engiwip / helm

Sample Helm Chart templates for packaging your Node.js application for deployment to Kubernetes

Helm Chart Templates for Node.js in Kubernetes

This project provides template Helm Charts for deploying a Node.js web application into any Kubernetes based cloud.

The templates require your application to built into a Docker image. The Docker Templates project provides assistance in creating an image for your application.

This project provides the following files:

File	Description
/chart/nodeserver/Chart.yaml	The definition file for your application
/chart/nodeserver/values.yaml	Configurable values that are inserted into the following template files
/chart/nodeserver/templates/basedeployment.yaml	Template to configure your application deployment.
/chart/nodeserver/templates/deployment.yaml	Template to configure your application deployment.
/chart/nodeserver/templates/service.yaml	Template to configure your application deployment.
/chart/nodeserver/templates/hpa.yaml	Template to configure your application deployment.
/chart/nodeserver/templates/istio.yaml	Template to configure your application deployment.
/chart/nodeserver/templates/NOTES.txt	Helper to enable locating your application IP and PORT

In order to use these template files, copy the files from this project into your application directory. You should only need to edit the Chart.yaml and values.yaml files.

Prerequisites

Using the template Helm charts assumes the following pre-requisites are complete:

1. You have a Kubernetes cluster
   This could be one hosted by a cloud provider or running locally, for example using Minikube

2. You have kubectl installed and configured for your cluster
   The Kuberenetes command line tool, kubectl, is used to view and control your Kubernetes cluster.

3. You have the Helm command line and Tiller backend installed
   Helm and Tiller provide the command line tool and backend service for deploying your application using the Helm chart.

4. You have created and published a Docker image for your application
   The Docker Template project provides guidance on building a run image for your application and publishing it to the DockerHub registry.

5. Your application has a "health" endpoint
   This allows Kubernetes to restart your application if it fails or becomes unresponsive. The Health Connect middleware can be used to add a health endpoint.

Adding the Chart to your Application

In order to add Helm Charts to your application, copy the charts directory from this project into your application's root directory.

You then need to make a single change before the charts are usable: to set the image.repository for your application.

Setting the image.repository parameter

In order to change the image.respository parameter, open the charts/nodeserver/values.yaml file and change the following entry:

image:
  repository: <namespace>/nodeserver

to set <namespace> to your namespace on DockerHub where you published your application as nodeserver.

Configuring the Chart for your Application

The following table lists the configurable parameters of the template Helm chart and their default values.

Parameter	Description	Default
image.repository	image repository	<namespace>/nodeserver
image.tag	Image tag	latest
image.pullPolicy	Image pull policy	Always
livenessProbe.initialDelaySeconds	How long to wait before beginning the checks our pod(s) are up	30
livenessProbe.periodSeconds	The interval at which we'll check if a pod is running OK before being restarted	10
service.name	Kubernetes service name	Node
service.type	Kubernetes service type exposing port	NodePort
service.port	TCP Port for this service	3000
resources.limits.memory	Memory resource limits	128m
resources.limits.cpu	CPU resource limits	100m

Using the Chart to deploy your Application to Kubernetes

In order to use the Helm chart to deploy and verify your applicaton in Kubernetes, run the following commands:

1. From the directory containing Chart.yaml, run:

helm install --name nodeserver .

This deploys and runs your applicaton in Kubernetes, and prints the following text to the console:

Congratulations, you have deployed your Node.js Application to Kubernetes using Helm!

To verify your application is running, run the following two commands to set the SAMPLE_NODE_PORT and SAMPPLE_NODE_IP environment variables to the locaton of your application:

export SAMPLE_NODE_PORT=$(kubectl get --namespace default -o jsonpath="{.spec.ports[0].nodePort}" services nodeserver-service)
export SAMPLE_NODE_IP=$(kubectl get nodes --namespace default -o jsonpath="{.items[0].status.addresses[0].address}")

And then open your web browser to http://${SAMPLE_NODE_IP}:${SAMPLE_NODE_PORT} from the command line, eg:

open http://${SAMPLE_NODE_IP}:${SAMPLE_NODE_PORT}

2. Copy, paste and run the export lines printed to the console eg:

export SAMPLE_NODE_PORT=$(kubectl get --namespace default -o jsonpath="{.spec.ports[0].nodePort}" services nodeserver-service)
export SAMPLE_NODE_IP=$(kubectl get nodes --namespace default -o jsonpath="{.items[0].status.addresses[0].address}")

3. Open a browser to view your application:
   Open your browser to http://${SAMPLE_NODE_IP}:${SAMPLE_NODE_PORT} from the command line using:

open http://${SAMPLE_NODE_IP}:${SAMPLE_NODE_PORT}

You application should now be visible in your browser.

Uninstalling your Application

If you installed your application with:

helm install --name nodeserver .

then you can:

• Find the deployment using helm list --all and searching for an entry with the chart name "nodeserver".
• Remove the application with helm delete --purge nodeserver.