So, what is Helm? Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes, similar to what APT is for Debian/Ubuntu Linux distributions. It heavily simplifies the Kubernetes application deployment, making installing the simplest application with Helm as easy as run helm install hello-world, making it much simpler than writing a multi-line YAML file to install a Hello World application.
Helm was originally developed by Deis, the cloud native startup that was developing a container-native PaaS, where Helm was a fundamental piece. Later, Helm 2 a solid and mature incubated project at this point, joined the Kubernetes community, and finally found its home within the family of the CNCF projects.
Helm 2 was developed with multiple Kubernetes features in mind. More recently, Kubernetes has made huge advancements causing many concepts and features of the second version to become less relevant. Due to this evolution, the Helm community has decided to develop the next-generation cloud native package manager.
Helm 3 will introduce some major changes: the removal of Tiller (the server-side component of Helm, which was responsible for interacting with the Kubernetes cluster itself); enhancing the charts management; introducing the compatibility with OCI specification, developed by the Open Container Initiative Foundation; release management enhancements; and various other enhancements such as Lua templating. Helm 3 is planned for release in Q4 of 2019.
Work on this latest Helm version has led the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) to partner with the Linux Foundation training on a new eLearning Helm course, "Managing Kubernetes Applications with Helm". This course is designed to help system administrators, DevOps engineers, and SRE's simplify their operational experience with Kubernetes by using Helm.
"Managing Kubernetes Applications with Helm" course development has started, and the course release is planned by the end of the year (2019). The course will cover Helm 3 fundamentals and is recommended for the system administrators, DevOps engineers, application developers, and everyone who wants to simplify their operational experience with Kubernetes by using Helm.
CNCF and LF Training have established a successful record of previous collaborations, such as developing the "Kubernetes Fundamentals", "Kubernetes for Developers", "Monitoring Systems and Services with Prometheus", and "Cloud Native Logging with Fluentd" courses.
To learn more about containerized infrastructure and cloud native technologies, consider coming toKubeCon + CloudNativeCon NA, November 18-21 in San Diego.
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About the Author
Ihor Dvoretskyi is a Developer Advocate at Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), closely working with the open source communities within the Cloud Native ecosystem (including Kubernetes, Helm, and others).
At CNCF, Ihor acts as an advocate for the technology projects from the Cloud Native ecosystem. Besides that, he helps drive multiple developer relations programs, including the CNCF Meetup and Ambassadors programs, mentorship programs, and many others.
Ihor is a co-founder and an emeritus co-chair of the Kubernetes Product Management Special Interest Group (SIG-PM); he was also actively involved in the release process holding a role of the Features Lead during the multiple Kubernetes release cycles.
With an engineering (DevOps) and PM background, Ihor has been responsible for the projects tightly bound to the cloud computing space, containerized workloads and Linux systems.