Introduction to helm and helm charts for kubernetes

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies the deployment and management of applications. It provides a templating engine called Helm Charts, which allows you to define, install, and manage complex applications on Kubernetes. In this tutorial, we will explore the basics of Helm and Helm Charts.

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Prerequisites

Before getting started, make sure you have the following prerequisites:

• Kubernetes cluster: You should have a working Kubernetes cluster or a Kubernetes-based platform like Minikube, Colima or Docker Desktop.
• Helm: Install the Helm command-line tool on your local machine. You can find installation instructions for your operating system at Helm's official documentation.

Helm Concepts

Before diving into Helm Charts, let's understand a few key concepts in Helm:

• Chart: A Helm chart is a collection of files that describe a set of Kubernetes resources. It includes templates, values, and other metadata files required to deploy a specific application or service.
• Repository: A Helm repository is a collection of charts stored in a remote location. It can be public or private, allowing users to easily share and distribute Helm charts.
• Release: A release is an instance of a chart running on a Kubernetes cluster. It represents a specific deployment of an application with a unique name and configuration.
• Values: Values are variables that can be parameterized in a Helm chart. They allow you to customize the configuration of the chart during installation.

Installing the a Chart

The Bitnami PostgreSQL chart is a popular Helm chart that provides a ready-to-use PostgreSQL database on your Kubernetes cluster.

1. Open your terminal and make sure you have Helm installed and properly configured.
2. Add the Bitnami charts repository to Helm by running the following command:

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

1. Update the Helm repositories to fetch the latest chart information: