Deploy the workflow-service helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy a Helm chart on Kubernetes using Pulumi, we need to do the following:

1. Set up the Kubernetes provider to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.
2. Use the `Chart` resource from the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package to deploy the Helm chart.

First, make sure you have access to your Kubernetes cluster and the `kubeconfig` for the cluster is correctly configured on your system where you're running Pulumi. This is important because Pulumi uses the `kubeconfig` file to communicate with your Kubernetes cluster.

Next, we'll write a Pulumi program in TypeScript that deploys the `workflow-service` Helm chart. This example assumes that the Helm chart is available in a Helm repository that Pulumi can access.

Here is a detailed explanation with the Pulumi TypeScript program:

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

// Create an instance of the Kubernetes Chart class to deploy the workflow-service chart.
const workflowServiceChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("workflow-service", {
    // Specify the Helm chart repository and the chart name.
    // This example assumes that the chart is available in a repository which Pulumi should be configured to use.
    // If the repository is not already added to the Helm local configuration, you might need to add it using `helm repo add` command or provide an absolute `repo` URL here.
    chart: "workflow-service",
    // Specify the namespace where the chart should be deployed.
    // If the namespace does not exist, you should create it beforehand or set `resourcePrefix` to `true`.
    namespace: "default",
    // You can pass values to the chart to configure it; these values would be specific to the workflow-service chart.
    // For example, setting a dummy 'replicas' value would look like the `values` structure below.
    // Replace this with actual configuration parameters for the workflow-service chart.
    values: {
        replicas: 1,
    },
    // If you need a specific version of the Helm chart, provide the `version` property.
    // version: "1.2.3",
    // If your chart requires custom fetching options, specify them in the `fetchOpts`.
    // fetchOpts: {
    //     ...
    // },
});

// Export the Chart's status to provide output that can be used to track the deployment's success or failure.
export const chartStatus = workflowServiceChart.status;
```

This Pulumi program does the following:

- Imports the Kubernetes package from Pulumi which will be used to interact with the Kubernetes API.
- Creates a new Helm chart instance named `workflow-service` using the `Chart` class from the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package.
- Specifies the name of the Helm chart and the namespace to deploy it to. Replace `"default"` with the actual namespace you'd like to deploy to if different.
- Optionally provides custom `values` to the Helm chart if you want to override the chart's default settings.
- Exports the status of the Helm chart, which can be used to monitor the deployment progress.

Before you can run the program, make sure you have Pulumi and Kubernetes set up:

1. Install the Pulumi CLI from the [official website](https://www.pulumi.com/docs/get-started/install/).
2. Set up Kubernetes and ensure that you can connect to your Kubernetes cluster using `kubectl`.
3. With Pulumi CLI installed, authenticate to the Pulumi platform.
4. Create a Pulumi stack using `pulumi stack init`.

To run the program, execute the following commands:

```bash
pulumi up
```

This command checks your code for errors, displays a preview of the resources to be created, and awaits your approval before provisioning the resources.

After approving, Pulumi will deploy the Helm chart to your Kubernetes cluster, and you'll be able to see the deployment's progress and get the chart's status outputted from the Pulumi program.