Deploy the ibm-ace-operator helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the IBM App Connect Enterprise (ACE) Operator Helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), you'll need to create an AKS cluster, configure your Kubernetes environment to interact with your cluster, and then deploy the Helm chart to the cluster.

Here are the high-level steps we're going to follow:

1. Provision an AKS cluster using Pulumi's infrastructure as code.
2. Set up the required AKS configuration to manage the cluster.
3. Install the IBM ACE Operator Helm chart on the AKS cluster.

To implement the following steps, you will need the `azure-native` Pulumi provider, which allows you to interact with Azure resources, and the `kubernetes` provider, which enables you to work with Kubernetes resources such as Helm charts.

Firstly, make sure that you have the Pulumi CLI installed and you've logged in to your Pulumi account. You should also have Azure CLI installed and configured with credentials to access your Azure subscription where you want to provision the AKS cluster.

Below is a Pulumi TypeScript program that demonstrates how to accomplish this. Ensure you adjust the details such as the `resourceGroupName`, `clusterName`, `location`, and other configurations based on your requirements. Please note that some configurations might require more sophisticated setup based on the actual production needs.

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

// Set up an Azure resource group where all resources will be placed.
const resourceGroupName = new azure.core.ResourceGroup("my-rg", {
    location: "WestEurope", // Adjust this to the location you wish to deploy your AKS cluster
});

// Create an AKS cluster.
const cluster = new azure.containerservice.KubernetesCluster("my-aks-cluster", {
    resourceGroupName: resourceGroupName.name,
    location: resourceGroupName.location,
    defaultNodePool: {
        name: "default",
        vmSize: "Standard_DS2_v2", // Adjust the VM size according to your requirements
        nodeCount: 2, // Adjust the node count based on how many nodes you want
    },
    dnsPrefix: "myakscluster", // Provide a unique DNS prefix for your cluster
    linuxProfile: {
        adminUsername: "aksuser",
        sshKey: {
            keyData: "ssh-rsa ...", // Replace with your SSH public key
        },
    },
    servicePrincipal: {
        clientId: process.env.AZURE_CLIENT_ID!, // Set your Azure service principal clientId
        clientSecret: process.env.AZURE_CLIENT_SECRET!, // Set your Azure service principal clientSecret
    },
    tags: {
        environment: "pulumi",
    },
});

// Export the kubeconfig to access the AKS cluster.
export const kubeconfig = cluster.kubeConfigRaw;

// Use the kubeconfig to create a Kubernetes provider instance.
const k8sProvider = new k8s.Provider("k8s-provider", {
    kubeconfig: kubeconfig,
});

// Helm chart resource for deploying IBM ACE Operator.
const aceChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("ibm-ace-operator", {
    chart: "ibm-ace-operator",
    version: "1.2.3", // Specify the version of the IBM ACE Operator chart
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/IBM/charts/master/repo/stable/", // The repository URL where the chart is located
    },
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Export the Helm chart resources.
export const aceChartResources = aceChart.resources;
```

The above program sets the foundation for the IBM ACE Helm chart deployment. Please replace all the placeholders with actual values that reflect your setup. The `kubeconfig` allows you to connect to the AKS cluster through tools such as `kubectl`, and it is exported so you can use it outside of Pulumi if necessary.

Remember to keep your service principal's `clientId` and `clientSecret` confidential. Typically, you'd use Pulumi's configuration system to manage sensitive data securely. However, for the purposes of this example, we're using process environment variables to provide these values.

To run this program, place the code in a file named `index.ts`, and make sure you're in the same directory as the file. Run `pulumi up` to execute it. Pulumi will show you a preview of the resources that will be created and prompt you to proceed with the deployment.

Once the deployment has completed, you will have an AKS cluster ready and the IBM ACE Operator installed. You can then proceed to use the IBM ACE Operator to create and manage your ACE integrations within the AKS cluster.