Book Image

Learn Helm

By : Andrew Block, Austin Dewey
Book Image

Learn Helm

By: Andrew Block, Austin Dewey

Overview of this book

Containerization is currently known to be one of the best ways to implement DevOps. While Docker introduced containers and changed the DevOps era, Google developed an extensive container orchestration system, Kubernetes, which is now considered the frontrunner in container orchestration. With the help of this book, you’ll explore the efficiency of managing applications running on Kubernetes using Helm. Starting with a short introduction to Helm and how it can benefit the entire container environment, you’ll then delve into the architectural aspects, in addition to learning about Helm charts and its use cases. You’ll understand how to write Helm charts in order to automate application deployment on Kubernetes. Focused on providing enterprise-ready patterns relating to Helm and automation, the book covers best practices for application development, delivery, and lifecycle management with Helm. By the end of this Kubernetes book, you will have learned how to leverage Helm to develop an enterprise pattern for application delivery.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
1
Section 1: Introduction and Setup
5
Section 2: Helm Chart Development
9
Section 3: Adanced Deployment Patterns
14
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Life cycle management

One of the primary benefits of Helm charts and their associated releases is the ability to manage complex applications on Kubernetes. A release undergoes multiple phases during its life span. To provide additional management capabilities around the life cycle of a release, Helm features a hooks mechanism so that actions can be undertaken at different points in time within a release cycle. In this section, we will explore the different phases of a release's life span and introduce how hooks can be used to provide capabilities for interacting not only with the release but also the entire Kubernetes environment.

In Chapter 3, Installing Your First Helm Chart, we encountered several phases that encompass the overall life span of a Helm release, including its installation, upgrade, removal, and rollback. Given that Helm charts can be complex, as they manage one or more applications that will be deployed to Kubernetes, there is often the need to perform additional...