How to Install Helm

How to Install Helm and Use It: A Beginner’s Guide

Helm is a powerful package manager for Kubernetes, enabling you to define, install, and upgrade complex Kubernetes applications using charts. This blog will walk you through how to install Helm, configure a Helm repository, and deploy your first application using Helm.

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Installing Helm on Your System

The easiest way to install Helm is by using the official installation script. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Download and Install Helm

Run the following commands in your terminal:

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

This script automatically installs Helm 3, ensuring you have the latest version.

For detailed information, refer to the official Helm installation documentation.

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Adding a Helm Repository

Once Helm is installed, the next step is to add a repository containing Helm charts. Helm charts are pre-packaged Kubernetes resources that make it easy to deploy applications.

We will use the Bitnami Helm repository in this example. Run the following command to add it:

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

To verify that the repository has been added successfully and view the available charts, use:

helm search repo bitnami

This will list all charts available in the Bitnami repository.

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Deploying Your First Helm Chart: NGINX

Now that Helm is set up and the repository is added, let’s deploy a simple NGINX server using the Bitnami NGINX chart.

Run the following command to install the NGINX chart:

helm install bitnami/nginx --generate-name

This command will deploy an NGINX server to your Kubernetes cluster. The --generate-name flag generates a random release name for the deployment.

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Listing Helm Deployments

To check the status of your Helm deployments, you can list them using:

helm list

This will show all Helm releases, along with their current status.

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Wrapping Up

In this blog, you learned how to:

1. Install Helm using a script.
2. Add the Bitnami Helm repository.
3. Search for Helm charts.
4. Deploy an NGINX server using Helm.
5. List all Helm deployments.

Helm simplifies Kubernetes application management, making deployments and upgrades seamless. Start experimenting with Helm charts and explore the possibilities it offers!

For further details, always refer to the official Helm documentation.