Deploy the smokeping helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying a Helm chart to a Kubernetes cluster involves packaging applications for deployment on Kubernetes, and the Smokeping application is one that can be deployed using this method. Smokeping is a tool that helps you keep track of your network latency. Here, we'll use Pulumi with TypeScript to deploy the Smokeping Helm chart to a Kubernetes cluster.

Before we begin writing the Pulumi program, make sure you have the following prerequisites completed:
1. **Pulumi CLI installed**: You need to have the Pulumi CLI installed on your local machine to run the Pulumi program. You can download it from the [official website](https://www.pulumi.com/docs/get-started/install/).
2. **Kubectl configured**: Make sure you have `kubectl` installed and configured to connect to your Kubernetes cluster. Pulumi uses the configuration file from `kubectl` to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.
3. **Helm installed**: While not strictly necessary for Pulumi to deploy a Helm chart, it can be useful for managing charts and dependencies or for local testing.

Here's what we'll do step-by-step in our Pulumi program:
1. Import the necessary Pulumi and Kubernetes packages.
2. Define the configuration for the Smokeping Helm chart, such as the chart name, version, and any custom values you want to override.
3. Define a Helm chart resource in Pulumi to deploy Smokeping to your Kubernetes cluster.
4. Export any necessary information, like an access endpoint for Smokeping.

Here is a Pulumi TypeScript program to deploy the Smokeping Helm chart to a Kubernetes cluster:

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

// Step 1: Create a new k8s provider instance based on the current context in ~/.kube/config
const k8sProvider = new k8s.Provider("k8s-provider", {
    kubeconfig: k8s.config.loadKubeConfig(), // Load the local kubeconfig
});

// Step 2: Define the Helm chart configuration for Smokeping.
const smokepingChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("smokeping", {
    chart: "smokeping",
    version: "1.0.0",  // Use the correct chart version here
    // Add the repo where the smokeping chart is located or uncomment the line below if it's available on the default repositories.
    // repositoryOpts: { repo: "http://your-chart-repo/" },
    values: {
        // Customize Smokeping settings here. For instance, you can define the ingress settings.
        // If you have specific customization you want to apply to the chart, specify them here as key-value pairs.
        // This is just an example, and values may vary based on the Smokeping Helm chart you use.
        service: {
            type: "ClusterIP",
        },
        ingress: {
            enabled: true,
            annotations: {
                "kubernetes.io/ingress.class": "nginx",
            },
            paths: ["/"],
            hosts: ["smokeping.example.com"],
        },
    },
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Export the endpoint to access Smokeping
// Make sure your chart includes an ingress or service of type LoadBalancer to access Smokeping
export const smokepingEndpoint = smokepingChart.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "smokeping", "status").apply(status => {
    if (status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname) {
        return `http://${status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname}`;
    } else if (status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip) {
        return `http://${status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}`;
    } else {
        return "Not available";
    }
});
```

In this code block:
- We import `@pulumi/kubernetes` package to manage resources in Kubernetes.
- We create a new Kubernetes provider instance that refers to our current kubeconfig settings. This provider will interact with our cluster to manage the resources.
- We define the Smokeping Helm chart using `new k8s.helm.v3.Chart`. We specify the chart name, possibly repository, and values that may be necessary to customize your Helm chart. Be sure to replace `"1.0.0"` with the correct chart version.
- We then define the service type and ingress settings to make Smokeping accessible. Update the hosts array with the domain name that you wish to assign to your Smokeping instance. The annotations object includes an example of using an NGINX Ingress controller, but you will need to ensure this is configured correctly based on your own environment.
- Finally, we export the Smokeping service endpoint that is derived from the resources' status, which gives us a way to access Smokeping once it's deployed. Please note, the chart must define a service of type `LoadBalancer` or an ingress controller in order to access it via a public URL.

For more precise customizations, you'll want to refer to the Smokeping Helm chart's documentation to understand all the configurable options it supports and adjust the `values` object accordingly.

Remember to replace placeholder values such as chart version, `smokeping.example.com`, and any custom value adjustments according to your needs and according to the Helm chart's documentation. Also, ensure that you have the Helm chart repository added from which you are fetching the Smokeping chart if it's not in the default Helm repositories.

This program assumes you have a functioning Kubernetes cluster and proper permissions to deploy resources to it. With this Pulumi TypeScript program, you are defining a `Chart` resource representing the Smokeping application and instructing Pulumi to make all necessary calls to Helm and Kubernetes to deploy it. After running this program with the Pulumi CLI, Pulumi will maintain the state of your deployment, allowing you to easily update or destroy your Smokeping deployment in the future.