Helm Concepts
Internal
Overview
Chart
A chart is a Helm package, the Kubernetes equivalent of a yum RPM file or a Homebrew formula. A chart contains all resource definitions necessary to deploy and run an application inside Kubernetes.
Chart Installation
Charts are installed and turned into releases with helm install. The installation is an asynchronous process, the Helm client does not wait until all resources are running before it exits, this is because charts may require large Docker images that take long to install in the cluster. Without additional input, a chart will be installed with the default configuration.
Chart Archive
Chart Operations
Chart Configuration
Default Configuration
Template
Release
A release is a running instantiation of a chart, to which a specific config was applied. Whenever a chart is installed, a new release is created. One chart can be installed multiple times into the same cluster, and each can be independently managed and upgraded. Each release has its own release name.
Release Name
If not specified, release names are generated (e.g. "happy-panda"). To specify a release name, use helm install --name.
Release Operations
Repository
A repository is a place where charts are collected and shared. When Helm is installed, it is pre-configured to look into the official Kubernetes chart repository, named "stable". Repositories can be searched for charts with helm search.
Repository Operations
Dependency
- If I rely on a dependency referred from an external Helm repository, and the repository exposes newer versions, can I still rely on the fact that the old version is still available? I might not want to upgrade to the "latest", but keep using a version I tested with and was proven stable.
Runtime
The Helm Client
The client is responsible for managing charts.
The Tiller Server
The server is responsible for managing releases.
Tiller stores release information in ConfigMaps in the namespace where it is running. It could be configured to use a storage backend that uses Secrets for storing release information. More here. It could also be configured to use an SQL storage backend for storing release information. More here.