Deploy the ibm-aspera-operator helm chart on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart like `ibm-aspera-operator` on Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) involves several steps. I'll walk you through these steps and provide you with a Pulumi program that you can use to accomplish this goal.

### Steps to Deploy the ibm-aspera-operator Helm Chart on GKE

1. **Set Up GKE Cluster**: First, you need to have a GKE cluster running. We will create a GKE cluster using Pulumi's `google-native.container/v1.Cluster` resource.
2. **Set Up Kubeconfig**: Once the GKE cluster is provisioned, you need to obtain the `kubeconfig` file, which allows you to interact with your cluster using `kubectl`.
3. **Install the Helm Chart**: Finally, using the Helm provider in Pulumi, you can deploy the `ibm-aspera-operator` chart to your cluster.

Here's how you can define these steps in a Pulumi program using TypeScript:

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

// Step 1: Create a GKE cluster
const gkeCluster = new gcp.container.Cluster("gke-cluster", {
    initialNodeCount: 2,
    minMasterVersion: "latest", // use an appropriate GKE version
    nodeVersion: "latest",
    nodeConfig: {
        machineType: "e2-medium", // choose an appropriate machine type
        oauthScopes: [
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/compute",
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/devstorage.read_only",
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/logging.write",
            "https://www.googleapis.com/auth/monitoring",
        ],
    },
});

// Step 2: Obtain the kubeconfig for the created GKE cluster
const kubeconfig = pulumi.
    all([gkeCluster.name, gkeCluster.endpoint, gkeCluster.masterAuth]).
    apply(([name, endpoint, masterAuth]) => {
        const context = `${gcp.config.project}_${gcp.config.zone}_${name}`;
        return `apiVersion: v1
clusters:
- cluster:
    certificate-authority-data: ${masterAuth.clusterCaCertificate}
    server: https://${endpoint}
  name: ${context}
contexts:
- context:
    cluster: ${context}
    user: ${context}
  name: ${context}
current-context: ${context}
kind: Config
preferences: {}
users:
- name: ${context}
  user:
    auth-provider:
      config:
        cmd-args: config config-helper --format=json
        cmd-path: gcloud
        expiry-key: '{.credential.token_expiry}'
        token-key: '{.credential.access_token}'
      name: gcp
`;
    });

// Step 3: Use the Helm provider to deploy the ibm-aspera-operator chart
const asperaChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("ibm-aspera-operator", {
    chart: "ibm-aspera-operator",
    version: "x.y.z", // specify the chart version
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: "https://charts.your-repository.com", // specify the Helm repository URL
    },
}, {
    provider: new k8s.Provider("provider", {kubeconfig}),
});

// Export the cluster's name and kubeconfig
export const clusterName = gkeCluster.name;
export const clusterKubeconfig = kubeconfig;
```

### Explanation:

- **GKE Cluster**: The `gcp.container.Cluster` resource block will create a new GKE cluster with the given configuration. Replace the placeholders with the actual values that suit your requirements.
- **Kubeconfig**: The `kubeconfig` is a multi-step construction that combines the cluster name, endpoint, and masterAuth to create a kubeconfig string. This kubeconfig is required to authenticate to the Kubernetes cluster.
- **Helm Chart**: The `k8s.helm.v3.Chart` resource block will install the `ibm-aspera-operator` Helm chart onto your GKE cluster. Replace the `version` with the version you want to install, and set the `repo` to the Helm repository that hosts `ibm-aspera-operator`.

### Deploying the Program:

To deploy this program, save it in a file (e.g., `index.ts`), then run `pulumi up` in your terminal within the directory containing the file. Pulumi will perform the deployment steps as defined in the program. If this is the first deployment, it will prompt you to create a new stack, which represents an isolated deployment target for your infrastructure.

### Post-Deployment:

After the deployment, you can use the exported `kubeconfig` to interact with your cluster using `kubectl` or any Kubernetes-compatible tool. The Helm chart installation will be managed by Pulumi, making it easy to update or delete in the future directly through Pulumi's infrastructure as code approach.