Deploy the pds-helm helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart on a Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster using Pulumi involves several steps. First, you need a Rancher Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher. You also need access to Rancher with the necessary permissions to deploy applications.

Pulumi doesn't have a direct way to deploy Helm charts on Rancher yet, but you can achieve your goal by first setting up a Kubernetes cluster with Rancher and then using Pulumi's Kubernetes provider to deploy a Helm chart.

Here is a breakdown of what the process would look like using Pulumi and TypeScript:

1. **Set up Rancher Kubernetes Cluster**: You need an existing Kubernetes cluster registered with Rancher. This can be done outside of Pulumi or by using Pulumi's Rancher2 provider to set up the cluster within the code. We will assume your cluster is already registered and managed by Rancher.

2. **Install Pulumi Kubernetes Provider**: This provider allows you to deploy and manage Kubernetes resources using Pulumi. You can manage Helm charts, Kubernetes objects, etc.

3. **Deploy Helm Chart**: With the Kubernetes provider configured, you can define a `Chart` resource that points to the Helm chart you want to deploy. In your case, this would be the `pds-helm` chart.

Now let's look at how you would write a Pulumi program to deploy the `pds-helm` Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher using TypeScript:

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

// A Kubernetes cluster is required to deploy the Helm chart.
// Here it's assumed that you have configured the `kubeconfig` to connect to your Rancher-managed cluster.

// Deploy the pds-helm Helm chart.
const pdsHelmChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("pds-helm-chart", {
    // Specify the repository and chart details according to where your pds-helm chart is hosted.
    // For example:
    chart: "pds-helm",
    version: "1.0.0", // Replace with the correct chart version.
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: "http://your-helm-chart-repository/", // Replace with your chart's repository URL.
    },
    // If your Helm chart requires values, specify them here.
    values: {
        // Define any values required by the Helm chart.
    },
    // Set the namespace where you want to deploy your Helm chart.
    // If it doesn't exist, Pulumi can create it for you if the `namespace` argument is set.
    // namespace: "my-namespace",
});

// Export the URL by querying the deployed services.
// This assumes your chart creates a service with an external endpoint.
export const url = pdsHelmChart.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "my-service", "status").apply(status => status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname || status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip);
```

This program creates a new instance of the `Chart` resource from Pulumi's Kubernetes provider, which represents a Helm chart deployment. `Chart` resources manage the entire lifecycle of a Helm chart deployment including creation, updates, and deletion.

Remember to replace `"http://your-helm-chart-repository/"`, `"pds-helm"`, and `"1.0.0"` with the correct repository URL, chart name, and chart version respectively based on where your `pds-helm` Helm chart is located.

Once you have written your program, you can deploy it using Pulumi CLI commands:

```sh
pulumi up
```

This command will start the deployment process and prompt you for confirmation before proceeding. Once confirmed, Pulumi will apply the changes required to deploy the `pds-helm` chart on your Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster.

The output at the end, `export const url`, is intended to output any accessible URL that your service might be exposing, which is common for web services or applications that need to be accessed from outside the cluster. The service name, `"my-service"`, should match a service defined in your Helm chart. If your Helm chart does not create a service or you don't need to export a URL, you can omit this part.

Please ensure your Pulumi setup is correctly configured to communicate with the Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher. If you encounter any issues, make sure your `kubeconfig` file is set up correctly and that you have the necessary permissions within Rancher.