Helm Package Manager
Helm is the official package manager for Kubernetes. Helm uses pre-packaged templates called Helm Charts to deploy complex application stacks with a single command.
1. Why Use Helm?
Deploying complex software like Prometheus, Bitnami PostgreSQL, or Nginx Ingress manually requires managing 10-15 separate YAML files. With Helm, you deploy the entire stack using one command: helm install my-release bitnami/postgresql.
2. Essential Helm CLI Commands
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
helm repo add | Adds a third-party Helm repository (e.g. Bitnami) |
helm install <release> <chart> | Installs a Helm chart release into the cluster |
helm upgrade -f values.yaml | Upgrades a release configuration using custom parameters |
helm rollback <release> <revision> | Rolls back a release to a previous deployment revision |
helm uninstall <release> | Deletes all Kubernetes resources associated with release |
3. Overriding `values.yaml` Example
# 1. Add Bitnami Chart Repo helm repo add bitnami https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami helm repo update # 2. Deploy PostgreSQL with custom parameters helm install my-db bitnami/postgresql \ --set auth.postgresPassword="mysecretpassword" \ --set primary.persistence.size="20Gi"
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