Step 4: Add the Chart Archive to a Release

Next, add the Helm chart archive to a new release for the application in the Replicated vendor platform.

The purpose of this step is to configure a release that supports installation with KOTS. Additionally, this step defines a user-facing application configuration page that displays in the KOTS Admin Console during installation where users can set their own Grafana login credentials.

To create a release:

1. In the grafana directory, create a subdirectory named manifests:

   mkdir manifests

   You will add the files required to support installation with Replicated KOTS to this subdirectory.

2. Move the Helm chart archive that you created to manifests:

   mv grafana-9.6.5.tgz manifests

3. In the manifests directory, create the following YAML files to configure the release:

   cd manifests

   touch kots-app.yaml k8s-app.yaml kots-config.yaml grafana.yaml

4. In each file, paste the corresponding YAML provided in the tabs below:

   kots-app.yaml

   Description

   The KOTS Application custom resource enables features in the Admin Console such as branding, release notes, port forwarding, dashboard buttons, application status indicators, and custom graphs.

   The YAML below provides a name for the application to display in the Admin Console, adds a custom status informer that displays the status of the grafana Deployment resource in the Admin Console dashboard, adds a custom application icon, and creates a port forward so that the user can open the Grafana application in a browser.

   YAML

   apiVersion: kots.io/v1beta1
   kind: Application
   metadata:
     name: grafana
   spec:
     title: Grafana
     statusInformers:
       - deployment/grafana
     ports:
       - serviceName: "grafana"
         servicePort: 3000
         localPort: 8888
         applicationUrl: "http://grafana"
     icon: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cncf/artwork/master/projects/kubernetes/icon/color/kubernetes-icon-color.png

   k8s-app.yaml

   Description

   The Kubernetes Application custom resource supports functionality such as including buttons and links on the Admin Console dashboard. The YAML below adds an Open App button to the Admin Console dashboard that opens the application using the port forward configured in the KOTS Application custom resource.

   YAML

   apiVersion: app.k8s.io/v1beta1
   kind: Application
   metadata:
     name: "grafana"
   spec:
     descriptor:
       links:
         - description: Open App
           # needs to match applicationUrl in kots-app.yaml
           url: "http://grafana"

   kots-config.yaml

   Description

   The Config custom resource specifies a user-facing configuration page in the Admin Console designed for collecting application configuration from users. The YAML below creates "Admin User" and "Admin Password" fields that will be shown to the user on the configuration page during installation. These fields will be used to set the login credentials for Grafana.

   YAML

     apiVersion: kots.io/v1beta1
     kind: Config
     metadata:
       name: grafana-config
     spec:
       groups:
         - name: grafana
           title: Grafana
           description: Grafana Configuration
           items:
             - name: admin_user
               title: Admin User
               type: text
               default: 'admin'
             - name: admin_password
               title: Admin Password
               type: password
               default: 'admin'

   grafana.yaml

   Description

   The KOTS HelmChart custom resource provides instructions to KOTS about how to deploy the Helm chart.

   The HelmChart custom resource below contains a values key, which creates a mapping to the Grafana values.yaml file. In this case, the values.admin.user and values.admin.password fields map to admin.user and admin.password in the Grafana values.yaml file.

   During installation, KOTS renders the ConfigOption template functions in the values.admin.user and values.admin.password fields and then sets the corresponding Grafana values accordingly.

   YAML

   apiVersion: kots.io/v1beta2
   kind: HelmChart
   metadata:
     name: grafana
   spec:
     # chart identifies a matching chart from a .tgz
     chart:
       name: grafana
       chartVersion: 9.6.5
     values:
       admin:
         user: "repl{{ ConfigOption `admin_user`}}"
         password: "repl{{ ConfigOption `admin_password`}}"

5. From the manifests directory, lint the YAML files to confirm that there are no errors:

   replicated release lint --yaml-dir .

   --yaml-dir is the path to the directory that contains the Helm chart archive and the manifest files required by KOTS.

   Example output:

   RULE                               TYPE    FILENAME        LINE  MESSAGE                                                     
   preflight-spec                     warn                          Missing preflight spec
   troubleshoot-spec                  warn                          Missing troubleshoot spec
   nonexistent-status-informer-object warn    kots-app.yaml   8     Status informer points to a nonexistent kubernetes object. If this is a Helm resource, this warning can be ignored.
   note

   The output includes warning messages that list missing manifest files. These manifests control additional KOTS functionality and can be ignored for the purpose of this tutorial. The nonexistent-status-informer-object warning can also be ignored because the grafana Deployment resource that was added as a status informer in the KOTS Application custom resource is a Helm resource.

6. Create a release:

   replicated release create --yaml-dir .

   Example output:

   • Reading manifests from . ✓
   • Creating Release ✓
     • SEQUENCE: 1

7. Log in to the Vendor Portal and go to Releases.

   The release that you created is listed under All releases.

   

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8. Click Edit release to view the files in the release.

   In the release editor, you can see the manifest files that you created, the Helm chart .tgz archive, and the Chart.yaml and values.yaml files for the Grafana Helm chart. You can also see the same warning messages that were displayed in the CLI output.

   

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9. At the top of the page, click Promote.

10. In the dialog, for Which channels you would like to promote this release to?, select Unstable. Unstable is a default channel that is intended for use with internal testing. Click Promote.

    

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Next Step

Create a customer with the KOTS entitlement so that you can install the release in your cluster using Replicated KOTS. See Step 5: Create a KOTS-Enabled Customer.

Related Topics

• About Channels and Releases
• Configuring the HelmChart Custom Resource
• Config Custom Resource
• Manipulating Helm Chart Values with KOTS