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.

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Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Preface
Preface
Who this book is for
What this book covers
To get the most out of this book
Download the example code files
Get in touch
Reviews
1
Section 1: Introduction and Setup
Section 1: Introduction and Setup
Free Chapter
2
Chapter 1: Understanding Kubernetes and Helm
Chapter 1: Understanding Kubernetes and Helm
From monoliths to modern microservices
What is Kubernetes?
Deploying a Kubernetes application
Approaches in resource management
Resource configuration challenges
Helm to the rescue!
Summary
Further reading
Questions
3
Chapter 2: Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment
Chapter 2: Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment
Technical requirements
Preparing a local Kubernetes environment with Minikube
Setting up Kubectl
Configuring Helm
Summary
Further reading
Questions
4
Chapter 3: Installing your First Helm Chart
Chapter 3: Installing your First Helm Chart
Technical requirements
Understanding the WordPress application
Finding a WordPress chart
Creating a Kubernetes environment
Installing the WordPress chart
Additional installation notes
Accessing the WordPress application
Upgrading the WordPress release
Rolling back the WordPress release
Uninstalling the WordPress release
Cleaning up your environment
Summary
Further reading
Questions
5
Section 2: Helm Chart Development
Section 2: Helm Chart Development
6
Chapter 4: Understanding Helm Charts
Chapter 4: Understanding Helm Charts
Technical requirements
Understanding the YAML format
Understanding chart templates
Understanding chart definitions
Life cycle management
Documenting a Helm chart
Packaging a Helm chart
Summary
Further reading
Questions
7
Chapter 5: Building Your First Helm Chart
Chapter 5: Building Your First Helm Chart
Technical requirements
Understanding the Guestbook application
Setting up the environment
Creating a Guestbook Helm chart
Improving the Guestbook Helm chart
Publishing the Guestbook chart to a chart repository
Cleaning up
Summary
Further reading
Questions
8
Chapter 6: Testing Helm Charts
Chapter 6: Testing Helm Charts
Technical requirements
Setting up your environment
Verifying Helm templating
Testing in a live cluster
Improving chart tests with the chart testing project
Cleaning up
Summary
Further reading
Questions
9
Section 3: Adanced Deployment Patterns
Section 3: Adanced Deployment Patterns
10
Chapter 7: Automating Helm Processes Using CI/CD and GitOps
Chapter 7: Automating Helm Processes Using CI/CD and GitOps
Technical requirements
Understanding CI/CD and GitOps
Setting up our environment
Creating a CI pipeline to build Helm charts
Creating a CD pipeline to deploy applications with Helm
Cleaning up
Summary
Further reading
Questions
11
Chapter 8: Using Helm with the Operator Framework
Chapter 8: Using Helm with the Operator Framework
Technical requirements
Understanding Kubernetes Operators
Creating a Helm operator
Using Helm to manage Operators and CRs
Cleaning up your Kubernetes environment
Summary
Further reading
Questions
12
Chapter 9: Helm Security Considerations
Chapter 9: Helm Security Considerations
Technical requirements
Data provenance and integrity
Signing and verifying Helm charts
Developing secure Helm charts
Configuring RBAC rules
Accessing secure chart repositories
Summary
Further reading
Questions
13
ASSESSMENTS
Chapter 1: Understanding Kubernetes and Helm
Chapter 2: Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment
Chapter 3: Installing Your First Helm Chart
Chapter 4: Understanding Helm Charts
Chapter 5: Building Your First Helm Chart
Chapter 6: Testing Helm Charts
Chapter 7: Automating Helm Processes Using CI/CD and GitOps
Chapter 8: Using Helm with the Operator Framework
Chapter 9: Helm Security Considerations
14
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Other Books You May Enjoy

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Understanding Kubernetes and Helm, provides an introduction to Kubernetes and Helm. You will be introduced to the challenges that users face when deploying applications to Kubernetes and how Helm can help simplify deployments and increase productivity.

Chapter 2, Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment, covers the tools required to deploy applications with Helm on a local Kubernetes cluster. In addition, you will also learn about basic Helm configurations that occur post-installation.

Chapter 3, Installing Your First Helm Chart, explains how to deploy an application to Kubernetes by installing a Helm chart and covers the different life cycle phases of an application deployed with Helm.

Chapter 4, Understanding Helm Charts, dives deep into the building blocks of a Helm chart and prepares you with the knowledge required to build your own Helm chart.

Chapter 5, Building Your First Helm Chart, provides an end-to-end walkthrough of building a Helm chart. The chapter begins with the fundamental concepts of building a Helm chart that leverages basic Helm constructs and progresses to modifying the baseline configurations to incorporate more advanced Helm constructs. Finally, you will learn how to deploy a chart to a basic chart repository

Chapter 6, Testing Helm Charts, discusses different methodologies around linting and testing Helm charts.

Chapter 7, Automating Helm Processes Using CI/CD and GitOps, explores an advanced use case in terms of leveraging CI/CD and GitOps models to automate Helm tasks. Namely, developing a process around testing, packaging, and releasing Helm charts. In addition, the management of Helm chart installations across multiple different environments is also introduced.

Chapter 8, Using Helm with the Operator Framework, discusses the fundamental concepts of operators on Kubernetes with a view to building a Helm operator out of an existing Helm chart using the operator-sdk tool provided by the operator framework.

Chapter 9, Helm Security Considerations, dives into some of the security considerations and precautions around using Helm, from the moment the tool is installed to the second it is used to install a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster.

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