Tutorial - Deploy SignServer using a Helm chart

Learn how to deploy SignServer in Kubernetes using a Helm chart.

This tutorial shows how to add a SignServer Community Helm repository and configure deployments by customizing the Helm chart configuration file. 

Helm is a Kubernetes package manager for deploying Helm charts. A Helm chart is a set of preconfigured Kubernetes application resources that allows you to install packages and deploy a containerized application using a single command. If you are new to Kubernetes and Helm, you can review the Kubernetes Documentation section and find more information about the Kubernetes package manager in the Helm documentation.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to:

• Add signserver-community-helm as a Helm chart repository

• Deploy SignServer as an ephemeral testing instance in Kubernetes using Helm

• Connect SignServer running in Kubernetes to an external database for data persistence

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you need an existing PKI and this tutorial uses EJBCA. Follow the tutorial Deploy EJBCA using a Helm chart to quickly get started with EJBCA running in a minikube Kubernetes cluster.

Tools installed in the tutorial:

• Helm - the package manager for Kubernetes

• kubectl - the Kubernetes command-line tool that allows you to run commands against Kubernetes clusters

To get started with the Helm chart for deploying SignServer in Kubernetes and customize the installation by creating and editing a custom values file, refer to the Helm Chart for SignServer Community on Keyfactor GitHub.

Next steps

This tutorial has demonstrated how to quickly get started with SignServer running in a minikube Kubernetes cluster using a Helm chart. For more examples of how to customize the deployment for common scenarios, see Keyfactor GitHub.

Next, you can browse our other video tutorials on the Keyfactor Community YouTube channel.

To learn more about our container deployment options, refer to signserver.org.