Helm Setup and Common Commands

What is Helm?

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies the process of deploying and managing applications on Kubernetes clusters using Helm charts.

Prerequisites

• A Kubernetes Cluster running.
• kubectl (Kubernetes CLI tool) installed and configured to communicate with your cluster.

Step 1: Install Helm

On Linux / macOS

1. Download the Helm binary:

   curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

2. Verify the installation:

   helm version

On Windows

1. Using Chocolatey (if installed):

   choco install kubernetes-helm

2. Using Scoop (if installed):

   scoop install helm

3. Verify the installation:

   helm version

Step 2: Add a Helm Repository

Helm uses repositories to store charts. To add a repository, use the following command:

helm repo add <repo-name> <repo-url>

Example: Add the Bitnami Repository

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

Step 3: Update Helm Repositories

To ensure you have the latest charts, update your Helm repositories:

helm repo update

Commonly Used Helm Commands

Here are some useful Helm commands for managing your applications in Kubernetes:

Install a Helm Chart

To install a chart from a repository:

helm install <release-name> <chart-name>

Example: Install the NGINX chart:

helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx

List Installed Releases

To list all installed releases in the current namespace:

helm list

Upgrade a Release

To upgrade a release with a new chart version or configuration:

helm upgrade <release-name> <chart-name> --values <values-file.yaml>

Uninstall a Release

To uninstall a release:

helm uninstall <release-name>

Get Release Status

To get the status of a release:

helm status <release-name>

Fetch a Chart

To download a chart from a repository without installing it:

helm fetch <chart-name>

Create a New Helm Chart

To create a new Helm chart:

helm create <chart-name>

Validate a Chart

To check a chart for errors:

helm lint <chart-directory>

Conclusion

Helm simplifies the deployment and management of applications on Kubernetes. This documentation provides the basic setup and commonly used commands to get started with Helm.

For more advanced usage and additional commands, refer to the official Helm documentation (opens in a new tab).