Deploy the lockdown helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy a Helm chart on a Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster, you would typically use the Rancher 2.x Terraform provider, which can be invoked by Pulumi using the Pulumi Terraform bridge. However, it is important to note that as of my knowledge cutoff in early 2023, there is no native Pulumi provider for Rancher that offers direct support for Helm chart deployment.

The deployment process would involve creating a Kubernetes cluster (or using an existing one that Rancher manages), ensuring that Pulumi has access to the Rancher environment, and then using Pulumi to deploy the Helm chart.

Below is a detailed explanation and the corresponding Pulumi TypeScript program that demonstrates how you might approach this task.

### Step 1: Prerequisites
Before you start, make sure that you have:
- Configured access to your Rancher environment.
- Created or have access to a Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher.
- Installed Pulumi CLI and set up the Pulumi project.
- Install Node.js and npm to run the Pulumi program.
- Access to the Helm chart you want to deploy, along with its values file if customization is needed.

### Step 2: Initialize a Pulumi Project
Initialize a Pulumi project by running `pulumi new` in the terminal and select a template that suits your tooling preferences. For our TypeScript example, you'd create a new directory and initialize a TypeScript project.

### Step 3: Install Pulumi Kubernetes Package
Run `npm install @pulumi/kubernetes` to install the Pulumi Kubernetes package.

### Step 4: Write the Pulumi Program
Here is the TypeScript program that would deploy a Helm chart to a Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher:

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

// Replace `lockdown` with the actual name of your Helm chart.
const chartName = "lockdown";

// The `values.yaml` file for your Helm chart, replaced with the actual path.
const chartValuesPath = "./values.yaml";

// Create a Helm Chart resource that deploys `lockdown`.
const lockdownChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart(chartName, {
    chart: chartName,
    values: chartValuesPath,
    // If the Helm chart is from a custom repository, specify it as shown below.
    // repo: 'my-custom-helm-repo',
    // version: '1.2.3', // Specify the chart version if necessary.
});

// To obtain the status information of resources deployed by Helm chart.
export const resources = lockdownChart.resources;
```

### Step 5: Deploy the Helm Chart
With the Pulumi program written, you would deploy your Helm chart using Pulumi. Run `pulumi up` in your terminal to start the deployment process. Pulumi will present you with an execution plan detailing the resources that will be created, updated, or deleted based on the Helm chart.

### Explanation of the Pulumi Program
- The `@pulumi/kubernetes` package is imported to interact with Kubernetes resources within a Pulumi program.
- You define the Helm chart name and the path to its corresponding values file (if custom configuration is needed).
- You create a Helm `Chart` resource which tells Pulumi to deploy the specified Helm chart to your Kubernetes cluster with the provided values from the `values.yaml` file.
- You can export any necessary information, such as resource statuses or URLs, using Pulumi stack exports. In this case, we export the resources created by the Helm chart as `resources`.

### After Deployment
Once the deployment succeeds, Pulumi will provide you with the outputs defined in the program. If you export URLs or other resource information, you will see them displayed in the terminal.

Please note that the above code assumes that your Kubernetes cluster is set up and configured correctly in your Rancher environment, and that Pulumi has the necessary permissions to deploy resources to the cluster. Make sure you have the `kubeconfig` file correctly set up or you've provided the appropriate configuration to Pulumi's Kubernetes provider.