Helmfile : Deploy multiple charts in your cluster k8S

Prerequisites

• Cluster K8S

• Helmfile

• Docker (helmfile image container, optional)

Concepts

Helmfile allows to declare specification for deploying multiple Helm charts. All information is saved in the helmfile.yaml file.

Here is the advantages of using Helmfile :

• Keep a directory of chart value files and maintain changes in version control.

• Apply CI/CD to configuration changes.

• Environmental chart promotion.

• Periodically sync to avoid skew in environments.

Installation

• Dowload Helmfile Release : https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/releases

• Download via Brew : brew install helmfile

• Use a docker container :
  

docker run --rm --net=host -v "${HOME}/.kube:/root/.kube" -v "${HOME}/.config/helm:/root/.config/helm" -v "${PWD}:/data" --workdir /data quay.io/roboll/helmfile:helm3-v0.135.0 helmfile 

• Use a docker container (cablespaghetti/helmfile-docker) :

docker run --rm --net=host -v "${HOME}/.kube:/root/.kube" -v "${HOME}/.config/helm:/root/.config/helm" -v "${PWD}:/data" --workdir /data cablespaghetti/helmfile-docker helmfile 

Getting Started

Suppose the helmfile.yaml representing the desired state of your helm releases looks like:

releases:
- name: prom-norbac-ubuntu
  namespace: prometheus
  chart: stable/prometheus
  set:
  - name: rbac.create
    value: false

Sync your Kubernetes cluster state to the desired one by running:

# Sync all your chart releases
helmfile sync

# OR
# Apply all your chart releases
helmfile apply

# OR
# Sync all your chart releases (offline)
helmfile charts

Advanced Usage

Multiple values (for multiple environments)

Dev Environment

# helmfile-dev.yaml
repositories:
  - name: bitnami
    url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

releases:
  - name: my-postgres
    namespace: my-namespace-dev
    chart: bitnami/postgres
    values:
      - ./values/postgres-dev-1.yaml
      - ./values/postgres-dev-2.yaml

# Sync all your chart releases
helmfile -f helmfile-dev.yaml sync

Prod Environment

# helmfile-prod.yaml
repositories:
  - name: bitnami
    url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

releases:
  - name: my-postgres
    namespace: my-namespace-production
    chart: bitnami/postgres
    values:
      - ./values/postgres-prod-1.yaml
      - ./values/postgres-prod-2.yaml

# Sync all your chart releases
helmfile -f helmfile-prod.yaml sync

Environment Variables

# helmfile-prod.yaml
repositories:
  - name: bitnami
    url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

releases:
  - name: {{ requiredEnv "NAME" }}-postgres
    namespace: {{ requiredEnv "NAME" }}
    chart: bitnami/postgres
    set:
    - name: image
      value: {{ requiredEnv "DOCKER_IMAGE" }}
    - name: version
      value: {{ requiredEnv "VERSION" }}
    values:
      - ./values/postgres-prod.yaml

# Sync all your chart releases
NAME=my-project VERSION=1 DOCKER_IMAGE=postgres:latest helmfile -f helmfile-prod.yaml sync

Templates

# helmfile.yaml
releases:
  - name: {{ requiredEnv "NAME" }}-vault
    namespace: {{ requiredEnv "NAME" }}
    chart: roboll/vault-secret-manager
    values:
    - values.yaml.gotmpl

# values.yaml.gotmpl
db:
  username: {{ requiredEnv "DB_USERNAME" }}
  password: {{ requiredEnv "DB_PASSWORD" }}
proxy:
  domain: {{ requiredEnv "PLATFORM_ID" }}.my-domain.com
  scheme: {{ env "SCHEME" | default "https" }}

Environement Files

# helmfile.yaml
environments:
  production:
    values:
    - production.yaml

releases:
- name: myapp
  values:
  - values.yaml.gotmpl

# production.yaml
domain: prod.example.com
releaseName: prod

# values.yaml.gotmpl
domain: {{ .Values | get "domain" "dev.example.com" }}

Secrets

# helmfile.yaml
environments:
  production:
    secrets:
    - environments/production/secrets.yaml

releases:
- name: myapp
  chart: mychart
  values:
  - values.yaml.gotmpl

# environments/production/secrets.yaml
foo.bar: "mysupersecretstring"

The value can be used in your values.yaml.gotmpl like :

{{ .Values.foo.bar }}

Examples

repositories:
  - name: bitnami
    url: https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami

releases:
  - name: my-nginx
    namespace: my-namespace-production
    chart: bitnami/nginx
    values:
      - ./values/nginx-production.yaml
  - name: my-postgres
    namespace: my-namespace-production
    chart: bitnami/postgres
    values:
      - ./values/postgres-production.yaml

Links

https://github.com/roboll/helmfile

https://github.com/roboll/helmfile/tree/master/examples

https://lyz-code.github.io/blue-book/devops/helmfile/#:~:text=Helmfile%20is%20a%20declarative%20spec,Environmental%20chart%20promotion.

https://github.com/wkrzywiec/k8s-helm-helmfile

https://hub.docker.com/r/cablespaghetti/helmfile-docker

https://alexsimonjones.medium.com/helmfile-post-v3-helm-519c82a29c6a