Abstract: What is Helm? Microservices and containerization pose great challenges to complex application deployment and management. Helm is currently the only open source subproject in the field of Kubernetes service orchestration. As a package management tool for Kubernetes applications, it can be understood as Kubernetes apt-get/yum. It was initiated by Deis Company, which has been acquired by Microsoft.


Helm is what?


Microservices and containerization pose great challenges to complex application deployment and management. Helm is currently the only open source subproject in the field of Kubernetes service orchestration. As a package management tool for Kubernetes applications, it can be understood as Kubernetes apt-get/yum. It was initiated by Deis Company, which has been acquired by Microsoft. Helm greatly simplifies the deployment and management of Kubernetes applications by enabling release management and control in the form of software packaging.


Helm architecture




Helm purposes


As a package management tool for Kubernetes, Helm has the following functions:
  • Create a new Chart
  • Chart is packaged in TGZ format
  • Upload chart to or download chart from the Chart repository
  • Install or uninstall Chart in the Kubernetes cluster
  • Manage the release cycle of chart installed with Helm


Helm has three important concepts:
  • Chart: contains the information necessary to create an application instance of Kubernetes
  • Config: contains the application publishing configuration information
  • Release: is a running instance of chart and its configuration


How do I use Helm in the Ali Cloud Container Service


The Kubernets cluster of Ali Cloud Container service integrates HELM by default and initializes some commonly used charts. The following example is used to demonstrate the usage process by installing wordpress.


The above are some of the installation charts provided by the container service by default. Let’s install wordpress:


Some default configurations of wordpress installation Charts can be modified according to users’ own needs. Of course, there is no problem to use the default configuration for installation. Enter the name of the installation release and click deployment to complete one-click deployment.


Let’s use the console to view the deployment of resources:


You can see that all the dependent resources for wordpress have been installed. To open the wordpress interface, visit the address circled in the figure:




You can see that wordpress is already accessible. In the traditional way, you might need to create a bunch of assemblies like Deployment + Service + PVC, now you just need to deploy with one click, wait for a moment, and a wordpress application will appear in front of you.


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