Helm Charts for Kubernetes Package Management

1. Introduction

Helm is the de facto package manager for Kubernetes. It allows DevOps teams to define, install, and upgrade applications using reusable charts, making deployments faster and more consistent.

2. Why Use Helm?

• Package Kubernetes resources into charts

• Manage configuration with values.yaml

• Version control deployments

• Share charts via repositories

• Automate upgrades and rollbacks

3. Core Components

4. Creating a Helm Chart

bash

helm create myapp

This generates:

• Chart.yaml: metadata

• values.yaml: default config

• templates/: Kubernetes manifests with Go templating

5. Installing a Chart

bash

helm install myapp ./myapp

Upgrade:

bash

helm upgrade myapp ./myapp

Uninstall:

bash

helm uninstall myapp

6. Customizing with values.yaml

Override default values:

yaml

replicaCount: 3

image:

  repository: nginx

  tag: stable

service:

  type: LoadBalancer

Apply overrides:

bash

helm install myapp ./myapp -f custom-values.yaml

7. Best Practices

• Use semantic versioning in Chart.yaml

• Keep templates modular and readable

• Validate charts with helm lint

• Store charts in Git and use CI/CD for releases

• Use helm diff to preview changes before upgrades

8. Conclusion

Helm Charts bring structure, reusability, and automation to Kubernetes deployments. They’re essential for DevOps teams managing complex infrastructure. Tomorrow’s post will cover Kubernetes Secrets and ConfigMaps.

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