Helm Installation Guide

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. This guide covers installation methods across different operating systems.

Prerequisites

• A Kubernetes cluster
• kubectl installed and configured

Installation Instructions

# Add Helm repository
curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
 
# Add apt repository
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
 
# Update package list
sudo apt update
 
# Install Helm
sudo apt install helm
 
# Verify installation
helm version

Manual Installation (Script)

For any OS, you can use the official installation script:

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3
chmod 700 get_helm.sh
./get_helm.sh

Basic Configuration

Initialize Helm

# Add common repositories
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable
helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
 
# Update repositories
helm repo update
 
# List repositories
helm repo list

Working with Charts

# Search for charts
helm search repo nginx
 
# Install a chart
helm install my-release bitnami/nginx
 
# List installed releases
helm list
 
# Upgrade a release
helm upgrade my-release bitnami/nginx
 
# Rollback a release
helm rollback my-release 1
 
# Uninstall a release
helm uninstall my-release

Troubleshooting

Best Practices

1. Version Control Your Charts

   # Create a new chart
   helm create mychart
    
   # Package the chart
   helm package mychart
    
   # Store in a chart repository
   helm repo index .

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2. Use Values Files

   # values.yaml
   replicaCount: 3
   image:
     repository: nginx
     tag: latest

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   helm install -f values.yaml myrelease ./mychart

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3. Chart Testing

   # Lint your chart
   helm lint mychart
    
   # Test installation
   helm install --dry-run --debug myrelease ./mychart

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Security Considerations

1. Use Signed Charts

   # Create a signing key
   gpg --quick-generate-key "Helm User"
    
   # Sign a chart
   helm package --sign mychart
    
   # Verify a chart
   helm verify mychart-0.1.0.tgz

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2. RBAC Configuration

   apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
   kind: Role
   metadata:
     name: helm-user
   rules:
   - apiGroups: [""]
     resources: ["pods"]
     verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]

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Next Steps

• Helm Charts Guide
• Chart Template Guide
• Chart Development Tips