Setting up Helm¶
Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, is a useful tool for: installing, upgrading and managing applications on a Kubernetes cluster. Helm packages are called charts. We will be installing and managing JupyterHub on our Kubernetes cluster using a Helm chart.
Charts are abstractions describing how to install packages onto a Kubernetes
cluster. When a chart is deployed, it works as a templating engine to populate
multiple yaml files for package dependencies with the required variables, and
then runs kubectl apply to apply the configuration to the resource and install
the package.
Note
If you previously installed Z2JH using Helm 2, it is worth noting that Helm 3 includes several major breaking changes. See the Helm 3 FAQ for more information.
For migrating from Helm v2 to v3, checkout the official Helm guide.
Installation¶
While several methods to install Helm exist, the simplest way to install Helm is to run Helm’s installer script in a terminal:
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
The minimum supported version of Helm in Z2JH is
3.2.0.Helm 3 uses the same security mechanisms as other Kubernetes clients such as
kubectl.
Verify¶
You can verify that it is installed properly by running:
helm list
You should see an empty list since no Helm charts have been installed:
NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION
Next Step¶
Congratulations, Helm is now set up! Let’s continue with Setup JupyterHub!