Deploy the ts-server helm chart on Linode Kubernetes Engine

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster using Pulumi, you need to have a Kubernetes cluster running and accessible. In this case, we'll assume that you already have a Linode Kubernetes Engine (LKE) cluster provisioned and kubectl configured to communicate with it.

We will be using the Pulumi `kubernetes` package to interact with Kubernetes. Specifically, we'll use the `kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart` class to deploy a Helm chart. This class allows you to deploy Helm charts similarly to how you would use `helm` CLI, enabling you to specify the chart version, values, and other configuration.

The Helm chart you mentioned, `ts-server` isn't a standard chart available in the public Helm repositories, so I'm going to assume that it is a custom Helm chart you have. I'll create an example showing how to deploy a generic Helm chart which you can then adjust to fit your specific chart's details, like the chart name, version, and any custom values you need to apply.

The example below is structured as a Pulumi program in TypeScript:

- The Kubernetes provider is configured to use the kubeconfig from your Linode cluster.
- The `Chart` resource is employed to deploy the `ts-server` Helm chart to your cluster.

First, install the necessary Pulumi package:

```sh
pulumi plugin install resource kubernetes v4.4.0
```

Here's the TypeScript program which defines the deployment:

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

// Name your stack appropriately based on your organization, project, and stack name.
const stackName = `${pulumi.getProject()}-${pulumi.getStack()}`;

// Assuming ts-server is a chart within your own Helm repository, provide the correct repo URL
const helmRepoURL = "https://your-helm-chart-repo"; // Replace with your Helm chart repository URL
const chartVersion = "1.0.0"; // Replace with your chart version

const tsServerChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("ts-server", {
    chart: "ts-server", // The name of the chart
    version: chartVersion,
    fetchOpts: {
        repo: helmRepoURL, // The repository where the chart can be found
    },
    // If the ts-server chart requires custom values, provide them here
    values: {
        // Example custom value
        service: {
            type: "LoadBalancer", // or ClusterIP, NodePort, etc.
        },
        // Add more custom values as needed
    },
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Add any necessary export statements here, such as IP addresses, URLs, etc.
// For example, if the ts-server provides a LoadBalancer service, you might export the endpoint:
// export const tsServerEndpoint = tsServerChart.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "ts-server", "status").apply(status => status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip);
```

This program sets up the deployment of a Helm chart named `"ts-server"` which should be replaced with the actual chart name you are using. Make sure to include the URL to your Helm repository in the `helmRepoURL` variable. Furthermore, replace the `chartVersion` with the appropriate version of your chart.

The `values` section is utilized to pass any necessary custom values to the Helm chart. Replace them with real values compatible with your `ts-server` chart.

Once the chart is deployed, if you have services or other resources you want to access from outside the cluster, you can export these as shown in the commented section at the bottom of the code example.

To execute this script as a Pulumi program, you would need to do the following:

1. Install Pulumi and set up your Linode access with `kubectl`.
2. Put this script into a `.ts` file in a Pulumi project.
3. Run `pulumi up` to deploy the changes.

The resources used above include:

- [`kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart`](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/kubernetes/api-docs/helm/v3/chart/): This resource corresponds to a Helm chart resource which can be deployed to a Kubernetes cluster.

Remember that actual cloud resources will be created or modified as a result of running a Pulumi program, which may incur costs. Always review the execution plan that `pulumi up` presents before confirming to avoid unexpected changes.