Introduction

Learn about Helm charts offered by Cybus.

Helm is a package manager for Kubernetes that offers a simple way to deploy complex applications into Kubernetes clusters. Helm packages are called charts and are paired with a YAML file that contains the configuration for the application. The YAML file is called values.yaml.

Cybus offers multiple Helm charts, most prominently the connectware Helm chart.

Our Helm charts are published on an OCI registry hosted by Cybus. This means you do not need to manage a Helm repository.

Instead, you can directly install from the OCI registry, eliminating one step compared to when working with Helm charts from Helm repositories.

System Requirements

When working with Cybus Helm charts, make sure to meet the following system requirements:

• Your system meets the system requirements for Kubernetes deployments.

• Helm version 4 is installed on your system.

• kubectl is installed on your system.

Helm Chart Version vs. App Version

One often overlooked concept is that Helm charts have their own version number, often independent from the version of the application they orchestrate. The version of the application is usually referred to as the appVersion.

Whenever you use a --version parameter with a Helm command, it requires the version of the Helm chart.

The appVersion usually has a default value, so you can manage the appVersion of the application by installing a matching version of the Helm chart. We recommend making your choice explicit by specifying the appVersion in the Helm value for it. This value is usually called tag, but its place inside the values.yaml file depends on the exact chart you are using.

Check the Helm Chart Reference to find the Helm value you need to set.

Different versions of a Helm chart are compatible with different appVersions. Learn more about this in our Compatibility Matrix.

Available Helm Charts

Cybus publishes the following Helm charts:

connectware Helm Chart

The connectware Helm chart orchestrates Connectware on Kubernetes. As a complex application with a wide range of use cases, it offers a lot of configuration parameters that you may or may not need to get familiar with depending on your use case. It also includes the connectware-agent and connectware-toolkit Helm charts as optional subcharts.

We recommend getting familiar with it in a test environment before attempting a production deployment.

The connectware Helm chart is located at oci://repo.cybus.io/charts/connectware.

connectware-agent Helm Chart

The connectware-agent Helm chart enables mass-orchestration of Connectware Agents using a configuration approach in which you can define default settings while additionally providing configuration parameters that are exclusive to a single agent (for example, its name).

The chart can be installed as part of the connectware chart by specifying its Helm values inside the connectwareAgent Helm value section of the connectware chart, or it can be installed as a separate Helm installation.

Installing the chart as a separate Helm installation provides the advantage that you can control it independently from the Connectware installation, for example when upgrading software versions.

You can even further increase this level of control by separating agents into different Helm installations of connectware-agent based on how they are logically grouped for you.

The connectware-agent Helm chart is located at oci://repo.cybus.io/charts/connectware-agent.

connectware-toolkit Helm Chart

The connectware-toolkit Helm chart deploys a connectware-toolkit container that ships with CLI tools for debugging Connectware on Kubernetes. These tools are stripped from Connectware images to reduce their security and file system footprint. The connectware-toolkit container also includes custom tools written specifically for Connectware.

You can install the chart as a subchart of the connectware chart by specifying values in the toolkit section of the connectware chart, or as a separate Helm installation.

The connectware-toolkit chart is located at oci://repo.cybus.io/charts/connectware-toolkit.

For more information, see connectware-toolkit Helm Chart.