Helm is a free and open-source tool used for managing Kubernetes applications. In simple words, Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes. It allows you to improve productivity, reduces the complexity of microservices deployments, and enables the adaptation of cloud-native applications. Helm is a client/server application that provides a convenient way for developers to package and ship an application to their end users to install.
This post will show you how to install and use Helm package manager on Oracle Linux 8.
Note: This procedure requires a Kubernetes Cluster to be available. If you need to set this up, check out this procedure.
Step 1 – Install Helm Using Script
The simplest and easiest way to install the Helm is using the script. First, download the Helm installation script using the Curl command:
dnf update -y curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3
Once the script is downloaded, set executable permissions with the following command:
chmod +x get_helm.sh
Next, run the script to install Helm:
./get_helm.sh
After the installation, verify the Helm version using the following command:
helm version
You will get the following output:
version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.9.4", GitCommit:"dbc6d8e20fe1d58d50e6ed30f09a04a77e4c68db", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.17.13"}
Step 2 – Install Helm from Binary
You can also install Helm by downloading it from their official website.
First, download the latest version of Helm with the following command:
wget -O helm.tar.gz https://get.helm.sh/helm-v3.10.0-rc.1-linux-amd64.tar.gz
Once the download is completed, extract the downloaded file with the following command:
tar -zxvf helm.tar.gz
Next, move the Helm binary to the system location with the following command:
mv linux-amd64/helm /usr/local/bin/helm
Next, verify the Helm version using the following command:
helm version
You should get the following output:
version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.10.0-rc.1", GitCommit:"ce66412a723e4d89555dc67217607c6579ffcb21", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.18.6"}
Step 3 – How to Use Helm
First, add the Helm chart repository with the following command:
helm repo add stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable
Next, verify the added repository with the following command:
helm repo list
You will get the following output:
NAME URL stable https://charts.helm.sh/stable
This is because Helm provides a search facility to search for a specific package.
To search for a Jenkins package, run the following command:
helm search repo jenkins
You will get the following output:
NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION stable/jenkins 2.5.4 lts DEPRECATED - Open source continuous integration...
You can now install the Jenkins package using the following command:
helm install jenkins stable/jenkins
To search for an Apache package, run the following command:
helm search repo apache
You will get the following output:
NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION stable/hadoop 1.1.4 2.9.0 DEPRECATED - The Apache Hadoop software library... stable/ignite 1.2.2 2.7.6 DEPRECATED - Apache Ignite is an open-source di... stable/jenkins 2.5.4 lts DEPRECATED - Open source continuous integration... stable/kafka-manager 2.3.5 1.3.3.22 DEPRECATED - A tool for managing Apache Kafka. stable/spark 0.1.2 A Apache Spark Helm chart for Kubernetes. Apach... stable/superset 1.1.13 0.36.0 DEPRECATED - Apache Superset (incubating) is a ...
To learn more about the Helm environment, execute the following command, which will give you details regarding the Helm environment.
helm env
You should see the following output:
HELM_BIN="helm" HELM_BURST_LIMIT="100" HELM_CACHE_HOME="/root/.cache/helm" HELM_CONFIG_HOME="/root/.config/helm" HELM_DATA_HOME="/root/.local/share/helm" HELM_DEBUG="false" HELM_KUBEAPISERVER="" HELM_KUBEASGROUPS="" HELM_KUBEASUSER="" HELM_KUBECAFILE="" HELM_KUBECONTEXT="" HELM_KUBEINSECURE_SKIP_TLS_VERIFY="false" HELM_KUBETLS_SERVER_NAME="" HELM_KUBETOKEN="" HELM_MAX_HISTORY="10" HELM_NAMESPACE="default" HELM_PLUGINS="/root/.local/share/helm/plugins" HELM_REGISTRY_CONFIG="/root/.config/helm/registry/config.json" HELM_REPOSITORY_CACHE="/root/.cache/helm/repository" HELM_REPOSITORY_CONFIG="/root/.config/helm/repositories.yaml"
Conclusion
In this post, we explained how to install Helm using two ways. We also explained how to use Helm package manager to install and manage packages. You can now easily install Helm on the Kubernetes cluster to manage and deploy applications using Helm. Try Helm on VPS hosting from Atlantic.Net!