Helm Package Management

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. It simplifies deploying and managing complex applications by packaging Kubernetes manifests into reusable charts with configurable values. This lesson covers Helm concepts, chart creation, templating, hooks, and Helmfile for multi-chart management.

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Helm Concepts

Concept	Description
Chart	A package of Kubernetes resource templates
Release	A deployed instance of a chart
Values	Configuration overrides for chart templates
Repository	A collection of charts (like a package registry)
Revision	A versioned snapshot of a release

┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────────┐
│  Chart       │  +  │  Values     │  =  │  Release     │
│  (templates) │     │  (config)   │     │  (deployed)  │
└─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └──────────────┘

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Essential Helm Commands

# Add a chart repository
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo update

# Search for charts
helm search repo nginx
helm search hub prometheus

# Install a chart
helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx --namespace web --create-namespace

# Install with custom values
helm install my-app ./my-chart -f values-production.yaml

# Upgrade a release
helm upgrade my-app ./my-chart -f values-production.yaml