Deploy the nginx-charts helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the `nginx-charts` Helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), we will use Pulumi's TypeScript SDK to define our cloud infrastructure as code. The primary resources we will work with are:

1. **AKS Cluster**: We will create an AKS cluster where our Kubernetes workloads will run.
2. **Kubernetes Provider**: Pulumi's way of interfacing with the Kubernetes API of the AKS cluster we create.
3. **Helm Chart**: The Helm release resource which allows us to deploy the `nginx-charts` on our AKS cluster.

The following steps outline the process:

- Set up an AKS cluster using the `azure.containerservice.KubernetesCluster` resource.
- Configure Pulumi to use the newly created AKS cluster as the Kubernetes provider.
- Deploy the `nginx-charts` Helm chart using the `kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart` resource to the AKS cluster.

Now, I will guide you through how we can achieve this through Pulumi's TypeScript SDK. First, we'll write code to provision the AKS cluster, and then we'll deploy the Helm chart on it.

### Program to Deploy `nginx-charts` Helm Chart on AKS

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

// Step 1: Create the AKS cluster
const name = "my-aks-cluster"; // Choose a name for your AKS cluster

// Note: Azure resource group and location should be set before creating the cluster.
// You can use `new azure.core.ResourceGroup` to create one if needed.

const cluster = new azure.containerservice.KubernetesCluster(name, {
    // Provide required configurations for AKS cluster
    resourceGroupName: azureResourceGroupName, // Your Azure Resource Group Name
    location: azureLocation, // Location like 'East US'
    defaultNodePool: {
        nodeCount: 2,       // Set the initial node count for the cluster
        vmSize: "Standard_D2_v2", // Virtual machine size for the nodes
    },
    dnsPrefix: `${name}-k8s`,
    identity: {
        type: "SystemAssigned" // Utilizes a system assigned identity for AKS
    },
});

// Export the kubeconfig to access the AKS cluster
export const kubeconfig = cluster.kubeConfigRaw;

// Step 2: Use the AKS cluster as a Kubernetes provider
const k8sProvider = new k8s.Provider(name, {
    kubeconfig: kubeconfig,
});

// Step 3: Deploy the nginx chart using Helm to the cluster
const nginxHelmChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("nginx", {
    chart: "nginx", // Helm chart to deploy
    version: "version", // Specify the version of the chart if needed
    fetchOpts:{
        repo: "https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami", // Nginx chart's repository URL
    },
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Export the nginx chart's service IP
export const nginxServiceIP = nginxHelmChart.getResourceProperty(
    "v1/Service", "nginx-nginx", "status"
).apply(status => status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip);
```

### Explanation

- The `azure.containerservice.KubernetesCluster` resource declares the AKS cluster we want to create. Here you specify the name, node size, and count of your cluster, among other options.
- `kubeConfigRaw` is exported so that you can interact with your cluster using tools like `kubectl`. Please note it is sensitive information.
- `k8s.Provider` is what Pulumi uses to communicate with the Kubernetes API server. By providing the `kubeconfig` from the AKS cluster to it, Pulumi can deploy workloads to the newly created cluster.
- The `k8s.helm.v3.Chart` resource is then defined to deploy the `nginx-charts` Helm chart. The chart repository URL must be specified, and the Helm repository chart name is given as "nginx". Ensure you provide the correct version you need.
- Lastly, the `nginxServiceIP` is exported. This represents the external IP which you can use to access your Nginx service once it is fully deployed.

Remember to run `pulumi up` to create and deploy the resources defined in above code. These commands use the Pulumi CLI to create/update the resources in your cloud environment according to the plan described in your TypeScript code.

Please replace placeholder values (e.g., `azureResourceGroupName`, `azureLocation`, `version`) with actual values from your Azure environment before running the program.

Deploy the nginx-charts helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Program to Deploy nginx-charts Helm Chart on AKS

Explanation

Program to Deploy `nginx-charts` Helm Chart on AKS