Deploy the create-secret-manager-secret helm chart on Linode Kubernetes Engine

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster involves several steps, from setting up the Kubernetes cluster to installing the Helm CLI and then deploying the chart. When using Pulumi, much of this can be simplified because Pulumi can handle these tasks programmatically.

Let's assume you already have a Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) cluster up and running. The following Pulumi program in TypeScript will focus on deploying a Helm chart that creates a secret in the Kubernetes secret manager.

I'll guide you through the process.

First, you need to set up the Pulumi project and install the necessary dependencies:

1. **Initialize a new Pulumi project**: Use the `pulumi new` command followed by the appropriate template, for example, `typescript`.

2. **Install dependencies**: You need the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package to interact with Kubernetes resources.

Install it using npm:

```sh
   npm install @pulumi/kubernetes
   ```

3. **Configuring Kubernetes provider**: Make sure your `KUBECONFIG` environment variable is set to point to your LKE cluster configuration file or use the Pulumi config to set the kubeconfig.

Now, here is the TypeScript program that will deploy a Helm chart to create a secret in Kubernetes:

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

// A new instance of the K8s Provider is created.
// Make sure you have configured kubectl to connect to your Linode Kubernetes cluster.
const provider = new k8s.Provider("linodeProvider", {
    // Assuming your kubeconfig is set correctly in your environment or through Pulumi config
});

// Deploying a helm chart to create a secret manager secret.
// Replace `repo`, `chart`, `version`, etc. with your chart details.
const secretManagerChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("create-secret-manager-secret", {
    chart: "create-secret-manager-secret",  // This should be the name of your helm chart
    version: "1.0.0",  // Replace with the chart version you wish to deploy
    // You can specify the values for the chart as an object here.
    // These values will configure your helm chart.
    values: {
        // Provide the necessary values to configure your secret creation
    },
}, { provider });

// Export the name of the chart so you will know it was deployed successfully
export const chartName = secretManagerChart.metadata.apply(m => m.name);
```

This program does the following:

- It imports the necessary Pulumi Kubernetes package.
- It initializes a Kubernetes provider that configures Pulumi to use your kubeconfig, which should be connected to your LKE cluster.
- It creates a new Helm chart resource using this provider. This chart corresponds to the `create-secret-manager-secret` Helm chart. You would need to replace placeholder values such as `chart` and `version` with appropriate values for the Helm chart you are using.

Remember, Helm charts can be found in various repositories, and you might need to add additional details such as `repo` to specify where to find your chart. The `values` object inside the `Chart` resource is used to configure your Helm chart with the necessary parameters.

After this program is set up, you would run `pulumi up` to apply the deployment to your LKE cluster. Upon successful completion, Pulumi will output the exported `chartName`, indicating that the secret has been created in your Kubernetes cluster's secret manager.