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-helm/helm-v2.13.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Extract tarball

$ tar -xvf helm-v2.13.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz

Configure `Helm` client.

$ sudo mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm
$ helm version

Client: &version.Version{SemVer:"v2.13.0", GitCommit:"79d07943b03aea2b76c12644b4b54733bc5958d6", GitTreeState:"clean"}
Error: could not find tiller

Helm Server side configuration - Tiller

cat <<EOF >tiller-rbac.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: tiller
  namespace: kube-system
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: tiller
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: cluster-admin
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: tiller
    namespace: kube-system
EOF

$ kubectl create -f tiller-rbac.yaml

$ helm init --service-account tiller

Creating /home/k8s/.helm
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/repository
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/repository/cache
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/repository/local
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/plugins
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/starters
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/cache/archive
Creating /home/k8s/.helm/repository/repositories.yaml
Adding stable repo with URL: https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com
Adding local repo with URL: http://127.0.0.1:8879/charts
$HELM_HOME has been configured at /home/k8s/.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!

$ kubectl get pods -n kube-system |grep tiller

tiller-deploy-5b7c66d59c-8t7pc               1/1     Running   0          36s

A Minimal Package

In this demo , we will create an Nginx deployment with one replica. This demo is like more or less applying a deployment yaml . But in upcoming sessions we will see how we can leverage helm to customize the deployment without modifying yaml specs.

Create a demo helm-nginx-pkg package

$ mkdir helm-nginx-pkg

Create a templates directory.

$ mkdir helm-nginx-pkg/templates

Create a deployment yaml inside `templates` diretory.

$ kubectl run nginx-deployment --image=nginx:1.9.10 --dry-run -o yaml >helm-nginx-pkg/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml

Create a Chart.yaml (https://helm.sh/docs/developing_charts/#the-chart-yaml-file)

cat <<EOF >helm-nginx-pkg/Chart.yaml
apiVersion: v1
name: nginx-deployment
version: 1
description: Demo Helm chart to deploy Nginx
maintainers:
  - name: "Ansil H"
    email: "ansilh@gmail.com"
    url: "https://ansilh.com"
EOF

`inspect` the chart and see the details of package.

$ helm inspect chart ./helm-nginx-pkg/

apiVersion: v1
description: Demo Helm chart to deploy Nginx
maintainers:
- email: ansilh@gmail.com
  name: Ansil H
  url: https://ansilh.com
name: nginx-deployment
version: "1"

Dry-run install to see everything works or not

$ helm install ./helm-nginx-pkg  --debug --dry-run

[debug] Created tunnel using local port: '43945'

[debug] SERVER: "127.0.0.1:43945"

[debug] Original chart version: ""
[debug] CHART PATH: /home/k8s/helm-nginx-pkg

NAME:   alliterating-crab
REVISION: 1
RELEASED: Fri Mar 15 14:13:59 2019
CHART: nginx-deployment-1
USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
{}

COMPUTED VALUES:
{}

HOOKS:
MANIFEST:

---
# Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  labels:
    run: nginx-deployment
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: nginx-deployment
  strategy: {}
  template:
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      labels:
        run: nginx-deployment
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: nginx:1.9.10
        name: nginx-deployment
        resources: {}
status: {}

To verify nothing is created as part of dry-run

$ helm ls

Install package

$ helm install ./helm-nginx-pkg

NAME:   filled-toad
LAST DEPLOYED: Fri Mar 15 14:15:50 2019
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: DEPLOYED

RESOURCES:
==> v1/Deployment
NAME              READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
nginx-deployment  0/1    0           0          0s

==> v1/Pod(related)
NAME                               READY  STATUS   RESTARTS  AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-qj9t9  0/1    Pending  0         0s


$ kubectl get pods
NAME                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-qj9t9   1/1     Running   0          16s

List deployed charts

$ helm ls

NAME       	REVISION	UPDATED                 	STATUS  	CHART             	APP VERSION	NAMESPACE
filled-toad	1       	Fri Mar 15 14:15:50 2019	DEPLOYED	nginx-deployment-1	           	default

$ kubectl get pods

NAME                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-drfcc   1/1     Running   0          21s

Lint

Linting

Helm lint will help to correct and standardize the package format

$ helm lint ./helm-nginx-pkg/

==> Linting ./helm-nginx-pkg/
[ERROR] Chart.yaml: directory name (helm-nginx-pkg) and chart name (nginx-deployment) must be the same
[INFO] Chart.yaml: icon is recommended
[INFO] values.yaml: file does not exist

Error: 1 chart(s) linted, 1 chart(s) failed

Lets correct the errors

$ mv helm-nginx-pkg nginx-deployment

Add an icon path (we will see where its used later)

cat <<EOF >>nginx-deployment/Chart.yaml
icon: "https://img.icons8.com/nolan/64/000000/linux.png"
EOF

Create values.yaml (we will see the use of this file later)

$ touch nginx-deployment/values.yaml

Lint the package again

$ helm lint ./nginx-deployment

==> Linting ./nginx-deployment
Lint OK

1 chart(s) linted, no failures

This time we see a perfect “OK”

Upgrade

Deployment

Modify `values` file with below content

cat <<EOF >nginx-deployment/values.yaml
replicaCount: 2
image:
  repository: "nginx"
  tag: "1.14"
EOF

Modify deployment template

$ vi nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  labels:
    run: nginx-deployment
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  replicas: {{ .Values.replicaCount }} # <-- This is value is referred from values.yaml `replicaCount` field
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: nginx-deployment
  strategy: {}
  template:
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      labels:
        run: nginx-deployment
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: {{ .Values.image.repository }}:{{ .Values.image.tag }} # <-- this is self explanatory :)
        name: nginx-deployment
        resources: {}
status: {}

Lint the chart to make sure everything good.

$ helm lint ./nginx-deployment/

==> Linting ./nginx-deployment/
Lint OK

1 chart(s) linted, no failures

The REVISION is 1 as of now.

$ helm ls

NAME            REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   APP VERSION     NAMESPACE
ungaged-possum  1               Fri Mar 15 16:41:28 2019        DEPLOYED        nginx-deployment-1                      default

Execute a dry-run

$ helm upgrade ungaged-possum ./nginx-deployment/   --dry-run --debug

[debug] Created tunnel using local port: '43533'

[debug] SERVER: "127.0.0.1:43533"

REVISION: 2
RELEASED: Fri Mar 15 18:17:19 2019
CHART: nginx-deployment-1
USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
{}

COMPUTED VALUES:
image:
  repository: nginx
  tag: "1.14"
replicaCount: 2

HOOKS:
MANIFEST:

---
# Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  labels:
    run: nginx-deployment
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: nginx-deployment
  strategy: {}
  template:
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      labels:
        run: nginx-deployment
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: nginx:1.14
        name: nginx-deployment
        resources: {}
status: {}
Release "ungaged-possum" has been upgraded. Happy Helming!
LAST DEPLOYED: Fri Mar 15 16:41:28 2019
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: DEPLOYED

RESOURCES:
==> v1/Deployment
NAME              READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
nginx-deployment  1/1    1           1          95m

==> v1/Pod(related)
NAME                               READY  STATUS   RESTARTS  AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-drfcc  1/1    Running  0         95m

Upgrade package

$ helm upgrade ungaged-possum ./nginx-deployment/

Release "ungaged-possum" has been upgraded. Happy Helming!
LAST DEPLOYED: Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019
NAMESPACE: default
STATUS: DEPLOYED

RESOURCES:
==> v1/Deployment
NAME              READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
nginx-deployment  1/2    1           1          96m

==> v1/Pod(related)
NAME                               READY  STATUS   RESTARTS  AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-drfcc  1/1    Running  0         96m

Verify the number of `Pods` after upgarde.

$ kubectl get pods

NAME                               READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-d5d56dcf9-6cxvk   1/1     Running   0          7s
nginx-deployment-d5d56dcf9-8r868   1/1     Running   0          20s

Verify the new Nginx version

$ kubectl exec nginx-deployment-d5d56dcf9-6cxvk -- nginx -v

nginx version: nginx/1.14.2

$ helm ls

NAME            REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   APP VERSION     NAMESPACE
ungaged-possum  2               Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019        DEPLOYED        nginx-deployment-1                      default

Check the helm upgrade history

$ helm history ungaged-possum

REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   DESCRIPTION
1               Fri Mar 15 16:41:28 2019        SUPERSEDED      nginx-deployment-1      Install complete
2               Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019        DEPLOYED        nginx-deployment-1      Upgrade complete

Check the changes happened between revisions

$ sdiff <(helm get ungaged-possum --revision=1) <(helm get ungaged-possum --revision=2)

Note

Output on right hand side shows the changed values.
| Indicates changes in line.
> Indicates inserted lines.

REVISION: 1                                                   | REVISION: 2
RELEASED: Fri Mar 15 16:41:28 2019                            | RELEASED: Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019
CHART: nginx-deployment-1                                       CHART: nginx-deployment-1
USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:                                           USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
{}                                                              {}

COMPUTED VALUES:                                                COMPUTED VALUES:
{}                                                            | image:
                                                              >   repository: nginx
                                                              >   tag: "1.14"
                                                              > replicaCount: 2

HOOKS:                                                          HOOKS:
MANIFEST:                                                       MANIFEST:

---                                                             ---
# Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml      # Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1                                             apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment                                                kind: Deployment
metadata:                                                       metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null                                         creationTimestamp: null
  labels:                                                         labels:
    run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
  name: nginx-deployment                                          name: nginx-deployment
spec:                                                           spec:
  replicas: 1                                                 |   replicas: 2
  selector:                                                       selector:
    matchLabels:                                                    matchLabels:
      run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
  strategy: {}                                                    strategy: {}
  template:                                                       template:
    metadata:                                                       metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null                                         creationTimestamp: null
      labels:                                                         labels:
        run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
    spec:                                                           spec:
      containers:                                                     containers:
      - image: nginx:1.9.10                                   |       - image: nginx:1.14
        name: nginx-deployment                                          name: nginx-deployment
        resources: {}                                                   resources: {}
status: {}                                                      status: {}

Rollback

List revisions

$ helm list

NAME            REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   APP VERSION     NAMESPACE
ungaged-possum  2               Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019        DEPLOYED        nginx-deployment-1                      default

Rollback to revision 1

$ helm rollback ungaged-possum 1

Rollback was a success! Happy Helming!

List the revision after rollback

$ helm list

NAME            REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   APP VERSION     NAMESPACE
ungaged-possum  3               Sat Mar 16 10:14:47 2019        DEPLOYED        nginx-deployment-1                      default

Verify rollback

$ kubectl get pods

NAME                                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
nginx-deployment-64f767964b-trx7h   1/1     Running   0          44s

$ kubectl exec nginx-deployment-64f767964b-trx7h -- nginx -v

nginx version: nginx/1.9.10

Examine the changes between active revision and previous one.

$ sdiff <(helm get ungaged-possum --revision=2) <(helm get ungaged-possum --revision=3)

REVISION: 2                                                   | REVISION: 3
RELEASED: Fri Mar 15 18:17:52 2019                            | RELEASED: Sat Mar 16 10:14:47 2019
CHART: nginx-deployment-1                                       CHART: nginx-deployment-1
USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:                                           USER-SUPPLIED VALUES:
{}                                                              {}

COMPUTED VALUES:                                                COMPUTED VALUES:
image:                                                        | {}
  repository: nginx                                           <
  tag: "1.14"                                                 <
replicaCount: 2                                               <

HOOKS:                                                          HOOKS:
MANIFEST:                                                       MANIFEST:

---                                                             ---
# Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml      # Source: nginx-deployment/templates/nginx-deployment.yaml
apiVersion: apps/v1                                             apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment                                                kind: Deployment
metadata:                                                       metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null                                         creationTimestamp: null
  labels:                                                         labels:
    run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
  name: nginx-deployment                                          name: nginx-deployment
spec:                                                           spec:
  replicas: 2                                                 |   replicas: 1
  selector:                                                       selector:
    matchLabels:                                                    matchLabels:
      run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
  strategy: {}                                                    strategy: {}
  template:                                                       template:
    metadata:                                                       metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null                                         creationTimestamp: null
      labels:                                                         labels:
        run: nginx-deployment                                           run: nginx-deployment
    spec:                                                           spec:
      containers:                                                     containers:
      - image: nginx:1.14                                     |       - image: nginx:1.9.10
        name: nginx-deployment                                          name: nginx-deployment
        resources: {}                                                   resources: {}
status: {}                                                      status: {}

In earlier sections , we have notices that there is no change in chart. Its recommended to change the chart version based on the changes you make

$ vi nginx-deployment/Chart.yaml

Change revision from 1 to 2

version: 2

Helm Create

With create command , we can create a standard helm directory/file structure which can be modified for our package.

$ helm create mychart

$ tree mychart/

mychart/
├── Chart.yaml         # A YAML file containing information about the chart.
├── charts             # A directory containing any charts upon which this chart depends.
├── templates          # A directory of templates that, when combined with values, will generate valid Kubernetes manifest files.
│   ├── NOTES.txt      # A plain text file containing short usage notes.
│   ├── _helpers.tpl   # Also called "partials" that can be embedded into existing files while a Chart is being installed.
│   ├── deployment.yaml # A deployment spec
│   ├── ingress.yaml    # An ingress spec
│   ├── service.yaml    # An service spec
│   └── tests  
│       └── test-connection.yaml # A pod definition , that can be executed to test the Chart(https://github.com/helm/helm/blob/master/docs/chart_tests.md)
└── values.yaml         # The default configuration values for this chart

3 directories, 8 files

Kubeapps

Kubeapps is a web-based UI for deploying and managing applications in Kubernetes clusters

Kubeapps Installation

List present repos

$ helm repo list

NAME    URL
stable  https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com
local   http://127.0.0.1:8879/charts

Add bitnami repo

$ helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

“bitnami” has been added to your repositories

$ helm repo list

NAME    URL
stable  https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com
local   http://127.0.0.1:8879/charts
bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

Install Kubeapps

$ helm install --name kubeapps --namespace kubeapps bitnami/kubeapps

If it fails with below error , execute install one more time

Error: unable to recognize "": no matches for kind "AppRepository" in version "kubeapps.com/v1alpha1"

NAME:   kubeapps
LAST DEPLOYED: Sat Mar 16 11:00:08 2019
NAMESPACE: kubeapps
STATUS: DEPLOYED

RESOURCES:
==> v1/ConfigMap
NAME                                DATA  AGE
kubeapps-frontend-config            1     0s
kubeapps-internal-dashboard-config  2     0s

==> v1/Pod(related)
NAME                                                         READY  STATUS             RESTARTS  AGE
kubeapps-6b59fbd4c5-8ggdr                                    0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-6b59fbd4c5-pbt4h                                    0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller-59bff895fb-tjdtb  0/1    ContainerCreating  0         0s
kubeapps-internal-chartsvc-5cc9c456fc-7r24x                  0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-chartsvc-5cc9c456fc-rzgzx                  0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-dashboard-6b54cd94fc-bm2st                 0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-dashboard-6b54cd94fc-zskq5                 0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy-d584c568c-spf8m               0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy-d584c568c-z2skv               0/1    Pending            0         0s
kubeapps-mongodb-8694b4b9f6-jqxw2                            0/1    ContainerCreating  0         0s

==> v1/Service
NAME                            TYPE       CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP  PORT(S)    AGE
kubeapps                        ClusterIP  172.168.130.35   <none>       80/TCP     0s
kubeapps-internal-chartsvc      ClusterIP  172.168.155.89   <none>       8080/TCP   0s
kubeapps-internal-dashboard     ClusterIP  172.168.201.176  <none>       8080/TCP   0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy  ClusterIP  172.168.20.4     <none>       8080/TCP   0s
kubeapps-mongodb                ClusterIP  172.168.84.95    <none>       27017/TCP  0s

==> v1/ServiceAccount
NAME                                        SECRETS  AGE
kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller  1        0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy              1        0s

==> v1beta1/Deployment
NAME              READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
kubeapps-mongodb  0/1    1           0          0s

==> v1beta1/Role
NAME                                        AGE
kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller  0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy              0s
kubeapps-repositories-read                  0s
kubeapps-repositories-write                 0s

==> v1beta1/RoleBinding
NAME                                        AGE
kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller  0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy              0s

==> v1beta2/Deployment
NAME                                        READY  UP-TO-DATE  AVAILABLE  AGE
kubeapps                                    0/2    0           0          0s
kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller  0/1    1           0          0s
kubeapps-internal-chartsvc                  0/2    0           0          0s
kubeapps-internal-dashboard                 0/2    0           0          0s
kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy              0/2    0           0          0s


NOTES:
** Please be patient while the chart is being deployed **

Tip:

  Watch the deployment status using the command: kubectl get pods -w --namespace kubeapps

Kubeapps can be accessed via port 80 on the following DNS name from within your cluster:

   kubeapps.kubeapps.svc.cluster.local

To access Kubeapps from outside your K8s cluster, follow the steps below:

1. Get the Kubeapps URL by running these commands:
   echo "Kubeapps URL: http://127.0.0.1:8080"
   export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace kubeapps -l "app=kubeapps" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}")
   kubectl port-forward --namespace kubeapps $POD_NAME 8080:8080

2. Open a browser and access Kubeapps using the obtained URL.

Make sure everything is no failed objects in kubeapps namespace.

$ kubectl get all --namespace=kubeapps

NAME                                                              READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
pod/apprepo-sync-bitnami-9f266-6ds4l                              0/1     Completed   0          54s
pod/apprepo-sync-incubator-p6fjk-q7hv2                            0/1     Completed   0          54s
pod/apprepo-sync-stable-79l58-mqrmg                               1/1     Running     0          54s
pod/apprepo-sync-svc-cat-725kn-kxvg6                              0/1     Completed   0          54s
pod/kubeapps-6b59fbd4c5-8ggdr                                     1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-6b59fbd4c5-pbt4h                                     1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller-59bff895fb-tjdtb   1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-chartsvc-5cc9c456fc-7r24x                   1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-chartsvc-5cc9c456fc-rzgzx                   1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-dashboard-6b54cd94fc-bm2st                  1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-dashboard-6b54cd94fc-zskq5                  1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy-d584c568c-spf8m                1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy-d584c568c-z2skv                1/1     Running     0          2m15s
pod/kubeapps-mongodb-8694b4b9f6-jqxw2                             1/1     Running     0          2m15s

NAME                                     TYPE        CLUSTER-IP        EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)     AGE
service/kubeapps                         ClusterIP   172.168.130.35    <none>        80/TCP      2m15s
service/kubeapps-internal-chartsvc       ClusterIP   172.168.155.89    <none>        8080/TCP    2m15s
service/kubeapps-internal-dashboard      ClusterIP   172.168.201.176   <none>        8080/TCP    2m15s
service/kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy   ClusterIP   172.168.20.4      <none>        8080/TCP    2m15s
service/kubeapps-mongodb                 ClusterIP   172.168.84.95     <none>        27017/TCP   2m15s

NAME                                                         READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/kubeapps                                     2/2     2            2           2m15s
deployment.apps/kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller   1/1     1            1           2m15s
deployment.apps/kubeapps-internal-chartsvc                   2/2     2            2           2m15s
deployment.apps/kubeapps-internal-dashboard                  2/2     2            2           2m15s
deployment.apps/kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy               2/2     2            2           2m15s
deployment.apps/kubeapps-mongodb                             1/1     1            1           2m15s

NAME                                                                    DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-6b59fbd4c5                                     2         2         2       2m15s
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-internal-apprepository-controller-59bff895fb   1         1         1       2m15s
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-internal-chartsvc-5cc9c456fc                   2         2         2       2m15s
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-internal-dashboard-6b54cd94fc                  2         2         2       2m15s
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-internal-tiller-proxy-d584c568c                2         2         2       2m15s
replicaset.apps/kubeapps-mongodb-8694b4b9f6                             1         1         1       2m15s

NAME                                     COMPLETIONS   DURATION   AGE
job.batch/apprepo-sync-bitnami-9f266     1/1           53s        54s
job.batch/apprepo-sync-incubator-p6fjk   1/1           54s        54s
job.batch/apprepo-sync-stable-79l58      0/1           54s        54s
job.batch/apprepo-sync-svc-cat-725kn     1/1           13s        54s

NAME                                   SCHEDULE    SUSPEND   ACTIVE   LAST SCHEDULE   AGE
cronjob.batch/apprepo-sync-bitnami     0 * * * *   False     0        <none>          54s
cronjob.batch/apprepo-sync-incubator   0 * * * *   False     0        <none>          54s
cronjob.batch/apprepo-sync-stable      0 * * * *   False     0        <none>          54s
cronjob.batch/apprepo-sync-svc-cat     0 * * * *   False     0        <none>          54s

Access Kubeapps dashboard (My API server’s insecure port is listening on 8080 port , so I had to use 8081 for port-forwarding)

$ export POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods --namespace kubeapps -l "app=kubeapps" -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}")
$ kubectl port-forward --namespace kubeapps $POD_NAME 8080:8081

Start an tunnel to 127.0.0.1:8081 using SSH via the host
Access Web GUI

Create a service account for Kubeapps login

$ kubectl create serviceaccount kubeapps-operator
$ kubectl create clusterrolebinding kubeapps-operator --clusterrole=cluster-admin --serviceaccount=default:kubeapps-operator

Retrieve token

$ kubectl get secret $(kubectl get serviceaccount kubeapps-operator -o jsonpath='{.secrets[].name}') -o jsonpath='{.data.token}' | base64 --decode

Use this token to login

Click on Catalog to see all Helm charts from upstream repositories.

ChartMuseum

We can use ChartMuseum to host our own Helm packages. In this session , we will configure ChartMuseum and will add the repository to Kubeapps
We will also upload the nginx-deployment helm package that we have created in earlier session to our local repository.
Download and configure chartmuseum
$ curl -LO https://s3.amazonaws.com/chartmuseum/release/latest/bin/linux/amd64/chartmuseum
Info
We will be using /{HOME}/chartstorage directory to store the packages
$ chmod +x ./chartmuseum $ sudo mv ./chartmuseum /usr/local/bin $ mkdir ./chartstorage
Create a systemd service file.
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/chartmuseum.service [Unit] Description=Helm Chartmuseum Documentation=https://chartmuseum.com/ [Service] ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/chartmuseum \\ --debug \\ --port=8090 \\ --storage="local" \\ --storage-local-rootdir="/home/${USER}/chartstorage/" Restart=on-failure RestartSec=5 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target EOF
Start chartmuseum
$ sudo systemctl daemon-reload $ sudo systemctl start chartmuseum $ sudo systemctl enable chartmuseum
Output
Created symlink from /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/chartmuseum.service to /etc/systemd/system/chartmuseum.service.
Package our Helm chart
$ cd nginx-deployment/ $ helm package .
Output
Successfully packaged chart and saved it to: /home/ubuntu/nginx-deployment/nginx-deployment-2.tgz
Upload package to ChartMuseum
The URL IP is the IP of system which the chartmuseum service is running.
$ curl -L --data-binary "@/home/ubuntu/nginx-deployment/nginx-deployment-2.tgz" 192.168.31.20:8090/api/charts
Also add the repository to helm
$ helm repo add chartmuseum http://192.168.31.20:8090
Add repo to Kubeapps
Click Configuration -> App Repositories -> Add App Repository
Fill Name and URL , then click Install Repo

Repo will appear in the list after addition

View the Helm packages which is hosted in ChartMuseum
Click Catalog and search nginx-deployment
Remember , we have added an icon in our Chart.yaml file . You can see the same icon in deployment.

ChartMuseum UI

Earlier we used curl command to upload our first helm package. In this session , we will configure a UI for our local repository so that we can add/delete packages easily.

Set CHART_MUSESUM_URL variable to the local repo URL.

CHART_MUSESUM_URL=http://192.168.31.20:8090

Create a deployment and service for UI.

cat <<EOF >chartmuseum-ui.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  name: chartmuseum-ui
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 80
    protocol: TCP
    targetPort: 8080
  selector:
    run: chartmuseum-ui
  type: LoadBalancer
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  creationTimestamp: null
  labels:
    run: chartmuseum-ui
  name: chartmuseum-ui
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: chartmuseum-ui
  strategy: {}
  template:
    metadata:
      creationTimestamp: null
      labels:
        run: chartmuseum-ui
    spec:
      containers:
      - env:
        - name: CHART_MUSESUM_URL
          value: ${CHART_MUSESUM_URL}
        image: idobry/chartmuseumui:latest
        name: chartmuseum-ui
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
EOF

Apply the spec to kubeapps namespace

$ kubectl create -f chartmuseum-ui.yaml --namespace=kubeapps

Verify everything is in good state. (We may have to wait for few minutes while downloading the container image)

$ kubectl get all --namespace=kubeapps |grep chartmuseum-ui

pod/chartmuseum-ui-57b6d8f7dc-nbwwt                               1/1     Running     0          99s

service/chartmuseum-ui                   LoadBalancer   172.168.85.102    192.168.31.202   80:30640/TCP   99s

deployment.apps/chartmuseum-ui                               1/1     1            1           99s

replicaset.apps/chartmuseum-ui-57b6d8f7dc

Now we can access the UI using cluster IP and add or delete Helm packages to our local repository.