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Understanding Helm Hooks: A Guide to Using Hooks in Your Helm Charts
Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, is a powerful tool for managing complex Kubernetes applications. One of its advanced features is Helm hooks. Hooks allow you to intervene at different points of a Helm operation, such as before or after an install, upgrade, or delete. In this article, we’ll dive into the available hooks, explore how to define them in your Helm charts, and provide use cases for each.
What Are Helm Hooks?
Helm hooks are special annotations that can be added to resources in a Helm chart. These hooks trigger specific actions during the release lifecycle of a Helm chart. They enable developers to perform tasks like setting up prerequisites, cleaning up after an operation, or validating a deployment.
Available Helm Hooks and Use Cases
Helm provides several hooks that can be used at different stages of a Helm operation. Here’s a breakdown of the available hooks:
1. pre-install
Execution Timing: After templates are rendered but before any resources are created in Kubernetes.
Use Case: Imagine you need to create a ConfigMap or secret that your application relies on but isn’t part of the main chart. The pre-install
hook can create this…