How to Use Helm Charts for Kubernetes Deployments

How to Use Helm Charts for Kubernetes Deployments

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. It bundles related manifests into reusable, versioned, and configurable packages called charts. Helm dramatically simplifies deploying complex applications on your Breeze Kubernetes cluster by providing templating, dependency management, and one-command upgrades and rollbacks.

Installing Helm

Install the Helm CLI on your Breeze instance:

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
helm version

Adding Chart Repositories

Repositories host pre-built charts for popular applications:

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx
helm repo update

Search for available charts:

helm search repo nginx
helm search repo bitnami/postgresql

Installing a Chart

Deploy PostgreSQL with a single command:

helm install my-postgres bitnami/postgresql \
  --namespace databases --create-namespace \
  --set auth.postgresPassword=MySecurePass123 \
  --set primary.persistence.size=20Gi

Helm creates all the Deployments, Services, Secrets, PVCs, and ConfigMaps automatically.

Customizing Values

Create a values.yaml file for complex configurations:

# values.yaml
replicaCount: 3
image:
  repository: myapp
  tag: v2.1.0
resources:
  requests:
    cpu: 200m
    memory: 256Mi
  limits:
    cpu: 500m
    memory: 512Mi
ingress:
  enabled: true
  hosts:
  - host: app.example.com
    paths:
    - path: /
      pathType: Prefix

Install with custom values:

helm install my-app ./my-chart -f values.yaml

Creating Your Own Chart

helm create my-app-chart

This generates a scaffold with:

• Chart.yaml — chart metadata (name, version, description)
• values.yaml — default configuration values
• templates/ — Kubernetes manifest templates with Go templating
• charts/ — sub-chart dependencies

Upgrading and Rolling Back

# Upgrade to new values or chart version
helm upgrade my-app ./my-chart -f values.yaml

# View release history
helm history my-app

# Rollback to a previous revision
helm rollback my-app 2

Managing Releases

# List all releases
helm list --all-namespaces

# Get release details
helm status my-app

# Uninstall a release
helm uninstall my-app --namespace default

Best Practices for Breeze Deployments

• Pin chart versions in CI/CD pipelines to ensure reproducible deployments
• Use helm template to preview rendered manifests before applying
• Store custom values.yaml files in version control
• Leverage Helm hooks for database migrations and pre-install checks
• Use helm diff plugin to review changes before upgrading