Deploying GitLab with Helm on Kubernetes

Q: Deploy the gitlab-service helm chart on Kubernetes

Deploy the gitlab-service helm chart on Kubernetes

To deploy the GitLab service Helm chart on Kubernetes using Pulumi, you'll need to understand the concept of Helm charts and how they are used in conjunction with Kubernetes. Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes, which allows you to define, install, and upgrade even the most complex Kubernetes applications quickly.

In this context, a Helm chart is a collection of pre-configured Kubernetes resources that can be deployed as a single unit. The gitlab-service Helm chart would contain all the necessary Kubernetes manifests for deploying Gitlab into a cluster.

Pulumi offers a Chart resource as part of its Kubernetes provider, which allows you to deploy Helm charts. The Chart resource can be used to specify the chart to be deployed, the values to override defaults, and other configuration options.

Below is a Pulumi TypeScript program that demonstrates how to deploy the gitlab-service Helm chart to your Kubernetes cluster. Before running this Pulumi program, make sure you have:

Installed Pulumi CLI and set up the Kubernetes context correctly.
Access to a Kubernetes cluster where you have permissions to deploy applications.

Now let's look at the program:

import * as k8s from "@pulumi/kubernetes";

// Create a new Pulumi stack project, if you haven't initialized one.
// `pulumi new kubernetes-typescript`

// Name your instance of the chart
const gitlabServiceReleaseName = "gitlab-service-release";

// Deploy the gitlab-service helm chart
const gitlabServiceChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart(gitlabServiceReleaseName, {
    repo: "gitlab", // Specify the Helm chart repository name. Assume "gitlab" is the chart repo.
    chart: "gitlab-service", // Helm chart name as known in the repository.
    // If the chart version is desired, uncomment and specify the version.
    // version: "x.y.z",
    // Values here are examples, you should adjust them according to GitLab chart and your requirements.
    values: {
        // Specify service type and other configurations for GitLab. 
        // This will vary based on the chart's available options.
        service: {
            type: "ClusterIP",
        },
        // Other potential overrides may include:
        // ingress, persistence, resources, etc.
        // Check the official GitLab chart for all customizable values.
    },
    // Namespace where you want to deploy the gitlab-service, if other than default.
    // namespace: "gitlab",
});

// When running `pulumi up`, Pulumi will perform the deployment, and once done, you can verify the deployed resources via Kubernetes CLI or Dashboard.

This program sets up a Pulumi deployment that will apply a gitlab-service Helm chart to your Kubernetes cluster. You need to replace some values with the ones appropriate for your environment:

repo: The name of the Helm repository where the gitlab-service chart is located.
chart: The name of the chart to deploy; here it is assumed it is named gitlab-service.
version: The version of the Helm chart to deploy; if unspecified, Helm will default to the latest one.
values: Override the default values in the chart. This can include configurations for the service type, ingress rules, persistent storage, resource limitations, etc. Check the GitLab Helm chart's documentation for all available options.

Remember to replace placeholder values, especially those in the values field, with the actual configuration that matches your requirements. You may also specify the Kubernetes namespace to deploy the chart in. If you don't specify it, Pulumi uses the default namespace for the deployment.

Run the program with pulumi up to initiate the deployment. Once complete, you can use kubectl or the Kubernetes dashboard to verify that the GitLab service has been deployed successfully onto your cluster.