Deploy the papermc helm chart on Linode Kubernetes Engine

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster is a two-step process. First, you need to set up a Kubernetes cluster, and then you deploy the chart to that cluster. Since Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) is the target for this deployment, I'll give you instructions on how to accomplish this using Pulumi and the Kubernetes provider.

Before you start, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:

1. [Pulumi CLI installed](https://www.pulumi.com/docs/get-started/install/)
2. [Linode Account and CLI installed](https://www.linode.com/docs/products/tools/cli/get-started/)
3. [kubectl installed](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/)
4. Access to a Linode API token with permissions to manage LKE clusters.

Here's a Pulumi program written in TypeScript that will create a new LKE cluster and then deploy the PaperMC Minecraft server using a Helm chart:

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as linode from "@pulumi/linode";
import * as kubernetes from "@pulumi/kubernetes";

// Step 1: Set up a Kubernetes cluster on Linode
const cluster = new linode.LkeCluster("papermc-cluster", {
    k8sVersion: "1.21",
    region: "us-central",
    pools: [{
        type: "g6-standard-1",
        count: 3,
    }],
});

// Export the raw kubeconfig
export const kubeconfig = cluster.kubeconfig;

// Step 2: Deploy the PaperMC Helm chart on the LKE cluster
const papermcChart = new kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart("papermc", {
    chart: "minecraft",
    version: "3.1.3",
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: "https://itzg.github.io/minecraft-server-charts/",
    },
    values: {
        minecraftServer: {
            type: "PAPER",
        },
    },
}, {provider: new kubernetes.Provider("k8s-provider", {kubeconfig: cluster.kubeconfig})});

// Export the Helm chart values - for your reference
export const helmChartValues = papermcChart.values;
```

Explanation of the resources used:

- `linode.LkeCluster`: This creates a new Kubernetes cluster on Linode. We specify the Kubernetes version, the region where the cluster will be deployed, and the desired node pool configuration.

- `kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart`: This resource is responsible for deploying Helm charts into a Kubernetes cluster. We supply it with the name of the chart (`minecraft`), which includes PaperMC, and specify the repository URL where the chart can be found.

- `kubernetes.Provider`: This is a Kubernetes provider instance that allows the Helm chart to be deployed using the kubeconfig of the cluster created with Linode.

After you set up your Pulumi and Linode CLI, you should simply run the Pulumi program by creating a new Pulumi project and pasting this TypeScript code into `index.ts`. You can then deploy your resources with the following commands:

```sh
pulumi up
```

After confirming the deployment, the PaperMC Minecraft server will be deployed on an LKE cluster. You can access your Minecraft server by finding the external IP of the service and connecting to it via a Minecraft client. Use `kubectl get svc` to find the external IP once deployed.