helm upgrade

Learn to upgrade a release with helm upgrade.

helm upgrade

helm upgrade moves a release to a new chart version or new values; each upgrade creates a new revision. --install installs the release if it doesn't exist; that's why in CI pipelines upgrade --install is used as a single command:

helm upgrade --install magaza ./magaza -n magaza -f prod-values.yaml --set image.tag=1.4.3 --wait
helm history magaza -n magaza
REVISION  STATUS      CHART         APP VERSION  DESCRIPTION
1         superseded  magaza-0.1.0  1.4.2        Install complete
2         deployed    magaza-0.1.0  1.4.2        Upgrade complete

Rolling back and uninstalling

If an upgrade causes problems, helm rollback returns the release to an earlier revision. --atomic rolls back a failed upgrade automatically. helm uninstall deletes all of the release's resources (PVCs usually remain):

helm rollback magaza 1 -n magaza
helm upgrade magaza ./magaza --atomic --timeout 5m
helm uninstall magaza -n magaza

Exercise CI deployment and rollback

Write three commands: upgrade ./magaza as the magaza release in the magaza namespace, installing it if missing, with prod-values.yaml, --set image.tag=1.4.3 and --atomic; show the release history; roll back to revision 1.

Show example solution

helm upgrade --install magaza ./magaza -n magaza -f prod-values.yaml --set image.tag=1.4.3 --atomic
helm history magaza -n magaza
helm rollback magaza 1 -n magaza

Test yourself

During helm upgrade, what happens to values not given with --set?
- All are kept
- The release is deleted
- It errors
- They return to chart defaults; the previous install's --set values aren't kept by themselves
Show answer

They return to chart defaults; the previous install's --set values aren't kept by themselves — --reuse-values keeps the previous values; but keeping all values in a file is safest.

Install the release if missing, otherwise upgrade it.

helm upgrade ____ magaza ./magaza

Show answer

helm upgrade --install magaza ./magaza

Match.

upgrade --install

Install or upgrade
helm history

Revisions
helm rollback

Return to an earlier revision
--atomic

Roll back on failure

Next lesson: Summary - Helm

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