Deploy the ibm-assetrepository-operator helm chart on Rancher

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster managed by Rancher, you will need to have access to the cluster and also have the Rancher2 provider configured in your Pulumi program. While there is no direct Pulumi resource for deploying a Helm chart via Rancher, you can accomplish this by using the Kubernetes provider and Helm Release resource in Pulumi which interfaces with the Kubernetes API to deploy charts.

The high-level steps that you'll follow in the Pulumi program include:

1. Setting up the Rancher2 provider to manage resources in Rancher.
2. Acquiring the kubeconfig for the Rancher-managed Kubernetes cluster where you want to deploy the chart.
3. Setting up the Kubernetes provider using the obtained kubeconfig.
4. Deploying the Helm chart to the Kubernetes cluster using the Helm Release resource.

Here is a Pulumi program written in TypeScript that demonstrates these steps:

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as k8s from "@pulumi/kubernetes";
import * as rancher2 from "@pulumi/rancher2";

// You would typically set up your Rancher access here, including URL, access key, and secret.
// Since we're not using Pulumi config, you need to ensure this is configured outside of this code,
// for example through environment variables or CLI configuration.
const rancherConfig = new rancher2.Provider("rancher-provider", {
  // Make sure to provide the appropriate details for your Rancher setup.
  apiURL: "https://your-rancher-api-url",
  accessKey: "your-rancher-access-key",
  secretKey: "your-rancher-secret-key",
});

// Fetch the kubeconfig from the desired Rancher cluster.
// Make sure that you are pointing to the correct cluster by its ID.
const kubeconfig = pulumi.output(rancher2.getKubeConfig({
  clusterId: "your-cluster-id",
}, { provider: rancherConfig })).kubeconfig;

// Instantiate the Kubernetes provider using the kubeconfig obtained from Rancher.
const k8sProvider = new k8s.Provider("k8s-provider", {
  kubeconfig: kubeconfig
});

// Now we can deploy the Helm chart. In this case, we do not have a specific helm chart for the
// `ibm-assetrepository-operator`, but you'll need to modify this with the correct chart details.
const helmChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Release("assetrepo-operator", {
  chart: "ibm-assetrepository-operator",
  version: "1.2.3", // specify the version of your chart
  repositoryOpts: {
    repo: "https://charts.your-org.com" // URL of the Helm repository
  }
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Export the name of the Helm release to stack outputs
export const helmReleaseName = helmChart.name;
```

### Explanation:

In this program, we first create a Rancher provider instance necessary for connecting with the Rancher API. This requires providing the Rancher API URL and credentials (access key and secret key) to authorize operations. The credentials should be securely handled, and you should not hard-code them within the program. Instead, use environment variables or Pulumi configuration for sensitive details.

We then obtain the `kubeconfig` for the targeted cluster managed by Rancher with the `getKubeConfig` call, which allows the Kubernetes provider to interact with the cluster.

Next, we create a Kubernetes provider, passing the `kubeconfig` as an argument, which allows us to communicate with the Kubernetes API server of the Rancher-managed cluster.

Using the Kubernetes provider, we define a Helm Release for the IBM Asset Repository Operator. The `chart` specifies the name of the Helm chart, while `version` and `repositoryOpts` are used for indicating the version of the chart and the repository where the chart is hosted, respectively.

Finally, we export the Helm Release name to confirm that the chart deployment has been initiated and easily reference the release.

Please note that deploying a Helm chart may also require you to specify the `values` property to configure the chart—with any required custom values for your specific use case. The above example assumes that default values are sufficient for deployment.

Before running this program, make sure you have properly set up your `Pulumi.yaml` and have authenticated against the targeted Rancher setup using the appropriate method.

Remember to replace placeholder values such as `your-rancher-api-url`, `your-rancher-access-key`, `your-rancher-secret-key`, and `your-cluster-id` with actual values from your Rancher environment. Similarly, adjust the Helm release parameters for `chart`, `version`, and the Helm repository URL to match those of the IBM Asset Repository Operator chart you wish to deploy.