Slides from JFokus 2022

1. The Automation Challenge:
Kubernetes Operators vs Helm Charts
Ana-Maria Mihalceanu
Developer Advocate
2

2. Hello! I am Ana
3
Java Champion, Certified Architect
Developer Advocate @ Red Hat
“Control” enthusiast
ammbra1508

3. 4
Know well what leads you forward and what
holds you back, and choose the path that leads
to wisdom
“”
Budha

4. Microservices Kubernetes
5
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/otacke/10080909435
Divide et Impera architecture

5. Self-healing
Batch execution
Horizontal scaling
Storage orchestration
Automated rollouts and rollbacks
Service discovery and load balancing
Secret and configuration management
(Some) Kubernetes Features
6

6. The story of a microservice
7
</>
Application code
Container
blueprint
Docker file
Kubernetes objects
in yaml format

7. The story of a microservice
8
</>
Application code
Container
blueprint
Docker file
Kubernetes objects
in yaml format

8. The story of a microservice
10
</>
Application code
Container
blueprint
Docker file
Kubernetes objects
in yaml format

10. Automation heroes
12

11. Kubernetes Package Manager
13
Manage and update multiple
Kubernetes configurations
templates Deploy many configs as a SINGLE
application
Parametrize for multiple
environments support

12. Helm
differentiators
14
Helm

13. Helm advantages
15
Prototype
Easily prototype an application installation.
Deploy
Separate
Check

14. Helm advantages
16
Prototype
Easily prototype an application installation.
Deploy
Separate
Non-final values are separated from the actual
objects.
Check

15. Helm advantages
17
Prototype
Easily prototype an application installation.
Deploy
Many configurations can be deployed through a
single chart instance.
Separate
Non-final values are separated from the actual
objects.
Check

16. Helm advantages
18
Prototype
Easily prototype an application installation.
Deploy
Many configurations can be deployed through a
single chart instance.
Separate
Non-final values are separated from the actual
objects.
Check
In a template, you can check nested values at every
level

17. Distinctive Helm Aspects (1)
19
deployment.yaml
Reusability is encouraged via include, _helpers.tpl, tpl
Automatically roll deployments via annotations
_helpers.tpl

18. Distinctive Helm Aspects (2)
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deployment.yaml
Automatically roll deployments via annotations
Instruct Helm to keep resources upon uninstall
service.yaml

19. Helm demo status
21

20. What happens at
the maturity of a
system?
22
Operators

21. Dealing with growing complexity
Operators
23

23. Benefits of Using Operators
Operators
25
Package human operational
knowledge
The resources created via Operators
are secured and use HTTPS.
Clients like kubectl and dashboard
automatically work with Operators.
Operators can be used to create
backups or for configuring your cluster

24. What’s next?
Operators
26
Discover and decide on an operator to use
Isolate
Deploy
Maintain
https://operatorhub.io/

25. What’s next?
Operators
27
Discover and decide on an operator to use
Isolate
Deploy
Follow the deployment instructions.
Maintain
https://operatorhub.io/

26. What’s next?
Operators
28
Discover and decide on an operator
to use
Isolate
Keep Helm charts for installing the application(s).
Deploy
Follow the deployment instructions.
Maintain
https://operatorhub.io/

27. What’s next?
Operators
29
Discover and decide on an operator to use
Isolate
Keep Helm charts for installing the application(s).
Deploy
Follow the deployment instructions.
Maintain
Maintain the PostgreSQL database via the
operator.
https://operatorhub.io/

28. Create an Operator?
Operators
30
KUDO
kubebuilder
Metacontroller
Operator Framework
Java Operator SDK

29. Demo final view
31
Postgresql operator for Kubernetes

30. From Helm
Charts to
Operators
32
Operators

31. Publish Helm Charts to a Repo
From Helm Charts to Operators
33
Generate an index file based on docs directory
Github repo as
a Helm repository
Package charts.

32. Create an Operator from Helm Charts
From Helm Charts to Operators
34
Generate the operator and its API based on Helm charts
Reference the Github repo.

33. Takeaways
35

34. Takeaways
36
Helm Operators
Have a custom packaging format. Include many complex configuration data
within the package.
You are deploying a stateless application
and are happy with its settings.
Can deploy a stateful application and
maintain it in a completely automatic way.
Great for checking an application
deployment via its release information.
Can deploy an application configured in a
particular way across a cluster to achieve
high availability.
Have annotations that can trigger
automatic deployments.
Useful for operations related to backups or
cluster configuration.

35. Code made available at
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https://github.com/ammbra/helm-vs-operators

36. Additional
resources
38

37. dn.dev/k8soperators dn.dev/k8spatterns1