Preface

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 industry standard. With the help of this book, you’ll explore the efficiency of managing applications running on Kubernetes using Helm.

Starting with a brief introduction to Helm and its impact on users working with containers and Kubernetes, you’ll delve into the primitives of Helm charts and its overall architecture and use cases. From there, you’ll learn how to write Helm charts in order to automate application deployment on Kubernetes and work your way toward more advanced strategies. These enterprise-ready patterns are focused on concepts beyond the basics so that you can get the most out of Helm, including topics related to automation, application development, delivery, life cycle management, and security.

By the end of this book, you’ll have learned how to leverage Helm to build, deploy, and manage applications on Kubernetes.

Who this book is for

This book is for Kubernetes developers or administrators who are interested in learning Helm to provide automation for app development on Kubernetes. Although no prior knowledge of Helm is required, basic knowledge of Kubernetes application development will be useful.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Understanding Kubernetes and Helm, is where you learn about the challenges involved in deploying Kubernetes applications and how Helm can be used to simplify the deployment process.

Chapter 2, Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment, is where you learn how to configure a local development environment. In this chapter, you will download Minikube and Helm. You will also learn basic Helm configurations.

Chapter 3, Installing Your First App with Helm, teaches you the ins and outs of the main Helm commands by having you deploy your first Helm chart.

Chapter 4, Scaffolding a New Helm Chart, is about how Helm charts are structured and helps you scaffold your own Helm chart.

Chapter 5, Helm Dependency Management, is where you learn how to manage and use dependencies to build and manage complex application deployments.

Chapter 6, Understanding Helm Templates, explores Helm templates and how to dynamically generate Kubernetes resources.

Chapter 7, Helm Lifecycle Hooks, is about lifecycle hooks and how to deploy arbitrary resources at different Helm lifecycle phases.

Chapter 8, Publishing to a Helm Chart Repository, teaches you about Helm chart repositories and how they can be used to publish Helm charts.

Chapter 9, Testing Helm Charts, is about different strategies for testing Helm charts during Helm chart development.

Chapter 10, Automating Helm with CD and GitOps, looks at how to automate Helm deployments using continuous delivery and GitOps methodologies.

Chapter 11, Using Helm with the Operator Framework, covers how to create a Helm operator using the operator-sdk toolkit.

Chapter 12, Helm Security Considerations, is about different security topics as they relate to Helm releases, charts, and repositories.

To get the most out of this book

To get the most out of this book, you should install the technologies in the following table to follow along with the examples. While these are the versions that were used during writing, the latest versions should work as well.

If you are using the digital version of this book, we advise you to type the code yourself or access the code from the book’s GitHub repository (a link is available in the next section). Doing so will help you avoid any potential errors related to the copying and pasting of code.

Download the example code files

You can download the example code files for this book from GitHub at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/Managing-Kubernetes-Resources-using-Helm. If there’s an update to the code, it will be updated in the GitHub repository.

We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/. Check them out!

Download the color images

We also provide a PDF file that has color images of the screenshots and diagrams used in this book. You can download it here: https://packt.link/zeDY0.

Conventions used

There are a number of text conventions used throughout this book.

Code in text: Indicates code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles. Here is an example: “Notice that a space is missing between the colon and the LearnHelm string.”

A block of code is set as follows:

configuration: |
  server.port=8443
  logging.file.path=/var/log

When we wish to draw your attention to a particular part of a code block, the relevant lines or items are set in bold:

$ cd ~
$ git clone <repository URI>

Any command-line input or output is written as follows:

$ helm dependency update chapter8/guestbook

$ helm package guestbook chapter8/guestbook

Bold: Indicates a new term, an important word, or words that you see onscreen. For instance, words in menus or dialog boxes appear in bold. Here is an example: “Click the Generate Token button to create the token.”

Tips or Important Notes

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Get in touch

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General feedback: If you have questions about any aspect of this book, email us at [email protected] and mention the book title in the subject of your message.

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