Deploy the shortlink-api helm chart on Kubernetes

Question

Pulumi · Accepted Answer

In order to deploy a Helm chart on a Kubernetes cluster using Pulumi, you will utilize the `Chart` resource from the Pulumi Kubernetes package. The `Chart` resource allows you to deploy a Helm chart from a local path, a remote chart repository, or even an inline set of chart definitions.

Here’s the basic outline for deploying a Helm chart using Pulumi with TypeScript:

1. **Set up your Pulumi environment**: This is where you initialize Pulumi in your chosen cloud provider environment. Make sure you have Pulumi installed and configured for use with your Kubernetes cluster.

2. **Import the necessary packages**: This involves importing the Kubernetes package which contains the `Chart` resource you'll use to deploy the Helm chart.

3. **Instantiate a `Chart` resource**: You'll create a new `Chart` resource and specify the details of the Helm chart you wish to deploy (`shortlink-api` in this case). This will include the chart name, version, values to override the default settings, and optionally the repository where the chart is hosted if it's not in the default Helm repository.

Let's go through the code to deploy the `shortlink-api` Helm chart:

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

const shortlinkApiChart = new k8s.helm.v3.Chart("shortlink-api", {
   // Replace `repo` with the actual repository URL if it's not a chart from the stable repository.
   // Replace `chart` with the correct chart name if it differs in the repository.
   // Replace `version` with the chart version you wish to deploy—if you omit this, the latest version will be deployed by default.
   repo: "http://charts.example.com/", // Placeholder for the Helm chart repository URL.
   chart: "shortlink-api",
   version: "1.0.0", // Placeholder for the chart version.

// If you have any specific configurations that you want to override from the default chart values,
   // specify them in the `values` object below. Otherwise, you can omit the `values` field altogether for default settings.
   values: {
     // Example overrides, replace the keys and values with the appropriate fields for the shortlink-api chart.
     service: {
       type: "ClusterIP",
     },
     replicaCount: 2,
   },
});

// Optionally, you might want to export some of the resource properties, like a service endpoint:
export const shortlinkApiServiceEndpoint = shortlinkApiChart.getResourceProperty('v1/Service', 'shortlink-api', 'status.loadBalancer.ingress[0].hostname');
```

In the above program:

- We import the Kubernetes package from Pulumi.
- We declare a Helm `Chart` for `shortlink-api`, specifying the repository URL, the name of the chart, and the version we want to deploy.
- We provide customizable values which can be changed depending on the `shortlink-api` chart's configuration options.
- We optionally export a property from our deployed chart, such as the endpoint of a Kubernetes service.

Make sure to replace the `repo`, `chart`, `version`, and `values` with actual information relevant to the `shortlink-api` chart you are deploying. Additionally, if the chart is available on the public Helm repository, the `repo` field should be omitted or set to that repository URL.

When you run this Pulumi program, it will communicate with your configured Kubernetes cluster and deploy the `shortlink-api` Helm chart according to the specifications you provided.

**Note**: Before running this Pulumi program, ensure that you have access to a Kubernetes cluster and that your `kubeconfig` file is correctly set up to point to your cluster. Pulumi uses the `kubeconfig` file to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.

To run the Pulumi program, navigate to the directory where this code is saved, and execute the following commands:

- `pulumi up` - This command will preview the deployment and prompt you to confirm the changes before applying them.
- Confirm the changes to deploy the chart to your Kubernetes cluster. Pulumi will provide outputs (like your Service endpoint) if you’ve set them up in the code.