Prerequisites Before installing any Douban Helm Charts, ensure your environment meets these requirements:
Required Components
Kubernetes Cluster Version 1.19 or higher running and accessible
Helm Version 3.0 or higher installed locally
kubectl Configured to communicate with your cluster
Cluster Permissions Sufficient RBAC permissions to create resources
Verify Your Setup Check your Kubernetes cluster:
kubectl cluster-info kubectl version --short
Check your Helm installation:
Expected output:
version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.14.0", GitCommit:"...", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.21.5"}
Helm v2 is no longer supported. Ensure you’re using Helm v3 or later.
Installing Helm If you don’t have Helm installed, follow these platform-specific instructions:
Using Homebrew: Verify installation: Using the installation script: curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash
Or using package managers: curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https --yes echo "deb [arch=$( dpkg --print-architecture ) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install helm
Using Chocolatey: choco install kubernetes - helm
Using Scoop: Or download the binary from GitHub Releases . Repository Setup Adding the Douban Repository Add the Douban Helm Charts repository:
helm repo add douban https://douban.github.io/charts/
Successful output:
"douban" has been added to your repositories
Updating Repository Cache Update your local cache to fetch the latest chart versions:
Output:
Hang tight while we grab the latest from your chart repositories... ...Successfully got an update from the "douban" chart repository Update Complete. Happy Helming!
Run helm repo update regularly to ensure you have access to the latest chart versions.
Verifying Repository Configuration List all configured repositories:
Expected output:
NAME URL douban https://douban.github.io/charts/
Browsing Available Charts List All Douban Charts Output:
NAME CHART VERSION APP VERSION DESCRIPTION douban/aliyun-exporter 0.1.0 1.0.0 Aliyun CloudMonitor exporter for Prometheus douban/helpdesk 0.3.3 0.2.0 A Helm chart for Douban Helpdesk douban/nginx 0.4.1 1.16.0 A Helm chart for Kubernetes douban/overlord 0.1.0 1.0.0 Distributed caching service ...
Search for Specific Charts Search by keyword:
helm search repo douban/nginx
Search across all versions:
helm search repo douban/nginx --versions
View chart metadata:
helm show chart douban/nginx
View default values:
helm show values douban/nginx
View full chart information:
helm show all douban/nginx
Installing Charts Basic Installation Install a chart with default values:
helm install [RELEASE_NAME] douban/[CHART_NAME]
Example:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx
Installation with Custom Values Using a Values File Create a custom values file custom-values.yaml:
replicaCount : 3 image : repository : nginx tag : "1.25.0" pullPolicy : IfNotPresent resources : limits : cpu : 200m memory : 256Mi requests : cpu : 100m memory : 128Mi service : type : ClusterIP port : 80 autoscaling : enabled : true minReplicas : 2 maxReplicas : 10 targetCPUUtilizationPercentage : 70
Install with custom values:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx -f custom-values.yaml
Using —set Flags Override specific values inline:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx \ --set replicaCount= 3 \ --set image.tag= 1.25.0 \ --set resources.requests.memory=128Mi
Combining Multiple Values Files helm install my-nginx douban/nginx \ -f base-values.yaml \ -f production-values.yaml \ --set service.type=LoadBalancer
Values are merged in order. Later values override earlier ones: file1 < file2 < —set flags
Installation Options Install in a Specific Namespace helm install my-nginx douban/nginx --namespace production --create-namespace
Dry Run (Preview Installation) See what would be installed without actually installing:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx --dry-run --debug
Wait for Resources to be Ready helm install my-nginx douban/nginx --wait --timeout 5m
Generate Kubernetes Manifests Generate YAML without installing:
helm template my-nginx douban/nginx > nginx-manifests.yaml
Common Installation Patterns Pattern 1: Web Application with Ingress replicaCount : 2 image : repository : nginx tag : "1.25.0" ingress : enabled : true className : nginx annotations : cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer : letsencrypt-prod hosts : - host : app.example.com paths : - path : / pathType : Prefix tls : - secretName : app-tls hosts : - app.example.com resources : limits : cpu : 500m memory : 512Mi requests : cpu : 250m memory : 256Mi
helm install web-app douban/nginx -f web-app-values.yaml
Pattern 2: Application with Monitoring monitored-app-values.yaml
replicaCount : 3 serviceMonitor : enabled : true prometheusRule : enabled : true additionalLabels : release : prometheus-operator rules : - alert : HighErrorRate expr : rate(http_requests_total{status=~"5.."}[5m]) > 0.05 annotations : summary : High HTTP error rate detected
helm install monitored-app douban/nginx -f monitored-app-values.yaml
Pattern 3: High-Availability Deployment replicaCount : 5 autoscaling : enabled : true minReplicas : 3 maxReplicas : 20 targetCPUUtilizationPercentage : 60 targetMemoryUtilizationPercentage : 80 affinity : podAntiAffinity : preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution : - weight : 100 podAffinityTerm : labelSelector : matchExpressions : - key : app.kubernetes.io/name operator : In values : - nginx topologyKey : kubernetes.io/hostname resources : limits : cpu : 1000m memory : 1Gi requests : cpu : 500m memory : 512Mi
helm install ha-app douban/nginx -f ha-values.yaml
Upgrading Charts Basic Upgrade Upgrade to the latest chart version:
helm upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx
Upgrade with New Values helm upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx -f updated-values.yaml
Upgrade to Specific Chart Version helm upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx --version 0.4.1
Upgrade with Rollback on Failure helm upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx --atomic --timeout 5m
The --atomic flag automatically rolls back changes if the upgrade fails.
Reuse Values from Previous Release helm upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx --reuse-values
View Upgrade Diff Before upgrading, see what would change:
helm diff upgrade my-nginx douban/nginx -f new-values.yaml
Managing Releases List Releases List all releases in current namespace:
List releases across all namespaces:
helm list --all-namespaces
Include uninstalled and failed releases:
View Release Status View Release History Output:
REVISION UPDATED STATUS CHART APP VERSION DESCRIPTION 1 Thu Mar 5 10:00:00 2026 superseded nginx-0.4.0 1.16.0 Install complete 2 Thu Mar 5 11:00:00 2026 deployed nginx-0.4.1 1.16.0 Upgrade complete
Get Release Values View values used in current release:
View all values (including defaults):
helm get values my-nginx --all
Get Release Manifest View rendered Kubernetes manifests:
helm get manifest my-nginx
Rolling Back Releases Rollback to Previous Revision Rollback to Specific Revision Rollback with Wait helm rollback my-nginx --wait --timeout 5m
Uninstalling Charts Basic Uninstall Uninstall with Release History Retention Keep release history for potential rollback:
helm uninstall my-nginx --keep-history
Uninstall from Specific Namespace helm uninstall my-nginx --namespace production
Advanced Topics Using Chart Dependencies Some charts may have dependencies. Install with dependency update:
helm dependency update douban/helpdesk helm install my-helpdesk douban/helpdesk
Working with Chart Repositories Remove a repository:
Re-add after removal:
helm repo add douban https://douban.github.io/charts/
Debugging Failed Installations Enable debug output:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx --debug
View pod logs:
kubectl logs -l app.kubernetes.io/name=nginx
Describe failing resources:
kubectl describe pod -l app.kubernetes.io/name=nginx
Best Practices
Version Pinning Always specify chart versions in production: helm install my-app douban/nginx --version 0.4.1
Values Management Use values files for configuration management and version control: helm install my-app douban/nginx -f prod-values.yaml
Dry Run Testing Always test before applying to production: helm upgrade my-app douban/nginx --dry-run --debug
Namespace Isolation Use separate namespaces for different environments: helm install my-app douban/nginx -n production
Resource Management Always set resource limits and requests:
resources : limits : cpu : 500m memory : 512Mi requests : cpu : 250m memory : 256Mi
Monitoring Integration Enable monitoring for production deployments:
serviceMonitor : enabled : true prometheusRule : enabled : true
Troubleshooting Chart Not Found helm repo update helm search repo douban
Installation Timeout Increase timeout:
helm install my-nginx douban/nginx --timeout 10m
Resource Conflicts Check existing resources:
kubectl get all -l app.kubernetes.io/name=nginx
Permission Denied Verify RBAC permissions:
kubectl auth can-i create deployments kubectl auth can-i create services
Next Steps
Chart Documentation Explore detailed documentation for each available chart
Configuration Reference Learn about advanced configuration options