Configuring custom Helm chart repositories

    • The CLI.

    • The Developer perspective of the web console.

    The Developer Catalog, in the Developer perspective of the web console, displays the Helm charts available in the cluster. By default, it lists the Helm charts from the Red Hat OpenShift Helm chart repository. For a list of the charts, see the Red Hat Helm index file.

    As a cluster administrator, you can add multiple cluster-scoped and namespace-scoped Helm chart repositories, separate from the default cluster-scoped Helm repository, and display the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

    As a regular user or project member with the appropriate role-based access control (RBAC) permissions, you can add multiple namespace-scoped Helm chart repositories, apart from the default cluster-scoped Helm repository, and display the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

    In the Developer perspective of the web console, you can use the Helm page to:

    • Create Helm Releases and Repositories using the Create button.

    • Create, update, or delete a cluster-scoped or namespace-scoped Helm chart repository.

    • View the list of the existing Helm chart repositories in the Repositories tab, which can also be easily distinguished as either cluster scoped or namespace scoped.

    Prerequisites

    • You have a running OKD cluster and you have logged into it.

    • You have installed Helm.

    Procedure

    1. Create a new project:

    2. Add a repository of Helm charts to your local Helm client:

      Example output

      1. "openshift-helm-charts" has been added to your repositories

    3. Update the repository:

      1. $ helm repo update

    4. Install an example HashiCorp Vault:

      1. $ helm install example-vault openshift-helm-charts/hashicorp-vault

      Example output

      1. NAME: example-vault
      2. LAST DEPLOYED: Fri Mar 11 12:02:12 2022
      3. NAMESPACE: vault
      4. STATUS: deployed
      5. REVISION: 1
      6. NOTES:
      7. Thank you for installing HashiCorp Vault!

    5. Verify that the chart has installed successfully:

      1. $ helm list

      Example output

      1. NAME             NAMESPACE    REVISION    UPDATED                                    STATUS      CHART           APP VERSION
      2. example-vault    vault        1           2022-03-11 12:02:12.296226673 +0530 IST    deployed    vault-0.19.0    1.9.2

    Creating Helm releases using the Developer perspective

    You can use either the Developer perspective in the web console or the CLI to select and create a release from the Helm charts listed in the Developer Catalog. You can create Helm releases by installing Helm charts and see them in the Developer perspective of the web console.

    Prerequisites

    • You have logged in to the web console and have switched to .

    Procedure

    To create Helm releases from the Helm charts provided in the Developer Catalog:

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the +Add view and select a project. Then click Helm Chart option to see all the Helm Charts in the Developer Catalog.

    2. Select a chart and read the description, README, and other details about the chart.

    3. Click Create.

      Figure 1. Helm charts in developer catalog

    4. In the Create Helm Release page:

      1. Enter a unique name for the release in the Release Name field.

      2. Select the required chart version from the Chart Version drop-down list.

      3. Configure your Helm chart by using the Form View or the YAML View.

      4. Click Create to create a Helm release. The web console displays the new release in the Topology view.

        If a Helm chart has release notes, the web console displays them.

        If a Helm chart creates workloads, the web console displays them on the Topology or Helm release details page. The workloads are DaemonSet, CronJob, Pod, Deployment, and DeploymentConfig.

      5. View the newly created Helm release in the Helm Releases page.

    You can upgrade, rollback, or delete a Helm release by using the Actions button on the side panel or by right-clicking a Helm release.

    Using Helm in the web terminal

    You can use Helm by in the Developer perspective of the web console.

    Procedure

    1. Create a new project:

      1. $ oc new-project nodejs-ex-k

    2. Download an example Node.js chart that contains OKD objects:

      1. $ git clone https://github.com/redhat-developer/redhat-helm-charts

    3. Go to the directory with the sample chart:

    4. Edit the Chart.yaml file and add a description of your chart:

      1. apiVersion: v2 (1)
      2. name: nodejs-ex-k (2)
      3. description: A Helm chart for OpenShift (3)
      4. icon: https://static.redhat.com/libs/redhat/brand-assets/latest/corp/logo.svg (4)
      5. version: 0.2.1 (5)
      1The chart API version. It should be v2 for Helm charts that require at least Helm 3.
      2The name of your chart.
      3The description of your chart.
      4The URL to an image to be used as an icon.
      5The Version of your chart as per the Semantic Versioning (SemVer) 2.0.0 Specification.

    5. Verify that the chart is formatted properly:

      1. $ helm lint

      Example output

      1. [INFO] Chart.yaml: icon is recommended

    6. Navigate to the previous directory level:

      1. $ cd ..

    7. Install the chart:

      1. $ helm install nodejs-chart nodejs-ex-k

    8. Verify that the chart has installed successfully:

      1. $ helm list

      Example output

      1. NAME NAMESPACE REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION
      2. nodejs-chart nodejs-ex-k 1 2019-12-05 15:06:51.379134163 -0500 EST deployed nodejs-0.1.0  1.16.0

    Adding custom Helm chart repositories

    As a cluster administrator, you can add custom Helm chart repositories to your cluster and enable access to the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

    Procedure

    1. To add a new Helm Chart Repository, you must add the Helm Chart Repository custom resource (CR) to your cluster.

      Sample Helm Chart Repository CR

      1. apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
      2. kind: HelmChartRepository
      3. metadata:
      4.   name: <name>
      5. spec:
      6.  # optional name that might be used by console
      7.  # name: <chart-display-name>
      8.   connectionConfig:
      9.     url: <helm-chart-repository-url>

      For example, to add an Azure sample chart repository, run:

      1. $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
      2. apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
      3. kind: HelmChartRepository
      4. metadata:
      5.   name: azure-sample-repo
      6. spec:
      8.   connectionConfig:
      9.     url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure-Samples/helm-charts/master/docs
      10. EOF

    2. Navigate to the Developer Catalog in the web console to verify that the Helm charts from the chart repository are displayed.

      For example, use the Chart repositories filter to search for a Helm chart from the repository.

      odc helm chart repo filter

      Figure 2. Chart repositories filter

    Adding namespace-scoped custom Helm chart repositories

    The cluster-scoped HelmChartRepository custom resource definition (CRD) for Helm repository provides the ability for administrators to add Helm repositories as custom resources. The namespace-scoped ProjectHelmChartRepository CRD allows project members with the appropriate role-based access control (RBAC) permissions to create Helm repository resources of their choice but scoped to their namespace. Such project members can see charts from both cluster-scoped and namespace-scoped Helm repository resources.

    • Administrators can limit users from creating namespace-scoped Helm repository resources. By limiting users, administrators have the flexibility to control the RBAC through a namespace role instead of a cluster role. This avoids unnecessary permission elevation for the user and prevents access to unauthorized services or applications.

    • The addition of the namespace-scoped Helm repository does not impact the behavior of the existing cluster-scoped Helm repository.

    As a regular user or project member with the appropriate RBAC permissions, you can add custom namespace-scoped Helm chart repositories to your cluster and enable access to the Helm charts from these repositories in the Developer Catalog.

    Procedure

    1. To add a new namespace-scoped Helm Chart Repository, you must add the Helm Chart Repository custom resource (CR) to your namespace.

      Sample Namespace-scoped Helm Chart Repository CR

      1. $ cat <<EOF | oc apply --namespace my-namespace -f -
      2. apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
      3. kind: ProjectHelmChartRepository
      4. metadata:
      5.   name: azure-sample-repo
      6. spec:
      7.   name: azure-sample-repo
      8.   connectionConfig:
      9.     url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure-Samples/helm-charts/master/docs
      10. EOF

      The output verifies that the namespace-scoped Helm Chart Repository CR is created:

      Example output

      1. projecthelmchartrepository.helm.openshift.io/azure-sample-repo created

    2. Navigate to the Developer Catalog in the web console to verify that the Helm charts from the chart repository are displayed in your my-namespace namespace.

      For example, use the Chart repositories filter to search for a Helm chart from the repository.

      Figure 3. Chart repositories filter in your namespace

      Alternatively, run:

      1. $ oc get projecthelmchartrepositories --namespace my-namespace

      Example output

      1. NAME                     AGE
      2. azure-sample-repo        1m

    Some Helm chart repositories need credentials and custom certificate authority (CA) certificates to connect to it. You can use the web console as well as the CLI to add credentials and certificates.

    Procedure

    To configure the credentials and certificates, and then add a Helm chart repository using the CLI:

    1. In the openshift-config namespace, create a ConfigMap object with a custom CA certificate in PEM encoded format, and store it under the ca-bundle.crt key within the config map:

      1. $ oc create configmap helm-ca-cert \
      2. --from-file=ca-bundle.crt=/path/to/certs/ca.crt \
      3. -n openshift-config

    2. In the openshift-config namespace, create a Secret object to add the client TLS configurations:

      1. $ oc create secret tls helm-tls-configs \
      2. --cert=/path/to/certs/client.crt \
      3. --key=/path/to/certs/client.key \
      4. -n openshift-config

      Note that the client certificate and key must be in PEM encoded format and stored under the keys tls.crt and tls.key, respectively.

    3. Add the Helm repository as follows:

      1. $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
      2. apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
      3. kind: HelmChartRepository
      4.   name: <helm-repository>
      5. spec:
      6.   name: <helm-repository>
      7.   connectionConfig:
      8.     url: <URL for the Helm repository>
      9.     tlsConfig:
      10.         name: helm-tls-configs
      11.     ca:
      12.     name: helm-ca-cert
      13. EOF

      The ConfigMap and Secret are consumed in the HelmChartRepository CR using the and ca fields. These certificates are used to connect to the Helm repository URL.

    4. By default, all authenticated users have access to all configured charts. However, for chart repositories where certificates are needed, you must provide users with read access to the helm-ca-cert config map and helm-tls-configs secret in the openshift-config namespace, as follows:

      1. $ cat <<EOF | kubectl apply -f -
      2. apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
      3. kind: Role
      4. metadata:
      5.   namespace: openshift-config
      6.   name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
      7. rules:
      8. - apiGroups: [""]
      9.   resources: ["configmaps"]
      10.   resourceNames: ["helm-ca-cert"]
      11.   verbs: ["get"]
      12. - apiGroups: [""]
      13.   resources: ["secrets"]
      14.   resourceNames: ["helm-tls-configs"]
      15.   verbs: ["get"]
      16. ---
      17. kind: RoleBinding
      18. apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
      19. metadata:
      20.   namespace: openshift-config
      21.   name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
      22. subjects:
      23.   - kind: Group
      24.     apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      25.     name: 'system:authenticated'
      26. roleRef:
      27.   apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
      28.   kind: Role
      29.   name: helm-chartrepos-tls-conf-viewer
      30. EOF

    Filtering Helm Charts by their certification level

    You can filter Helm charts based on their certification level in the Developer Catalog.

    Procedure

    1. In the Developer perspective, navigate to the +Add view and select a project.

    2. From the Developer Catalog tile, select the Helm Chart option to see all the Helm charts in the Developer Catalog.

    3. Use the filters to the left of the list of Helm charts to filter the required charts:

      • Use the Chart Repositories filter to filter charts provided by Red Hat Certification Charts or OpenShift Helm Charts.

      • Use the Source filter to filter charts sourced from Partners, Community, or Red Hat. Certified charts are indicated with the (odc verified icon) icon.

    The Source filter will not be visible when there is only one provider type.

    You can now select the required chart and install it.

    Disabling Helm Chart repositories

    You can disable Helm Charts from a particular Helm Chart Repository in the catalog by setting the disabled property in the HelmChartRepository custom resource to true.

    Procedure

    • To disable a Helm Chart repository by using CLI, add the disabled: true flag to the custom resource. For example, to remove an Azure sample chart repository, run:

      1. $ cat <<EOF | oc apply -f -
      2. apiVersion: helm.openshift.io/v1beta1
      3. kind: HelmChartRepository
      4. metadata:
      5.   name: azure-sample-repo
      6. spec:
      7.   connectionConfig:
      8.    url:https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Azure-Samples/helm-charts/master/docs
      9.   disabled: true
      10. EOF

    • To disable a recently added Helm Chart repository by using Web Console:

      1. Go to Custom Resource Definitions and search for the HelmChartRepository custom resource.

      2. Go to Instances, find the repository you want to disable, and click its name.