Deploy the nginx-example helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

To deploy the `nginx-example` Helm chart on Kubernetes using Pulumi, you would need to use the `Chart` resource from the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package. This resource allows you to deploy Helm charts in a very similar way you would from the Helm CLI.

The `Chart` resource requires several parameters, such as the chart name, the version (optional), and any custom values you want to configure. Since Helm charts can be hosted in various repositories, you may also need to specify the `repo` parameter to point to the Helm repository that hosts your chart if it's not a chart available in the default Helm repo.

Here is a TypeScript program that uses Pulumi to deploy the `nginx-example` chart. This example assumes that you already have a Kubernetes cluster running and that you have configured Pulumi to communicate with it. If your Helm chart is hosted on a non-default repository, you'll need to specify the repository URL with the `repo` option.

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

// Deploy an nginx-example Helm chart.
const nginxChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart('nginx-example', {
    chart: 'nginx',
    // If your nginx-example chart is in a custom repository, uncomment the following line and
    // replace the URL with the custom repository URL.
    // repo: 'https://charts.example.com/',
    version: '1.16.1', // specify the exact chart version you want to deploy
    values: {
        // You can define custom values for your Helm chart here, e.g.
        // replicaCount: 3,
    },
});

// Export the public URL for the nginx-example service.
export const nginxUrl = nginxChart.getResourceProperty('v1/Service', 'nginx-example', 'status').apply(status => `http://${status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].ip}`);
```

In the above program:

1. We import the `@pulumi/kubernetes` package.
2. We create a new `Chart` resource named `nginx-example`. The `chart` parameter specifies the name of the chart to deploy, and the `repo` parameter would specify the repository URL if needed.
3. The `version` parameter specifies the version of the chart that you want to deploy. This is not always necessary, but it's good practice to ensure your deployments are repeatable.
4. The `values` property can optionally be used to customize the Helm chart by providing a set of values, such as the number of replicas.
5. Finally, we export a URL that can be used to access the nginx service. The `getResourceProperty` function reads a property from a deployed resource, and we're looking up the load balancer's IP address for the service created by the Helm chart.

This program assumes:
- You have access to a Kubernetes cluster.
- The Pulumi CLI is installed and configured to use the `kubeconfig` file for your cluster.
- Your chosen Helm chart is named 'nginx-example', and you want to deploy version '1.16.1'.

Before you run the program with Pulumi, make sure to install the necessary npm packages:

```shell
npm install @pulumi/kubernetes
```

After saving the TypeScript program to a file named `index.ts`, you can deploy it using the Pulumi command-line interface:

```shell
pulumi up
```

Upon successful execution, Pulumi will provision the specified Helm chart on your Kubernetes cluster, and the output will display the public URL for the nginx service. Remember that the actual URL will only be available if your service is of type LoadBalancer and the cloud provider has finished provisioning an external IP address.