Deploy the k8s-secrets helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

In order to deploy a Helm chart for Kubernetes secrets on Rancher, we will utilize Pulumi's Rancher2 provider to create a Kubernetes cluster and then deploy the Helm chart to that cluster. The `rancher2.Cluster` resource allows us to create a new Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher, and the `rancher2.AppV2` resource is responsible for deploying applications, such as Helm charts, within the Rancher environment.

Below is a step-by-step guide, followed by a Pulumi TypeScript program that demonstrates how to create a Kubernetes cluster in Rancher and then deploy a Helm chart to manage Kubernetes secrets:

1. **Installation of the Rancher2 Provider**: Before running the code, make sure you have installed the Rancher2 provider using NPM or Yarn. This can be done with the following command: `npm install @pulumi/rancher2` or `yarn add @pulumi/rancher2`.

2. **Cluster Creation**: Using `rancher2.Cluster`, we can create a new Kubernetes cluster. This involves configuring the necessary parameters such as the name and the Kubernetes version you wish to use. In this example, we'll be creating a simple cluster with minimal configuration for demonstration purposes.

3. **Helm Chart Deployment**: For deploying a Helm chart, we will use `rancher2.AppV2`. The `AppV2` resource is a representation of a Helm chart deployment in Rancher. You will need to specify the Helm chart details such as name, repository URL, chart version, and any values you want to pass to the chart.

4. **Access Control**: Ensure that you have the appropriate permissions to deploy resources in Rancher and that you have configured the `rancher2` provider with the necessary API keys.

Now, let's go through the Pulumi TypeScript program:

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as rancher2 from "@pulumi/rancher2";

// Create a Kubernetes Cluster managed by Rancher
const cluster = new rancher2.Cluster("k8s-cluster", {
    name: "k8s-cluster",
    // Additional parameters like Kubernetes version can be set here
    // Refer to the Rancher2 Pulumi provider documentation for more options
});

// Deploy a Helm chart to manage Kubernetes secrets
// The details for the Helm chart would need to be provided by the user or
// retrieved from a Helm repository.
const k8sSecretsHelmChart = new rancher2.AppV2("k8s-secrets", {
    // `clusterId` associates the app with the created cluster
    clusterId: cluster.id,
    // Define the repository containing the Helm chart
    repoName: "helm-repository",
    chartName: "k8s-secrets",
    namespace: "default", // Modify accordingly if you have a specific namespace
    // Optionally, specify the chart version and values to customize the deployment
    // chartVersion: "1.0.0",
    // values: pulumi.output({ /* Values to customize the Helm chart */ }),
});

// Export the cluster ID and app name
export const clusterId = cluster.id;
export const appName = k8sSecretsHelmChart.name;
```

The program starts by importing the `@pulumi/pulumi` and `@pulumi/rancher2` libraries, which are necessary to interact with Pulumi and the Rancher2 provider, respectively.

Next, we create the cluster by instantiating a new `rancher2.Cluster`. The only parameter we are setting explicitly is the cluster's name, which we've chosen as "k8s-cluster". Depending on your requirements, additional parameters like the Kubernetes version and the node configuration can be included.

Following the cluster's creation, we use `rancher2.AppV2` to deploy the Helm chart. We set the `clusterId` to the ID of the cluster we created, and provide details about the Helm chart such as the repository name, chart name, and namespace. If you know the chart version and have specific configuration values you want to apply, you can pass them in the `chartVersion` and `values` attributes.

Finally, we export the cluster ID and app name. These can be used later to reference these resources in other parts of your infrastructure or for querying from the Pulumi CLI.