Configure and Deploy Your Service with Helm

Distributed Services with Go — by Travis Jeffery (76 / 84)

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Helm[60] is the package manager for Kubernetes that enables you to distribute and install services in Kubernetes. Helm packages are called charts. A chart defines all resources needed to run a service in a Kubernetes cluster — for example, its deployments, services, persistent volume claims, and so on. Charts on Kubernetes are like Debian packages on Debian or Homebrew formulas on macOS. As a service developer, you’ll want to build and share a Helm chart for your service to make it easier for people to run your service. (And if you’re dogfooding your own service, you’ll get the same benefit.)

A release is a instance of running a chart. Each time you install a chart into Kubernetes, Helm creates a release. In the Debian package and Homebrew formula examples, releases are like processes.

And finally, repositories are where you share charts to and install charts from; they’re like Debian sources and Homebrew taps.

To install Helm, run this command:

​ $ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3 ​\​
​     | bash

Before we write our own Helm chart, let’s take Helm for a spin and install an existing chart. Bitnami[61] maintains a repository of charts for popular applications…