Deploy NGINX Management Suite Using Helm

Follow the steps in the guide to deploy NGINX Management Suite to Kubernetes using a Helm chart.

Overview

This tutorial will walk you through setting up the NGINX Management Suite on a Kubernetes cluster. You will learn how to download and load the Docker images, customize the deployment, enable NGINX Management Suite modules, and install the Helm chart.

What Is a Helm Chart?

Helm charts are packages of pre-configured Kubernetes resources that can be deployed with a single command. Helm charts provide a simple way to define, install, and upgrade complex Kubernetes applications. Each chart comprises a collection of files describing a related set of Kubernetes resources, such as deployments, services, and ingress. Helm charts can be deployed to any Kubernetes cluster, making them a powerful tool for creating, sharing, and managing applications on Kubernetes. Helm charts can also be used to define and manage dependencies between different applications, enabling the creation of complex, multi-tier applications.

Before You Begin

Requirements for NGINX Management Suite

To deploy NGINX Management Suite using a Helm chart, you need the following:

Add Helm Repository

Run the following commands to install the NGINX Management Suite chart from the Helm repository:

helm repo add nginx-stable https://helm.nginx.com/stable
helm repo update

The first command, helm repo add nginx-stable https://helm.nginx.com/stable, adds the nginx-stable repository to your local Helm repository list. This repository contains the Helm charts for deploying NGINX Management Suite.

The second command, helm repo update, updates the local Helm repository list with the newest versions of the charts from the nginx-stable repository. This command ensures you have the most up-to-date version of the charts available for installation.

Get Helm Bundle

Download NGINX Management Suite Helm Bundle

Download the NGINX Management Suite Helm bundle to your virtual machine:

1. On the MyF5 website, select Resources > NGINX Downloads.

2. In the Product Family list, select NGINX.

3. In the Product Line list, select NGINX Instance Manager.

4. Select the following download options:

   • Product version: select the latest or a prior version of NGINX Management Suite that you want to install.

     Module compatibility with Instance Manager

     The NGINX Management Suite modules depend on the platform capabilities of Instance Manager, which is installed with NGINX Management Suite.

     If you intend to enable a module other than Instance Manager, make sure to select compatible product versions when downloading the NGINX Management Suite Helm bundle and module Docker images.

     The following table shows the versions of Instance Manager and compatible modules for each version of the NGINX Management Suite helm chart.

     NMS chart version	Instance Manager	API Connectivity Manager
     1.2.1	2.8.0	1.4.1
     1.2.0	2.8.0	1.4.0
     1.1.2	2.7.0	1.4.1
     1.1.1	2.7.0	1.4.0
     1.1.0	2.7.0	1.3.1
     1.0.0	2.6.0	1.3.1

   • Linux distribution: select helmchart.

   • Distribution Version: defaults to the helmchart version corresponding to the Product Version.

   • Architecture: defaults to k8.

5. In the Download Files section, locate and download the nms-helm-<version>.tar.gz file.

Extract Helm Bundle

The nms-helm-<version>.tar.gz file includes several Docker container images and the Helm package tarball. To extract these files, take the following steps:

1. Make a directory to extract the package into:

   mkdir -p <directory name>
   

2. Extract the package into the target directory:

   tar -xzf nms-helm-<version>.tar.gz -C <directory name>
   

   
   

   The extracted files include the following NGINX Management Suite Docker images and Helm package:

   Docker images

   • nms-apigw-<version>.tar.gz
   • nms-core-<version>.tar.gz
   • nms-dpm-<version>.tar.gz
   • nms-ingestion-<version>.tar.gz
   • nms-integrations-<version>.tar.gz

   Helm package

   • nms-hybrid-<version>.tgz

Prepare Docker Images

Load Docker Images

1. Change to the directory where you extracted the Docker images:

   cd <directory name>
   

2. Load the NGINX Management Suite Docker images:

   docker load -i nms-apigw-<version>.tar.gz
   docker load -i nms-core-<version>.tar.gz
   docker load -i nms-ingestion-<version>.tar.gz
   docker load -i nms-dpm-<version>.tar.gz
   docker load -i nms-integrations-<version>.tar.gz
   

   This set of commands loads the Docker images from the specified tar.gz archives. Replace <version> with the product version you specified when downloading the Helm bundle.

   The output looks similar to the following:

   $ docker load -i nms-apigw-<version>.tar.gz
   1b5933fe4b5: Loading layer [==================================================>]  5.796MB/5.796MB
   fbe0fc9bcf95: Loading layer [==================================================>]  17.86MB/17.86MB
   ...
   112ae1f604e0: Loading layer [==================================================>]   67.8MB/67.8MB
   4b6a693b90f4: Loading layer [==================================================>]  3.072kB/3.072kB
   Loaded image: nms-apigw:2.6.0
   

   Important:
   

   For the output of each docker load command, note the loaded image’s name and tag. You’ll need to reference these images and tags in the next section when pushing the images to your private registry.

   For example, in the output directly above, nms-apigw is the image name and 2.6.0 is the tag. The tag 2.6.0 could differ depending on the product version you downloaded from MyF5.

Push Images to Private Registry

Before you begin:
To complete this step, you need an externally-accessible private Docker registry to push the container images to.

1. Log in to your private registry:

   docker login <my-docker-registry>
   

   • Replace <my-docker-registry> with your private Docker registry.

2. Tag the NGINX Management Suite images with the version you noted when loading the Docker images above.

   docker tag nms-apigw:<version> <my-docker-registry>/nms-apigw:<version>
   docker tag nms-core:<version> <my-docker-registry>/nms-core:<version>
   docker tag nms-dpm:<version> <my-docker-registry>/nms-dpm:<version>
   docker tag nms-ingestion:<version> <my-docker-registry>/nms-ingestion:<version>
   docker tag nms-integrations:<version> <my-docker-registry>/nms-integrations:<version>
   

   These commands create labels, known as tags, for each of the specified Docker images (such as nms-apigw), assigning them to the specified registry (<my-docker-registry>) with the specified version number (<version>). This allows them to be easily identified and retrieved from the registry in the future.

   • Replace <my-docker-registry> with your private Docker registry.

   • Replace <version> with the tag you noted when loading the Docker images above.

3. Push the NGINX Management Suite images to your private registry:

   docker push <my-docker-registry>/nms-apigw:<version>
   docker push <my-docker-registry>/nms-core:<version>
   docker push <my-docker-registry>/nms-dpm:<version>
   docker push <my-docker-registry>/nms-ingestion:<version>
   docker push <my-docker-registry>/nms-integrations:<version>
   

   This set of commands pushes Docker images for nms-apigw, nms-core, nms-dpm, nms-ingestion and nms-integrations to your private registry (<my-docker-registry>) with a specified version tag (<version>)

   • Replace <my-docker-registry> with your private Docker registry.

   • Replace <version> with the tag you noted when loading the Docker images above.

Configure Chart to Pull from Private Docker Registry

A Helm values.yaml file is a configuration file you can use to customize the installation of a Helm chart without actually editing the chart itself, allowing for faster and more efficient deployments. Values can be used to specify different image repositories and tags, set environment variables, configure resource requests and limits, and more.

1. Create a values.yaml file similar to the following example. This file is used to customize the configuration of the NGINX Management Suite chart located in the nginx-stable Helm repository that you added above.

   # values.yaml
   nms-hybrid:
       imagePullSecrets:
           - name: regcred
       apigw:
           image:
               repository: <my-docker-registry>/apigw
               tag: <version>
       core:
           image:
               repository: <my-docker-registry>/core
               tag: <version>
       dpm:
           image:
               repository: <my-docker-registry>/dpm
               tag: <version>
       ingestion:
           image:
               repository: <my-docker-registry>/ingestion
               tag: <version>
       integrations:
           image:
               repository: <my-docker-registry>/integrations
               tag: <version>
   

   • Replace <my-docker-registry> with your private Docker registry.
   • Replace <version> with the tag you used when pushing the images to your private registry.
   • In the imagePullSecrets section, add the credentials for your private Docker registry.

   This values.yaml file specifies the Docker images to be used for the apigw, core, dpm, ingestion, and integrations components, including the repository (<my-docker-registry>) and tag (version) of each image. It also specifies that a secret called regcred should be used for image pulls.

   See Also:
   For instructions on creating a secret, see the Kubernetes topic Pull an Image from a Private Registry.

2. Save and close the values.yaml file.

Common Helm Chart Configurations

Choose from the following options to view frequently used configurations for the NGINX Management Suite. To apply one of these configurations, modify the values.yaml file accordingly.

See Also:
Refer to the Configurable Helm Settings reference guide for the complete list of configurable parameters and default values used by the NGINX Management Suite and modules when installing from a Helm chart.

Enable NGINX Management Suite Modules

When deploying NGINX Management Suite, you can enable the following modules at the same time. Select a tab for the instructions.

Note:
Instance Manager is included with NGINX Manager suite by default. If you’re only installing Instance Manager, you can skip to the next section to continue with the installation.

• API Connectivity Manager

Install the Chart

Run the helm install command to install NGINX Management Suite from the Helm chart:

helm install -n nms --set nms-hybrid.adminPasswordHash=$(openssl passwd -6 'YourPassword123#') nms nginx-stable/nms --create-namespace -f <path-to-your-values.yaml>

• Replace <path-to-your-values.yaml> with the path to the values.yaml file you created.
• Replace “YourPassword123#” with a secure password that contains a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters.

This command performs a Helm install of the nginx-stable/nms package into a namespace called nms, setting the nms-hybrid.adminPasswordHash to a hashed value of “YourPassword123#”. The values.yaml file located at <path-to-your-values.yaml> is used to provide additional configuration parameters for the installation. The --create-namespace flag is used to ensure that the specified namespace (in this case nms) is created if it does not already exist.

Important:
Make sure to copy and save the password for future reference. Only the encrypted password is stored in Kubernetes. There’s no way to recover or reset a lost password.

Validate Deployment

Run the following command to check the status of the deployment:

helm -n nms status nms

This helm command shows the status of the app called nms in the namespace nms. The command displays the release name, chart version, last deployment time, and current status.

The status should be STATUS: deployed if the deployment was successful.

Access Web Interface

You can access the NGINX Management Suite web interface using the external IP address for the API Gateway.

1. To look up the external IP address for the API Gateway, run the following command:

   kubectl -n nms get svc apigw
   

   This kubectl command retrieves the service named apigw from the namespace nms. It outputs the details of the service, such as its type, port, cluster and external IP addresses.

   The output looks similar to the following example. Note the value in the EXTERNAL-IP column.

   NAME    TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)         AGE
   apigw   LoadBalancer   10.100.153.15   localhost     443:30414/TCP   2m1s
   

2. Using the value from the previous step, go to https://<apigw-EXTERNAL-IP>:443/ui.

   For example, https://localhost:443/ui.

Upgrade NGINX Management Suite

To upgrade NGINX Management Suite, take the following steps:

1. Repeat the steps above to:

   • Download and extract a newer version of NGINX Management Suite Helm Bundle.
   • Load and push the Docker images to your private registry.
   • Configure the chart to pull from your private Docker registry.

2. Run the following command to upgrade the NGINX Management Suite deployment:

   helm upgrade -n nms --set nms-hybrid.adminPasswordHash=$(openssl passwd -6 'YourPassword123#') nms nginx-stable/nms -f <path-to-your-values.yaml>
   

   This command upgrades an existing Helm chart deployment named nms with a new version of the chart located in the nginx-stable/nms repository. It also sets the value of the nms-hybrid.adminPasswordHash to the hashed version of the provided password and uses a values.yaml file located at the provided path.

3. (Instance Manager 2.6) If you’re upgrading to Instance Manager 2.6.0, run these additional commands:

   kubectl -n nms patch deployment core -p '{"spec": {"strategy": {"type": "Recreate", "rollingUpdate": null}}}'
   kubectl -n nms patch deployment dpm -p '{"spec": {"strategy": {"type": "Recreate", "rollingUpdate": null}}}'
   kubectl -n nms patch deployment integrations -p '{"spec": {"strategy": {"type": "Recreate", "rollingUpdate": null}}}'
   

   These kubectl commands patch the deployment of three applications (core, dpm, and integrations) in the namespace nms. Specifically, these commands are setting the deployment strategy for each of the applications to “Recreate” and disabling the rolling update strategy, which allows the deployment to be recreated from scratch instead of being updated incrementally.

Uninstall NGINX Management Suite

To uninstall NGINX Management Suite from Kubernetes, run the following command:

helm uninstall --namespace nms nms

This helm command uninstalls the app named nms from the namespace nms. It deletes all of the Kubernetes resources associated with the app, including any deployments, pods, services, and configmaps.

Troubleshooting

For help with common issues and suggested solutions and workarounds, refer to the NGINX Management Suite Troubleshooting Guide.

For guidance on how to create a support package containing system and service details to share with NGINX Customer Support, refer to the guide Create a Support Package from a Helm Installation.

What’s Next

• License Instance Manager
• Install and Configure NGINX Agent
• Set Up Authentication for Instance Manager