Deploy the papergirl helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster using Pulumi involves several steps. The `pulumi` package for Kubernetes provides the `Chart` class in the `kubernetes.helm.v3` module which enables you to declare Helm charts as part of your infrastructure in a Pulumi program.

Let's walk through the process.

First, you will create a Pulumi program that assumes you have a Kubernetes cluster already running and configured for `kubectl`, which is also what Pulumi will use to deploy the Helm chart.

You'll need to install the necessary Pulumi packages by running:

```bash
pulumi new kubernetes-typescript
```

This command sets up a new Pulumi project using the TypeScript language.

Then, you would install the Pulumi Kubernetes provider:

```bash
npm install @pulumi/kubernetes
```

Here's how you could write the program in TypeScript to deploy the "papergirl" Helm chart:

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

// Creates a Helm chart resource for the "papergirl" application
// Change the `repo` argument according to the actual repository URL
// where the "papergirl" chart is hosted
const papergirlChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("papergirl", {
    chart: "papergirl",
    repo: "https://repository.url/for/papergirl", // Replace with the actual repo URL
    version: "0.1.0", // Replace with the specific chart version
    // Optional: specify values for the `values.yaml` file
    values: {
        service: {
            type: "ClusterIP"
        }
    },
    // Specify the namespace where the chart should be deployed,
    // if not specified, it will use the 'default' namespace
    namespace: "default"
});

// (Optional) Export the endpoint of the `papergirl` service
// Assuming the chart exposes a service with a name 'papergirl-service'
export const serviceEndpoint = papergirlChart.getResourceProperty(
    "v1/Service",
    "papergirl-service", // The name might differ, so check your chart to get the precise name
    "status"
).apply(status => status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip);
```

This Pulumi program does the following:

1. Imports the Pulumi Kubernetes package.
2. Defines a new Helm chart resource corresponding to the "papergirl" Helm chart.
3. The `repo` property should be replaced with the repository hosting the "papergirl" chart.
4. The `version` property pins down the chart to a specific version you wish to deploy.
5. The `values` property allows you to override default values provided by the `values.yaml` in the Helm chart. This is just an example; the actual values will depend on the specific Helm chart in use.
6. Deploys the Helm chart to the `default` namespace unless another one is specified.
7. (Optional) Exports the IP of the LoadBalancer if there is one, which could be used to access the deployed "papergirl" application.

Make sure to replace the placeholder values with actual information pertaining to your "papergirl" chart.

Once you've created your Pulumi program, run it with the following commands:

```bash
pulumi up
```

This command will compile your TypeScript code into a Pulumi program, which will then plan and execute the deployment of the specified Helm chart on your Kubernetes cluster.

Do note that to successfully deploy to the cluster, your Pulumi setup must have access to a Kubernetes cluster (configured via a kubeconfig file or equivalent cluster access mechanisms) and the Helm chart repository URL provided must be reachable and contain the specified chart.