Welcome to Day 10 of the Zero to Platform Engineer in 30 Days challenge! 🚀 Today, we’ll explore how to combine Helm and Terraform, two powerful tools, to simplify the deployment and management of Kubernetes applications.

By the end of this session, you’ll understand:

• The basics of Helm and how it works.
• How Terraform can manage Helm Charts programmatically.
• Practical steps to deploy and manage applications with Helm and Terraform.

What Is Helm?

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that helps you deploy applications using pre-configured templates called Charts.

Why Use Helm?

1. Simplifies Complex Deployments: Use community-maintained Charts for tools like NGINX, Prometheus, and ArgoCD.
2. Standardization: Share Charts across teams for consistent deployments.
3. Flexibility: Customize configurations with values files.
4. Rollbacks: Easily revert changes to a previous state.

What Is Terraform’s Role?

Terraform’s Helm Provider enables you to:

• Deploy Helm Charts programmatically alongside your infrastructure.
• Automate application updates.
• Track deployments in Terraform state files for consistency.

Hands-On: Using Helm and Terraform Together

Step 1: Install the Helm CLI

1. Install the Helm CLI on your machine, following the official installation guide.
2. Verify the installation:

helm version

Step 2: Set Up the Terraform Helm Provider

1. Add the Helm provider to your Terraform configuration:

provider "helm" {
  kubernetes {
    config_path = "~/.kube/config"
  }
}

2. Initialize Terraform:

terraform init

Step 3: Deploy a Helm Chart Using Terraform

1. Create a Terraform configuration file:

resource "helm_release" "nginx" {
  name       = "nginx"
  namespace  = "default"
  chart      = "nginx"
  repository = "https://charts.bitnami.com/bitnami"
  version    = "15.4.0"

  values = [
    <<-EOF
    service:
      type: NodePort
      nodePort: 30001
    EOF
  ]
}

2. Apply the configuration:

terraform apply

3. Verify the deployment:

kubectl get all -n default

Step 4: Customize Your Helm Deployment

Modify the values section in Terraform to add custom settings, such as replica counts:

values = [
  <<-EOF
  replicaCount: 3
  service:
    type: NodePort
    nodePort: 30002
  EOF
]

Apply the changes:

terraform apply

Verify the changes:

kubectl get all -n default

🎯 Pro tip: Use the -auto-approve flag to skip the confirmation prompt.

Step 5: Rollback to a Previous State

1. Update the values section in Terraform to rollback to the previous state:

version = "15.5.0"

2. Apply the changes:

terraform state rm helm_release.nginx
helm rollback nginx 1

Activity for Today

1. Deploy an NGINX Helm Chart using Terraform.
2. Customize the Chart with parameters like replica counts, ports, or environment variables.
3. Experiment with upgrades and rollbacks.

What’s Next?

Tomorrow, we’ll explore GitOps with ArgoCD, diving into how you can manage Kubernetes clusters declaratively using Git as the source of truth.

👉 Check it out here: Zero to Platform Engineer Repository

Feel free to clone the repo, experiment with the code, and even contribute if you’d like! 🚀

Follow the Series!

🎉 Don’t miss a single step in your journey to becoming a Platform Engineer! 🎉

This post is just the beginning. Here’s what we’ve covered so far and what’s coming up next:

• Day 0: Introduction - What’s Platform Engineering?

• Day 1: Introduction to the CNCF Landscape

• Day 2: Day 2: Containers and Docker - The Building Blocks of Cloud Native

• Day 3: Containers and Kubernetes - The Building Blocks of Cloud Native

• Day 4: Deployments and Scaling in Kubernetes - Let’s Get Practical

• Day 5: Kubernetes Services – Connecting Your Applications

• Day 6: ConfigMaps and Secrets – Managing Configurations in Kubernetes

• Day 7: Recap and Hands-On Challenges for Week 1

• Day 8: Introduction to Infrastructure as Code (IaC)

• Day 9: Advanced Terraform – Managing Kubernetes Resources

👉 Bookmark this blog and check back every day for new posts in the series. 📣 Share your progress on social media with the hashtag #ZeroToPlatformEngineer to connect with other readers!