Chapter 2:
Preparing a Kubernetes and Helm Environment

Helm is a tool that provides a variety of benefits that help users deploy and manage Kubernetes applications more easily. Before users can start experiencing these benefits, however, they must satisfy several prerequisites. First, a user must have access to a Kubernetes cluster. Next, a user should have the command-line tools for both Kubernetes and Helm. Finally, a user should be aware of Helm's basic configuration options in order to be productive with as little friction as possible.

In this chapter, we will outline the tools and concepts that are required in order to begin working with Helm. The following topics will be covered in this chapter:

• Preparing a local Kubernetes environment with Minikube
• Setting up kubectl
• Setting up Helm
• Configuring Helm

Technical requirements

In this chapter, you will install the following technologies to your local workstation:

• Minikube
• VirtualBox
• Helm

These tools can be installed with a package manager or by downloading them directly from a download link. We will provide instructions for using the Chocolatey package manager on Windows, the Homebrew package manager on macOS, the apt-get package manager for Debian-based Linux distributions, and the dnf package manager for RPM-based Linux distributions.