I’m currently learning Helm to improve how I deploy and manage Kubernetes applications. This post is a quick summary of what I’ve learned so far.
Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes. It simplifies deploying and managing Kubernetes resources by bundling them into reusable packages called charts. If you’ve used apt for Debian-based systems, Helm serves a similar role, except for Kubernetes.
Installing Helm
I installed Helm on Linux using Snap:
sudo snap install helm --classic
Key Concepts
- Chart: A collection of YAML manifests that define a Kubernetes application (e.g Prometheus or a monitoring stack).
- Release: A running instance of a chart, versioned and deployed into a cluster
- Values: Configurable parameters used to customise chart behavior during deployment.
Why Use Helm
- Faster Installs: Deploy applications like Prometheus and Grafana in seconds
- Rollbacks: Easily revert to a previous release if something breaks
- Customisation: Tweak values without editing raw YAML files
- GitOps-friendly: Helm charts integrate well into GitOps workflows
What I’m Doing Next
I’m starting with simple charts, then I’ll work my way up to deploying complex stacks and applications such as ArgoCD with Helm. I’ll be sharing what I learn as I go in short blog posts like this one.