Install Helm 3 Linux - Setup Helm 3 on Linux | Install Helm 3 on Ubuntu | Setup Helm 3 on Linux | Setup Helm 3 on Ubuntu

What is Helm and How to install Helm version 3?

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes. Helm is the K8s equivalent of yum or apt. It accomplishes the same goals as Linux system package managers like APT or YUM: managing the installation of applications and dependencies behind the scenes and hiding the complexity from the user.

Why use Helm?

As the Kubernetes platform and ecosystem continued to expand, deploying one and only one Kubernetes configuration file (ie: a single YAML) was not the norm anymore. As number of K8S deployment files increased, how to manage those files? Helm solves that problem. 

Helm Charts

Helm uses a packaging format called Charts. A Helm Chart is a collection of files that describe a set of Kubernetes resources. Helm Charts helps you define, install, and upgrade even the most complex Kubernetes application. Charts are easy to create, version, share, and publish.

Helm Kubernetes Integration

In helm 3 there is no tiller component. Helm client directly interacts with the Kubernetes API for the helm chart deployment.

Helm 3 can be installed many ways. We will install Helm 3 using scripts option.

Download scripts 

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/master/scripts/get-helm-3

provide permission
sudo chmod 700 get_helm.sh

Execute script to install
sudo ./get_helm.sh

 
Verify installation
helm version --client

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Deploy Springboot Microservices App into Amazon EKS Cluster using Jenkins Pipeline and Kubectl CLI Plug-in | Containerize Springboot App and Deploy into EKS Cluster using Jenkins Pipeline

We will learn how to automate springboot microservices builds using Jenkins pipeline and Deploy into AWS EKS Cluster with help of Kubernetes CLI plug-in.

We will use Springboot Microservices based Java application. I have already created a repo with source code + Dockerfile. The repo also have Jenkinsfile for automating the following:

- Automating builds using Jenkins
- Automating Docker image creation
- Automating Docker image upload into AWS ECR
- Automating Deployments to Kubernetes Cluster

 

 

Watch steps in YouTube channel:

Same Code for this video is here:

Make sure you fork my repo https://github.com/akannan1087/springboot-app

Pre-requistes:
1. Amazon EKS Cluster is setup and running. Click here to learn how to create Amazon EKS cluster.

2. Create ECR repo in AWS

3. Jenkins Master is up and running

4. Docker installed on Jenkins instance 

5. Docker, Docker pipeline and Kubernetes CLI plug-ins are installed in Jenkins

6. Install kubectl on your instance

Step # 1 - Create Maven3 variable under Global tool configuration in Jenkins

Make sure you create Maven3 variable under Global tool configuration. 

Step #2 - Create Credentials for connecting to Kubernetes Cluster using kubeconfig

Click on Add Credentials, use Kubernetes configuration from drop down.

use secret file from drop down.

execute the below command to login as jenkins user.

sudo su - jenkins

you should see the nodes running in EKS cluster.

kubectl get nodes

Execute the below command to get kubeconfig info, copy the entire content of the file:

sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/.kube/config

Open your text editor or notepad, copy and paste the entire content and save in a file.

We will upload this file.

Enter ID as K8S and choose File and upload the file and save.

Enter ID as K8S and choose enter directly and paste the above file content and save.

Step # 3 - Create a pipeline in Jenkins

Create a new pipeline job.

Step # 4 - Copy the pipeline code from below
Make sure you change red highlighted values below as per your settings:
Your docker user id should be updated.
your registry credentials ID from Jenkins from step # 1 should be copied

pipeline {

   tools {

        maven 'Maven3'

    }

    agent any

    environment {

        registry = "account_id.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/my-docker-repo"

    }

   

    stages {

        stage('Cloning Git') {

            steps {

                checkout([$class: 'GitSCM', branches: [[name: '*/main']], doGenerateSubmoduleConfigurations: false, extensions: [], submoduleCfg: [], userRemoteConfigs: [[credentialsId: '', url: 'https://github.com/akannan1087/springboot-app']]])     

            }

        }

      stage ('Build') {

          steps {

            sh 'mvn clean install'           

            }

      }

    // Building Docker images

    stage('Building image') {

      steps{

        script {

          dockerImage = docker.build registry 

        }

      }

    }

   

    // Uploading Docker images into AWS ECR

    stage('Pushing to ECR') {

     steps{  

         script {

                sh 'aws ecr get-login-password --region us-east-2 | docker login --username AWS --password-stdin account_id.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com'

                sh 'docker push account_id.dkr.ecr.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/my-docker-repo:latest'

         }

        }

      }

       stage('K8S Deploy') {

        steps{   

            script {

                withKubeConfig([credentialsId: 'K8S', serverUrl: '']) {

                sh ('kubectl apply -f  eks-deploy-k8s.yaml')

                }

            }

        }

       }

    }

}

Step # 5 - Build the pipeline

Once you create the pipeline and changes values per your configuration, click on Build now:

Step # 6 - Verify deployments to K8S

kubectl get pods

kubectl get deployments

kubectl get services

Steps # 7 - Access SpringBoot App in K8S cluster

Once build is successful, go to browser and enter master or worker node public ip address along with port number mentioned above

http://loadbalancer_ip_address

You should see page like below:

Note:

Make sure you fork my repo https://github.com/akannan1087/springboot-app

and make changes in eks-deploy-k8s.yaml to pull Docker image from your AWS ECR repo.

Create Amazon EKS cluster by eksctl | How to create EKS cluster in AWS cloud using eksctl | Create EKS Cluster in command line using IAM Role

  What is Amazon EKS

Amazon EKS is a fully managed container orchestration service. EKS allows you to quickly deploy a production ready Kubernetes cluster in AWS, deploy and manage containerized applications more easily with a fully managed Kubernetes service.

EKS takes care of master node/control plane. We need to create worker nodes.

EKS cluster can be created in following different ways

1. AWS console

2. AWS CLI

3. eksctl command

4. using Terraform

We will create EKS cluster using eksctl command line tool.

Pre-requistes:

This Lab is using Jenkins EC2 instance. Jenkins EC2 instance needs to have following configured:

• Install AWS CLI – Command line tools for working with AWS services, including Amazon EKS.

• Install eksctl – A command line tool for working with EKS clusters that automates many individual tasks.

• Install kubectl  – A command line tool for working with Kubernetes clusters. 

Create IAM Role with Administrator Access

You need to create an IAM role with AdministratorAccess policy.
Go to AWS console, IAM, click on Roles. create a role

 

Select AWS services, Click EC2, Click on Next permissions.

 
 Now search for AdministratorAccess policy and click

Skip on create tag.
Now give a role name and create it.

Assign the role to EC2 instance
Go to AWS console, click on EC2, select EC2 instance, Choose Security.
Click on Modify IAM Role

Choose the role you have created from the dropdown.
Select the role and click on Apply.

Switch to Jenkins user

sudo su - jenkins

Create EKS Cluster with two worker nodes using eksctl

eksctl create cluster --name demo-eks --region us-east-2 --nodegroup-name my-nodes --node-type t3.small --managed --nodes 2 

the above command should create a EKS cluster in AWS, it might take 15 to 20 mins. The eksctl tool uses CloudFormation under the hood, creating one stack for the EKS master control plane and another stack for the worker nodes. 

eksctl get cluster --name demo-eks --region us-east-2 

This should confirm that EKS cluster is up and running.

Once EKS cluster is created, kubeconfig file be created under /var/lib/jenkins/.kube folder.

you can view the kubeconfig file by entering the below command:

cat  /var/lib/jenkins/.kube/config

Connect to EKS cluster using kubectl commands

To view the list of worker nodes as part of EKS cluster.

kubectl get nodes

kubectl get ns

Deploy Nginx on a Kubernetes Cluster
Let us run some apps to make sure they are deployed to Kubernetes cluster. The below command will create deployment:

kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx

View Deployments
kubectl get deployments

Delete EKS Cluster using eksctl

eksctl delete cluster --name demo-eks --region us-east-2 

the above command should delete the EKS cluster in AWS, it might take a few mins to clean up the cluster.

Errors during Cluster creation

If you are having issues when creating a cluster, try to delete the cluster by executing the below command and re-create it.

eksctl delete cluster --name demo-eks --region us-east-2 

or Login to AWS console --> AWS Cloud formation --> delete the stack manually.

you can also delete the cluster under AWS console --> Elastic Kubernetes Service --> Clusters

Click on Delete cluster