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Codemarks

Local Kubernetes

Local Kubernetes Development with Podman, Kind, and Helm

I’ll walk you through setting up a complete local development environment using Podman, Kind, and Helm to build, manage, and deploy containerized applications.

1. Setting Up Podman & Podman Desktop

Install Podman:

  • On Fedora/RHEL: sudo dnf install podman
  • On Ubuntu: sudo apt install podman
  • On macOS: brew install podman

Install Podman Desktop: Download from podman-desktop.io or install via package manager:

  • macOS: brew install podman-desktop
  • Linux: Download the AppImage from the official website

Initialize Podman Machine (macOS/Windows):

Terminal window
podman machine init
podman machine start

Verify Installation:

Terminal window
podman info

2. Setting Up Kind (Kubernetes in Docker/Podman)

Install Kind:

Terminal window
# Using Go
go install sigs.k8s.io/kind@latest


# Using package managers
# macOS
brew install kind


# Linux
curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/latest/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/

Configure Podman for Kind: Kind uses the Docker socket by default. To use Podman:

Terminal window
export KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER=podman

Create a Kind Cluster:

Terminal window
kind create cluster --name my-cluster

Verify Cluster:

Terminal window
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-my-cluster

3. Install Helm

Terminal window
# macOS
brew install helm


# Linux
curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

4. Building Images with Podman

Create a Simple Application: Create a Dockerfile for your application:

FROM nginx:alpine
COPY index.html /usr/share/nginx/html/

Create a simple index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>
  <h1>Hello from Podman and Kind!</h1>
</body>
</html>

Build the Image:

Terminal window
podman build -t my-app:latest .

5. Loading Images into Kind

Since Kind runs as a separate environment, you need to load your local images into it:

Terminal window
# Save the image to a tar file
podman save my-app:latest -o my-app.tar


# Load the image into Kind
kind load image-archive my-app.tar --name my-cluster

Alternatively, you can push to a registry that Kind can access.

6. Creating a Helm Chart

Initialize a Helm Chart:

Terminal window
helm create my-app

Modify the Helm Chart: Edit my-app/values.yaml to use your image:

image:
  repository: my-app
  tag: latest
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent

Install the Helm Chart:

Terminal window
helm install my-release ./my-app

7. Complete Workflow Example

Here’s a complete workflow script that ties everything together:

Terminal window
# Build the image
podman build -t my-app:latest .


# Save the image
podman save my-app:latest -o my-app.tar


# Load the image into Kind
kind load image-archive my-app.tar --name my-cluster


# Deploy with Helm
helm install my-release ./my-app

8. Accessing Your Application

After deployment, access your application:

Terminal window
kubectl port-forward svc/my-release-my-app 8080:80

Then visit http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

9. Updating Your Application

When you make changes:

Terminal window
# Rebuild image
podman build -t my-app:latest .


# Save and load into Kind
podman save my-app:latest -o my-app.tar
kind load image-archive my-app.tar --name my-cluster


# Upgrade Helm release
helm upgrade my-release ./my-app

Would you like me to elaborate on any specific part of this workflow?