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Latchu@DevOps
Latchu@DevOps

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🚀 Helm for Beginners — What, Why, and First Hands-On Task on GKE Cluster

#kubernetes #helm #devops #containers

If you are running Kubernetes in production, you’ll eventually hear one word everywhere:

HELM

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes — like apt for Ubuntu or yum for Amazon Linux.
But many beginners struggle to understand what Helm actually is and why teams use it.

This guide explains Helm in simple terms and gives you your first hands-on task using a real GKE cluster.

🧠 What Is Helm?

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes.

Think of Kubernetes as a very strict system where everything must be described using YAML files — deployments, services, ingresses, configmaps, secrets, etc.

A simple app may need:

  • deployment.yaml
  • service.yaml
  • configmap.yaml
  • ingress.yaml
  • HPA.yaml

Managing all these files manually becomes painful.

This is where Helm helps.

✔ Helm bundles multiple YAMLs into a reusable package
✔ Helm lets you install, upgrade, rollback apps easily
✔ Helm allows parameterized deployments using values.yaml

In short:

Helm = Kubernetes + Templates + Versioning + Reusability

🎯 Why Do We Use Helm? (Easy Explanation)

Let’s say you want to deploy Nginx on 3 different environments:

  • dev
  • staging
  • production

Without Helm → you maintain 3 sets of YAML files.

With Helm → you just maintain one chart and 3 values files:

  • values-dev.yaml
  • values-staging.yaml
  • values-prod.yaml

Helm injects values into templates and generates the final YAML for Kubernetes.

📌 Benefits (Simple & Clear)

✅ 1. Reuse the same configuration everywhere

Stop copy-pasting YAML.

✅ 2. Template engine

Write dynamic YAML using variables, conditions, loops.

✅ 3. Easy installs

Install complex apps with one command:

helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx
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✅ 4. Built-in version control (releases)

You can upgrade or rollback easily:

helm upgrade my-nginx bitnami/nginx
helm rollback my-nginx 1
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✅ 5. Share charts with the team

Package your application as a Helm chart and publish it to any OCI registry.

⚙️ Architecture of a Helm Chart (Simple View)

A typical Helm chart looks like this:

mychart/
  Chart.yaml        → metadata
  values.yaml       → user config
  templates/        → Kubernetes YAML templates
  templates/*.yaml  → deployments, services, ingress, etc.
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Helm takes templates + values and renders Kubernetes manifests.

🏁 Hands-On Task #1 (Beginner Level)

To start learning Helm, perform this simple task.

You must have a running GKE cluster.

Step 1: Connect to your GKE cluster

gcloud container clusters get-credentials <CLUSTER_NAME> --zone <ZONE>
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Verify connection:

kubectl get nodes
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Step 2: Install Helm

Linux / Mac:

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

helm version
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Step 3: Add the Bitnami Helm repo

helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami
helm repo update
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Step 4: Install your first chart (Nginx)

helm install my-nginx bitnami/nginx
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Check what was created:

kubectl get all
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Step 5: Inspect the release

helm list
helm status my-nginx
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Step 6: Delete the release

helm uninstall my-nginx
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🌟 Thanks for reading! If this post added value, a like ❤️, follow, or share would encourage me to keep creating more content.

— Latchu | Senior DevOps & Cloud Engineer

☁️ AWS | GCP | ☸️ Kubernetes | 🔐 Security | ⚡ Automation
📌 Sharing hands-on guides, best practices & real-world cloud solutions

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