Deploying_Complex_Applications

Deploying Complex Applications

We have used Kubernetes tools to deploy simple Docker applications. Starting with the v1.4 release, the goal was to have a canonical location for software. Helm is similar to a package manager like yum or apt, with a chart being similar to a package. Helm v3 is significantly different than v2.

A typical containerized application will have several manifests. Manifests for Deployments, Services, and ConfigMaps. You will probably also create some secrets, Ingress, and other objects. Each of these will need a manifest.

With Helm, you can package all those manifests and make them available as a single tarball. You can put the tarball in a repository, search that repository, discover an application, and then, with a single command, deploy and start the entire application.

The server runs in your Kubernetes cluster, and your client is local, even a local laptop. With your client, you can connect to multiple repositories of applications.

You will also be able to upgrade or roll back an application easily from the command line.