Helm Workloads

Helm is a popular package manager for Kubernetes. Helm charts use templates to render Kubernetes resource manifests. Helm is generally used as a command line tool and/or incorporated into a GitOps pipeline.

In Threeport, Helm is offered so that teams already using Helm can get started using the charts they have or currently use. Helm is useful for relatively uncomplicated deployments or when using community-supported projects that have Helm charts available. However, the templating used by Helm breaks down in sophisticated, production environments when the templates become overwhelmed with conditionals and loops. In more advanced use-cases, we recommend using custom Kubernetes operators and/or Threeport controllers to programmatically manage complex configuration of software delivery. See our documentation on Threeport Extensions for more information on this topic.

Note: In order to use Helm charts in Threeport, the chart must be hosted on a Helm repo.

Helm Workload Definition

A Helm Workload Definition allows you to specify the repo URL, chart name, chart version and a set of Helm values that will be used each time an instance of the Helm chart is deployed. The Helm values available on the definition allow you to set default values (that may differ from the defaults applied on the upstream project) for each instance deployed.

Reference: HelmWorkloadDefinition

Helm Workload Instance

An instance of a Helm Workload allows you to provide additional Helm values that will override any values provided on the definition. You can also specify which Kubernetes Runtime Instance to deploy to.

Reference: HelmWorkloadInstance

Next Steps

See our Local Helm Workload guide for a walk through on using Helm in Threeport.