We have improved our support for Helm charts with additional supported “hooks” and “hook weights.” Replicated also updated its Helm chart install mechanism. Many Replicated vendors have existing investments in Helm, an open-source project that helps to manage Kubernetes apps. With this improved support for hooks and weights, Replicated further reduces the friction for onboarding software vendors that already leverage Helm for application packaging. Customers can leverage v3 Helm charts, with minimal modifications needed.
Added Support for Hooks and Weights
The added support of installing with Helm allows Replicated to support Helm hooks, including ordering hooks based on their weight. Helm hooks are like regular templates but with special annotations that cause Helm to behave differently. Ordering of hooks enables you to execute actions sequentially. With hook weights, developers can execute resources in weighted order. Examples include backing up a database as part of upgrading Kubernetes resources and ensuring the backup occurs before the upgrade process.
How to Leverage Helm Installations
Charts already deployed on existing applications prior to the GA will default to using the traditional Replicated Helm Installation and will not be updated. Moving forward, we recommend you leverage the updated installation method in all of your new charts.
- When adding new charts, the user receives a prompt to Select the Helm Install Method. The modal will default to the recommended Native Helm Install (useHelmInstall:true).
- Users can explicitly specify useHelmInstall:false from the dropdown if they choose to use the traditional Replicated Helm Installation for any new charts.
Note: Migrating existing installations from the Replicated Helm Installation (“old-to-new”) is not supported.
Note: Replicated CLI will not auto-insert the “True” or “False” value for the vendor. If not specified, the value is parsed as “False” by default. The vendor must set the spec to “True” for the value to be inserted.
For Vendors That Are Interested in Migrating to the New Mechanism
We encourage you to familiarize yourself with the updated Helm Installation mechanism by clicking here. As more vendors adopt the Helm and Replicated capability for their customers, we are gauging vendor interest in developing more capabilities for Helm users. To help our decision making for future enhancements, please reach out to your Customer Success team at Replicated on Slack or your preferred method of communication with any inquiries.
For those of you not yet familiar with or using Replicated, click here to learn more about how Replicated can help you get the most out of your Helm charts to ship Kubernetes applications.