Return to Helm Glossary, Package managers, Kubernetes, Container orchestration, DevOps, Kubernetes on Azure, Kubernetes on AWS, Kubernetes on Google Cloud
Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that simplifies the process of defining, installing, and upgrading applications on your cluster. It uses a packaging format called charts, which are collections of YAML templates that describe a Kubernetes application. Helm charts allow you to package your application along with its dependencies, configuration, and deployment instructions, making it easy to share and reuse applications across different environments.
1. **Creating a Helm Chart:**
```bash helm create my-app ```
This command generates a basic Helm chart structure for an application named “my-app.”
2. **Installing a Helm Chart:**
```bash helm install my-app ./my-app ```
This command installs the 'my-app' chart from the current directory.
3. **Upgrading a Helm Release:**
```bash helm upgrade my-app ./my-app ```
This command upgrades an existing Helm release named “my-app” with the latest version of the chart.
The common meaning of helm is a ship's steering mechanism; see tiller and ship's wheel.
“Helm is a tool for managing Kubernetes charts. Kubernetes charts are Kubernetes packages of pre-configured Kubernetes resources.”
“Helm is a tool that streamlines installing and managing Kubernetes applications. Think of it like apt/yum/homebrew for Kubernetes.”
First, you must install Kubernetes.
“Binary downloads of the Helm client can be found on the Releases page: https://github.com/helm/helm/releases/latest. Unpack the helm binary and add it to your PATH and you are good to go!
If you want to use a package manager: