Deploy the times-square helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy a Helm chart on a Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster, you need to use Pulumi's infrastructure as code to set up necessary resources. Essentially, you'll create a Pulumi program in TypeScript that will define a Helm chart resource pointing to the "times-square" chart and configure it appropriately for your Rancher cluster.

Here's what you'll need to do:

Set up a Pulumi project: If you haven't already, you'll need to create a new Pulumi project tailored for Kubernetes work. You can accomplish this by running pulumi new kubernetes-typescript from the command line.
Ensure you have access to the Rancher Kubernetes cluster: This involves having a kubeconfig file that provides credentials to access the cluster managed by Rancher. Pulumi uses this kubeconfig file to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.
Define the Helm chart resource: Using the Pulumi kubernetes package, you'll specify the Helm chart you want to deploy. You need to provide details such as the chart name, repository, and any specific configurations required by the "times-square" chart.
Deploy the chart: With Pulumi's CLI, you'll deploy the Helm chart which will be orchestrated into your Rancher cluster.

Let's go through the actual Pulumi code to deploy the "times-square" Helm chart. You'll need to replace any placeholder values with the actual values that correspond to your particular Rancher deployment and Helm chart configuration.

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

// Specify the repository URL for the times-square Helm chart.
// This should be the URL of the Helm repository where the chart is hosted.
const timesSquareChartRepoUrl = "https://charts.example.com/";

// Define the Helm chart resource for times-square.
const timesSquareChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("times-square", {
    // Replace with the name of your chart as found in the Helm repository.
    chart: "times-square",
    // Specify the repository opts.
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: timesSquareChartRepoUrl,
    },
    // Specify the namespace where the chart should be deployed.
    // Make sure this namespace exists in your Rancher cluster.
    namespace: "default",
    // Specify any values that are required for your Helm chart setup.
    values: {
        // You would provide key-value pairs conforming to the chart's values schema.
        // key: value,
    },
}, {
    // Customize provider if needed, ensuring it uses the kubeconfig for Rancher-managed K8s:
    provider: new k8s.Provider("rancher-k8s", {
        // Assumes kubeconfig is properly configured to point to your Rancher-managed cluster.
        kubeconfig: "<KUBECONFIG_CONTENTS>"
    }),
});

// Export the base URL of the deployed application, if applicable.
export const appUrl = timesSquareChart.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "times-square", "status").apply(s => s.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip);

In the code above, replace <KUBECONFIG_CONTENTS> with the actual contents of your kubeconfig file, or ensure it's correctly referenced in your environment so Pulumi can access it. You would also replace https://charts.example.com/ with the actual repository URL for the "times-square" chart.

To deploy this Helm chart to your Rancher cluster, save the code to a index.ts file in your Pulumi project directory, and then run pulumi up from the command line. This will initiate the deployment process where Pulumi will reach out to your Kubernetes cluster and apply the changes needed to deploy the "times-square" Helm chart.

Keep in mind that Helm charts may have required configuration options that need to be supplied in the values object. You would fill this out according to the "times-square" chart's requirements.

Once the command is successfully executed, your Helm chart should be up and running in the specified namespace. The appUrl export shows how you can retrieve service information, like an external IP or domain, though it assumes your chart creates a Service with a LoadBalancer — you would modify this depending on the actual resources that your Helm chart provisions.