Deploy the provider-aws helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

Deploying Helm charts on Kubernetes using Pulumi involves setting up the necessary Kubernetes and Helm configurations, and then writing the deployment script with Pulumi.

To accomplish this, I will guide you through the steps required to deploy a Helm chart provided by AWS using TypeScript in Pulumi. First, make sure that you have the following prerequisites taken care of:

1. Pulumi CLI installed on your local machine.
2. `kubectl` configured to communicate with your Kubernetes cluster.
3. Helm installed and correctly initialized (if necessary).

With the prerequisites in place, let's discuss the Pulumi code to deploy the Helm Chart.

We will use the `kubernetes.helm.v3.Chart` class from the Pulumi Kubernetes provider to create a new Helm chart resource. This class is designed to work with Helm and allows you to specify the chart name, version, repository, and any configurations needed for the Helm release.

Here is a Pulumi TypeScript program that deploys the `provider-aws` Helm chart on Kubernetes:

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

// Define the Helm chart you want to install.
// Replace `chartName` and `chartVersion` with correct values corresponding to the `provider-aws` chart.
const awsProviderChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("provider-aws-chart", {
    chart: "chartName",         // The name of the Helm chart. e.g., "external-dns" if deploying ExternalDNS
    version: "chartVersion",    // The version of the desired chart e.g., "2.20.4"
    // Specify the repo where `provider-aws` chart can be found.
    // If needed, provide a repository via `fetchOpts` or by using Helm's repository commands.
    // repo: "https://charts.example.com/repository",
    // Specify the namespace where the Helm chart will be installed.
    namespace: "default",
    // Provide any specific configurations for the Helm chart.
    values: {
        // Here you put the configuration values for the Helm chart.
    },
});

// Export the endpoint of the Helm chart if applicable.
export const endpoint = awsProviderChart.getResourceProperty("v1/Service", "provider-aws-service", "status");
```

Let's go through the main parts of this script:

- We start by importing the Pulumi Kubernetes (`@pulumi/kubernetes`) package, which contains all the necessary components to interact with Kubernetes.
- Then, we declare a new instance of `Chart`, which represents the Helm Chart we want to deploy.
- The `chart` parameter is the name of the Helm chart you wish to install.
- The `version` parameter should match the chart version you want to deploy. Make sure these match the actual Helm chart for AWS provider you are trying to install.
- The `namespace` field specifies the Kubernetes namespace where the chart should be deployed. The default is commonly used, but you can change it if the chart should be installed in a different namespace.
- The `values` field is a configuration object that is passed to the Chart to configure it. You would typically set chart-specific values like image name, replicas, and other configurations here. This should match the Helm chart values you want to use.
- We use the `export` statement to expose any important information about the deployed resources, such as the endpoint of a deployed service. This is just an example and may need to be adjusted based on what you want to output from your deployment.

Once you have this script, make sure it has the correct values for the chart name, version, and other configurations, then run it with the Pulumi CLI to deploy the Helm chart on your Kubernetes cluster.

```shell
pulumi up
```

Please note that this script assumes that you already have the AWS provider Helm chart added to your Helm configuration or you know the exact `repo` URI. If not, you might need to manually add the Helm chart repository to your Helm setup using `helm repo add` command before running the Pulumi script.

Remember to replace `"chartName"` and `"chartVersion"` with actual values for the AWS provider Helm chart you intend to deploy. If you don't know these values, you will need to find the relevant Helm chart for the AWS provider, which should be documented in the AWS documentation or the specific GitHub repository where the chart is maintained.

If you have any further questions or need more information on certain steps, feel free to ask!