Deploy the slickchart helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the Slickchart Helm chart on Rancher using Pulumi, you'll need to set up Pulumi to work with the Rancher2 provider. This process will involve creating a Rancher cluster where you can deploy workloads including Helm charts, and then configuring Pulumi to communicate with Rancher to manage the cluster's resources.

Before proceeding, make sure you have access to a Rancher server and have the necessary permissions to deploy clusters and work with Helm charts. You will also need to have Pulumi installed and configured to interact with your Rancher instance.

Here's a step-by-step guide to deploying a Helm chart to a Rancher cluster using Pulumi and TypeScript. Note that the specific details of your Slickchart Helm chart, such as its repository and configuration values, are needed to complete the deployment. For illustration purposes, I'll assume a generic Helm chart setup.

### Step 1: Set up the Rancher2 provider

First, you need to install the `rancher2` Pulumi provider package. Make sure to authenticate the Pulumi CLI with your Pulumi account.

```shell
npm install @pulumi/rancher2
```

Then, in your Pulumi project, you'll configure the provider to interact with your Rancher instance.

### Step 2: Create a Rancher cluster

If you don’t already have a Rancher cluster set up or want to create a new one, you can use the `Cluster` resource from the `rancher2` provider. If you already have a cluster, you can skip this step or use the existing cluster's information for deploying the Helm chart.

### Step 3: Deploy the Helm chart to the Rancher cluster

Deploying a Helm chart is done using the `CatalogV2` resource, which allows you to add a Helm repository to Rancher, and then an instance of the `AppV2` resource to deploy the Helm chart from the repository you added.

### Program to Deploy Slickchart Helm Chart on Rancher

Below is a complete Pulumi program that sets up the Rancher2 provider, creates a Kubernetes cluster within Rancher (if necessary), adds a Helm chart repository, and deploys the Slickchart Helm chart. Adjust the placeholders to match your actual Helm chart details and Rancher cluster configuration.

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as rancher2 from "@pulumi/rancher2";

// Provide configuration settings for Rancher, these should be replaced with your actual credentials and settings.
const rancherUrl = "https://your-rancher-url.com";
const rancherAccessKey = "your-access-key";
const rancherSecretKey = "your-secret-key";
const helmRepoName = "slickchart";
const helmRepoUrl = "https://charts.slickchart.com"; // Replace with the actual Helm repository URL for Slickchart.
const helmChartName = "slickchart";
const helmChartVersion = "1.0.0"; // Specify the version of the chart you want to deploy.
const namespace = "default"; // Kubernetes namespace to deploy the chart into.
const projectName = "Default"; // Name of the project in Rancher to deploy resources.

// Rancher2 provider configuration.
const provider = new rancher2.Provider("rancherDefault", {
    apiUrl: rancherUrl,
    accessKey: rancherAccessKey,
    secretKey: rancherSecretKey,
});

// This assumes you have an existing project where you want to deploy your chart.
// Fetch the project by name to deploy resources into it.
const project = pulumi.output(rancher2.getProject({
    name: projectName,
}, { provider }).then(project => project.id);

// Add the Helm chart repository to Rancher.
const chartRepo = new rancher2.CatalogV2("slickchart-repo", {
    clusterId: project,
    name: helmRepoName,
    url: helmRepoUrl,
}, { provider });
  
// Use the `AppV2` resource to deploy the Helm chart from the repository you added.
const slickchartApp = new rancher2.AppV2(helmChartName, {
    clusterId: project,
    chartName: helmChartName,
    releaseName: helmChartName,
    repoName: helmRepoName,
    namespace: namespace,
    version: helmChartVersion,
    values: ``, // Replace with specific configuration values needed for the Slickchart Helm chart.
}, { provider });

// Export the app name once it’s deployed.
export const appName = slickchartApp.metadata.apply(meta => meta.name);
```

Make sure to replace the placeholders with actual values before running this program. Run `pulumi up` to start the deployment.

### Key Points to Note:

- The `apiUrl`, `accessKey`, and `secretKey` parameters in the `Provider` are used to set up the communication with your Rancher instance.
- We are using the `AppV2` resource to deploy the Slickchart Helm chart to the Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster. The `values` property of the `AppV2` resource can be populated with the Helm chart values in YAML format.
- `export const appName` at the end is used to export the name of the deployed app so that you can easily reference it.

The above program assumes you're already familiar with Helm chart deployment basics and Pulumi's TypeScript programming. After running the program with Pulumi, your Helm chart should be deployed to your specified Rancher cluster. Remember to check the Rancher UI to see your workloads running.