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Chapter 4. Helm CLI

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4.1. Getting started with Helm 3

4.1.1. Understanding Helm

Helm is a software package manager that simplifies deployment of applications and services to OpenShift Container Platform clusters.

Helm uses a packaging format called charts. A Helm chart is a collection of files that describes the OpenShift Container Platform resources.

A running instance of the chart in a cluster is called a release. A new release is created every time a chart is installed on the cluster.

Each time a chart is installed, or a release is upgraded or rolled back, an incremental revision is created.

4.1.1.1. Key features

Helm provides the ability to:

  • Search through a large collection of charts stored in the chart repository.
  • Modify existing charts.
  • Create your own charts with OpenShift Container Platform or Kubernetes resources.
  • Package and share your applications as charts.

4.1.2. Installing Helm

The following section describes how to install Helm on different platforms using the CLI.

You can also find the URL to the latest binaries from the OpenShift Container Platform web console by clicking the ? icon in the upper-right corner and selecting Command Line Tools.

Prerequisites

  • You have installed Go, version 1.13 or higher.

4.1.2.1. On Linux

  1. Download the Helm binary and add it to your path:

    # curl -L https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/helm/latest/helm-linux-amd64 -o /usr/local/bin/helm
  2. Make the binary file executable:

    # chmod +x /usr/local/bin/helm
  3. Check the installed version:

    $ helm version

    Example output

    version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.0", GitCommit:"b31719aab7963acf4887a1c1e6d5e53378e34d93", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.13.4"}

4.1.2.2. On Windows 7/8

  1. Download the latest .exe file and put in a directory of your preference.
  2. Right click Start and click Control Panel.
  3. Select System and Security and then click System.
  4. From the menu on the left, select Advanced systems settings and click Environment Variables at the bottom.
  5. Select Path from the Variable section and click Edit.
  6. Click New and type the path to the folder with the .exe file into the field or click Browse and select the directory, and click OK.

4.1.2.3. On Windows 10

  1. Download the latest .exe file and put in a directory of your preference.
  2. Click Search and type env or environment.
  3. Select Edit environment variables for your account.
  4. Select Path from the Variable section and click Edit.
  5. Click New and type the path to the directory with the exe file into the field or click Browse and select the directory, and click OK.

4.1.2.4. On MacOS

  1. Download the Helm binary and add it to your path:

    # curl -L https://mirror.openshift.com/pub/openshift-v4/clients/helm/latest/helm-darwin-amd64 -o /usr/local/bin/helm
  2. Make the binary file executable:

    # chmod +x /usr/local/bin/helm
  3. Check the installed version:

    $ helm version

    Example output

    version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.0", GitCommit:"b31719aab7963acf4887a1c1e6d5e53378e34d93", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.13.4"}

4.1.3. Installing a Helm chart on an OpenShift Container Platform cluster

Prerequisites

  • You have a running OpenShift Container Platform cluster and you have logged into it.
  • You have installed Helm.

Procedure

  1. Create a new project:

    $ oc new-project mysql
  2. Add a repository of Helm charts to your local Helm client:

    $ helm repo add stable https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com/

    Example output

    "stable" has been added to your repositories

  3. Update the repository:

    $ helm repo update
  4. Install an example MySQL chart:

    $ helm install example-mysql stable/mysql
  5. Verify that the chart has installed successfully:

    $ helm list

    Example output

    NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION
    example-mysql mysql 1 2019-12-05 15:06:51.379134163 -0500 EST deployed mysql-1.5.0 5.7.27

4.1.4. Creating a custom Helm chart on OpenShift Container Platform

Procedure

  1. Create a new project:

    $ oc new-project nodejs-ex-k
  2. Download an example Node.js chart that contains OpenShift Container Platform objects:

    $ git clone https://github.com/redhat-developer/redhat-helm-charts
  3. Go to the directory with the sample chart:

    $ cd redhat-helm-charts/alpha/nodejs-ex-k/
  4. Edit the Chart.yaml file and add a description of your chart:

    apiVersion: v2 1
    name: nodejs-ex-k 2
    description: A Helm chart for OpenShift 3
    icon: https://static.redhat.com/libs/redhat/brand-assets/latest/corp/logo.svg 4
    1
    The chart API version. It should be v2 for Helm charts that require at least Helm 3.
    2
    The name of your chart.
    3
    The description of your chart.
    4
    The URL to an image to be used as an icon.
  5. Verify that the chart is formatted properly:

    $ helm lint

    Example output

    [INFO] Chart.yaml: icon is recommended
    
    1 chart(s) linted, 0 chart(s) failed

  6. Navigate to the previous directory level:

    $ cd ..
  7. Install the chart:

    $ helm install nodejs-chart nodejs-ex-k
  8. Verify that the chart has installed successfully:

    $ helm list

    Example output

    NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION
    nodejs-chart nodejs-ex-k 1 2019-12-05 15:06:51.379134163 -0500 EST deployed nodejs-0.1.0  1.16.0

4.2. Configuring custom Helm chart repositories

The Developer Catalog, in the Developer perspective of the web console, displays the Helm charts available in the cluster. By default, it lists the Helm charts from the Red Hat Helm chart repository. For a list of the charts see the Red Hat Helm index file.

As a cluster administrator, you can add multiple Helm chart repositories, apart from the default one, and display the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

4.2.1. Adding custom Helm chart repositories

You can add custom Helm chart repositories to your cluster, and enable access to the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

Procedure

  1. To add a new Helm Chart Repository, you must add the Helm Chart Repository custom resource (CR) to your cluster.

    Sample Helm Chart Repository CR

    apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: HelmChartRepository
    metadata:
      name: <name>
    spec:
     # optional name that might be used by console
     # name: <chart-display-name>
      connectionConfig:
        url: <helm-chart-repository-url>

    For example, to add an Azure sample chart repository, run:

    $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
    apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: HelmChartRepository
    metadata:
      name: azure-sample-repo
    spec:
      name: azure-sample-repo
      connectionConfig:
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure-Samples/helm-charts/master/docs
    EOF
  2. Navigate to the Developer Catalog in the web console to verify that the helm charts from the Azure chart repository are displayed.

4.2.2. Creating credentials and CA certificates to add Helm chart repositories

Some Helm chart repositories need credentials and custom certificate authority (CA) certificates to connect to it. You can use the web console as well as the CLI to add credentials and certificates.

Procedure

To configure the credentials and certificates, and then add a Helm chart repository using the CLI:

  1. In the openshift-config namespace, create a ConfigMap object with a custom CA certificate in PEM encoded format, and store it under the ca-bundle.crt key within the config map:

    $ oc create configmap helm-ca-cert \
    --from-file=ca-bundle.crt=/path/to/certs/ca.crt \
    -n openshift-config
  2. In the openshift-config namespace, create a Secret object to add the client TLS configurations:

    $ oc create secret generic helm-tls-configs \
    --from-file=tls.crt=/path/to/certs/client.crt \
    --from-file=tls.key=/path/to/certs//client.key \
    -n openshift-config

    Note that the client certificate and key must be in PEM encoded format and stored under the keys tls.crt and tls.key, respectively.

  3. Add the Helm repository as follows:

    $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
    apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
    kind: HelmChartRepository
    metadata:
      name: <helm-repository>
    spec:
      name: <helm-repository>
      connectionConfig:
        url: <URL for the Helm repository>
        tlsConfig:
            name: helm-tls-configs
        ca:
    	name: helm-ca-cert
    EOF

    The ConfigMap and Secret are consumed in the HelmChartRepository CR using the tlsConfig and ca fields. These certificates are used to connect to the Helm repository URL.

  4. By default, all authenticated users have access to all configured charts. However, for chart repositories where certificates are needed, you must provide users with read access to the helm-ca-cert config map and helm-tls-configs secret in the openshift-config namespace, as follows:

    $ cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    kind: Role
    metadata:
      namespace: openshift-config
      name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
    rules:
    - apiGroups: [""]
      resources: ["configmaps"]
      resourceNames: ["helm-ca-cert"]
      verbs: ["get"]
    - apiGroups: [""]
      resources: ["secrets"]
      resourceNames: ["helm-tls-configs"]
      verbs: ["get"]
    ---
    kind: RoleBinding
    apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
    metadata:
      namespace: openshift-config
      name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
    subjects:
      - kind: Group
        apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
        name: 'system:authenticated'
    roleRef:
      apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      kind: Role
      name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
    EOF
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