At The Helm of Kubernetes: Repeatable Infrastructure Creation for Mere Mortals

Stop copying and pasting Kubernetes YAML. Learn how Helm turns complex deployments into simple, repeatable charts, making infrastructure management easy for mere mortals.

#1about 1 minute

Understanding Helm as a package manager for Kubernetes

Helm acts as a package manager for Kubernetes, templating the YAML configuration that surrounds your containers, which is a different role than Docker.

#2about 4 minutes

Creating a basic Helm chart from scratch

Build a new Helm chart by creating a `values.yaml` file to extract and centralize configuration variables from existing Kubernetes manifests.

#3about 2 minutes

Defining chart metadata using the Chart.yaml file

The `Chart.yaml` file provides essential metadata for your package, including API version, name, description, and separate versions for the chart and the application.

#4about 6 minutes

Templating Kubernetes resources with Go templates

Replace hardcoded values in your Kubernetes YAML files with dynamic Go template expressions that reference variables from `values.yaml` and `Chart.yaml`.

#5about 7 minutes

Validating and rendering charts with the Helm CLI

Use `helm lint` to check for syntax errors and `helm template` to render the final Kubernetes YAML, overriding default values with the `--set` flag for dynamic configurations.

#6about 3 minutes

Packaging charts for distribution and reuse

Use `helm package` to create a versioned tarball of your chart, and leverage the `helm-pack` plugin to inject values during the packaging process.

#7about 4 minutes

Installing and managing application releases with Helm

Manage the lifecycle of a deployed application using `helm install` to create a release, `helm status` to check it, and `helm upgrade` to apply new versions.

#8about 5 minutes

Enabling multiple instances with release names

Modify templates to incorporate the `Release.Name` variable, which ensures resource names are unique and allows multiple instances of the same chart to coexist in a cluster.

#9about 2 minutes

Sharing and consuming public Helm charts

Discover and install third-party applications from public repositories like Artifact Hub by adding the repository and using `helm install`.

#10about 4 minutes

Understanding Helm's limitations and its alternatives

Helm excels at packaging and deployment but lacks runtime operational capabilities, for which more advanced tools like Kubernetes Operators are better suited.

#11about 7 minutes

Q&A: Helm's value, migration, and operator comparison

Helm's complexity is justified for managing many variables, migration from v2 to v3 involves removing Tiller, and it serves as a pragmatic alternative to building full Kubernetes Operators.