Using Helm to Manage a Kubernetes Application
In the previous chapter, we described how you can deploy a simple application using kubectl and a standard Kubernetes manifest. The challenge with using this approach is the manifest files are fixed. If you wanted to change the tag for a web server in a manifest for different environments (development, test, production, etc.) you would need to have multiple manifests or alter the manifest content every time you deploy it.
In this chapter, we introduce Helm, a tool that can be used to define, install, and upgrade complex applications and allows you to easily customize deployments for different environments. Specifically, we will cover the following topics:
- Understanding Helm and its architecture
- Installing the Helm binary
- Deploying a sample Kubernetes application with Helm
- Creating, deploying, updating, and rolling back a Helm chart
- Deleting an application via Helm
- Deploying a Helm chart with Lens
Important...