Deploy the cryostat helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the Cryostat Helm chart on Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), we will execute the following general steps:

1. **Set up an AKS Cluster**: Start by creating an AKS cluster where the Cryostat application will reside. This resource provides the necessary Kubernetes infrastructure to run containerized applications.

2. **Install Helm Chart**: Once the AKS cluster is available, we will use Helm, a package manager for Kubernetes, to deploy the Cryostat Helm chart.

Below is a TypeScript program using Pulumi to accomplish this. This program uses the `azure-native` and `kubernetes` Pulumi providers, which allow us to work with Azure resources and Kubernetes resources, respectively.

The program is structured as follows:

- Import the necessary modules.
- Create an AKS cluster.
- Set up a Kubernetes provider that uses the AKS cluster's kubeconfig for deploying Helm charts.
- Deploy the Cryostat Helm chart using the Pulumi Kubernetes provider.

Here is the Pulumi TypeScript program that performs these steps:

```typescript
import * as pulumi from "@pulumi/pulumi";
import * as azure_native from "@pulumi/azure-native";
import * as k8s from "@pulumi/kubernetes";

// Step 1: Create an AKS Cluster.
// The necessary arguments such as resource group, location, node size, etc. will be defined within this resource.
const aksCluster = new azure_native.containerservice.ManagedCluster("my-aks-cluster", {
    // Specify the resource group name that the AKS should be created in.
    resourceGroupName: "myResourceGroup",
    // Define the location for the AKS cluster. Choose the Azure region closest to your users.
    location: "WestUS",
    // Define the properties for the AKS cluster.
    agentPoolProfiles: [{
        count: 3, // Number of nodes in the Node Pool
        maxPods: 110, // Maximum Pods that can run on a node
        vmSize: "Standard_DS2_v2", // Virtual machine size for the nodes
        mode: "System", // Mode dictates if nodes will host user containers
        name: "agentpool" // Name for the Node Pool
    }],
    // Define the identity type of the AKS. For simplicity, "SystemAssigned" means AKS manages the identity.
    identity: {
        type: "SystemAssigned",
    },
    // Other necessary configurations can go here, such as DNS prefix, Linux profile for SSH access, etc.
});

// Step 2: Out of AKS's properties, fetch the kubeconfig that we will use to interact with the cluster.
const aksKubeconfig = pulumi.all([aksCluster.name, aksCluster.resourceGroupName]).apply(([name, rgName]) =>
    azure_native.containerservice.listManagedClusterUserCredentials({
        resourceGroupName: rgName,
        resourceName: name,
    })).apply(c => Buffer.from(c.kubeconfigs[0].value, 'base64').toString());

// Step 3: Use the kubeconfig to set up a Kubernetes provider.
const k8sProvider = new k8s.Provider("k8s-provider", {
    kubeconfig: aksKubeconfig,
});

// Step 4: Deploy the Cryostat Helm chart using the Pulumi Kubernetes provider.
// The Helm release resource is where we specify chart name, release name, repository, and any customization values.
const cryostatChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("cryostat", {
    chart: "cryostat", // The name of the chart. Ensure that this name matches the name in the Helm repository.
    version: "2.0.0", // Specify the version of the Helm chart.
    // Optional: If the Cryostat chart is in a Helm repository, specify it with `repo: "<repo-url>"`.
    // Values to override the default chart values. For Cryostat, ensure you specify all necessary custom values.
    values: {
        // Custom values for the Cryostat Helm chart go here.
        // For example: serviceType: "ClusterIP",
    },
}, { provider: k8sProvider });

// Optional: Export the AKS Cluster name and the Kubernetes API Server URL for reference.
export const clusterName = aksCluster.name;
export const kubernetesApiServerUrl = aksCluster.privateFQDN;
```

In this program:

- We define the AKS cluster with a node pool that dictates the size and the number of virtual machines that will serve as our node.
- Once AKS is deployed, we get the cluster kubeconfig, which is necessary for interacting with the cluster remotely.
- We set up a Pulumi Kubernetes provider that makes use of this kubeconfig to deploy applications to the cluster.
- Lastly, we declare a Helm chart resource representing the Cryostat application. Here you would specify the chart's values which need to be customized for your deployment.

Remember to replace placeholders for the resourceGroupName and location with appropriate values for your use case, and ensure that your cloud credentials are properly set up for Pulumi to access Azure resources.

For detailed Pulumi TypeScript documentation, you can have a look at the Pulumi TypeScript API documentation, which provides in-depth details for each resource you are working with. Here are some links for the resources used:

- [ManagedCluster](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/azure-native/api-docs/containerservice/managedcluster/)
- [Kubernetes Provider](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/kubernetes/api-docs/provider/)
- [Helm Chart](https://www.pulumi.com/registry/packages/kubernetes/api-docs/helm/v3/chart/)

Before running this program with `pulumi up`, make sure you have current Azure credentials configured with Pulumi CLI, have installed the `@pulumi/azure-native` and `@pulumi/kubernetes` NPM packages, and have access to the Azure subscription where you want to create the resources.