Deploy Redpanda on Kubernetes

This topic describes how to use the Redpanda Helm chart to deploy a Redpanda cluster on Kubernetes.

Prerequisites

Make sure that your Kubernetes cluster meets the requirements.

Deploy Redpanda

1. Add the chart repository to your Helm installation:

   helm repo add redpanda https://charts.redpanda.com/

2. Update the repository index:

   helm repo update

3. Install the Redpanda Helm chart:

   helm install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
     --namespace redpanda \
     --create-namespace

4. Wait for the Redpanda cluster to be ready:

   kubectl -n redpanda rollout status statefulset redpanda --watch

   When the Redpanda cluster is ready, the output should look similar to the following:

   statefulset rolling update complete 3 pods at revision redpanda-8654f645b4...

The helm install command always pulls the latest version of the chart. To list the current latest version of the Redpanda Helm chart, use the helm search command:

helm search repo redpanda

Example output

NAME                CHART VERSION   APP VERSION DESCRIPTION                                      
redpanda/redpanda   2.4.0           v22.3.9     Redpanda is the real-time engine for modern apps.
redpanda/console    0.3.3           v2.0.2      Helm chart to deploy Redpanda Console.

The Redpanda Helm chart is the top result (redpanda/redpanda).

Customize the deployment

Configuring the Redpanda Helm chart allows you to customize your Redpanda cluster deployment. For example, you can do the following:

• Specify which components are deployed, such as the number of Redpanda brokers.

• Configure the deployed components such as PersistentVolumes.

The Redpanda Helm chart is configured in the values.yaml file. To customize your deployment, you can override the default values in your own YAML file with the --values option or in the command line with the --set option.

--values

The --values option allows you to keep your overrides in one or more YAML files.

For example, you can create a YAML file and add your overrides to it.

For example, you might override the storage.persistentVolume.storageClass configuration in a file called storage-class.yaml:

storage:
  persistentVolume:
    storageClass: "my-storage-class"

The helm command to apply this configuration override looks something like the following:

helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace redpanda --create-namespace \
    --values storage-class.yaml

The values in your YAML file override their counterparts in the Helm chart’s values.yaml file. Any values that weren’t overridden keep their defaults.

--set

The --set option allows you to specify configuration overrides in the command line.

For example, you might override the storage.persistentVolume.storageClass configuration like so:

helm upgrade --install redpanda redpanda/redpanda \
    --namespace redpanda --create-namespace \
    --set storage.persistentVolume.storageClass=my-storage-class

The values in the --set options override their counterparts in the Helm chart’s values.yaml file. Any values that weren’t overridden keep their defaults.

Next steps

See the Manage Kubernetes topics to learn how to customize the deployment to meet your needs.