Use Helm charts

Helm is a tool that manages Kubernetes packages called charts, which are put to use in defining, installing, and upgrading Kubernetes applications. These charts, in conjunction with Helm tooling, deploy applications into Kubernetes clusters. Charts are comprised of a collection of files and directories, arranged in a particular structure and packaged as a .tgz file. Charts define Kubernetes objects, such as the Service and DaemonSet objects used in the application under deployment.

MSR enables you to use Helm to store and serve Helm charts, thus allowing users to push charts to and pull charts from MSR repositories using the Helm CLI and the MSR API.

Note

To obtain the CA certificate required by the Helm charts commands, navigate to https://<msr-url>/ca and download the certificate, or run:

curl -sk https://<msr-url>/ca > ca.crt

MSR supports both Helm v2 and v3. The two versions differ significantly with regard to the Helm CLI, which affects the applications under deployment rather than Helm chart support in MSR. One key difference is that while Helm v2 includes both the Helm CLI and Tiller (Helm Server), Helm v3 includes only the Helm CLI. Helm charts (referred to as releases following their installation in Kubernetes) are managed by Tiller in Helm v2 and by Helm CLI in Helm v3.

Note

For a breakdown of the key differences between Helm v2 and Helm v3, refer to Helm official documentation.

• Add a Helm chart repository
• Pull charts and their provenance files
• Push charts and their provenance files
• View charts in a Helm repository
• Delete charts from a Helm repository
• Helm chart linting
• Helm limitations