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Helm Deployment

Helm Deployment

Section titled “Helm Deployment”

Chart: deploy/helm/dbward/

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • Helm 3
  • Kubernetes cluster with kubectl access
  • A PostgreSQL or MySQL database accessible from the cluster

Install (two-phase)

Section titled “Install (two-phase)”

The agent needs a token generated by the server on first startup. Deploy in two phases:

Phase 1: Server only

Section titled “Phase 1: Server only”
Terminal window
helm install dbward deploy/helm/dbward/ \
  --set agent.enabled=false \
  --set secrets.databaseUrl="postgres://user:pass@db-host:5432/app"

Wait for the server to become ready:

Terminal window
kubectl rollout status deploy/dbward-server

Phase 2: Get tokens and enable agent

Section titled “Phase 2: Get tokens and enable agent”
Terminal window
# Get the agent token
kubectl exec deploy/dbward-server -- cat /data/agent-token
Terminal window
helm upgrade dbward deploy/helm/dbward/ \
  --set agent.enabled=true \
  --set secrets.agentToken="dbw_..." \
  --set secrets.databaseUrl="postgres://user:pass@db-host:5432/app"

Access the server

Section titled “Access the server”

The chart creates a ClusterIP Service. To access it:

Terminal window
kubectl port-forward svc/dbward-server 3000:3000

For production, add an Ingress resource or change the Service type in a values override.

Configuration (values.yaml)

Section titled “Configuration (values.yaml)”

Key settings:

server:
  image:
    repository: ghcr.io/dbward-dev/dbward-server
    tag: ""  # defaults to Chart.appVersion
  port: 3000
  persistence:
    enabled: true
    size: 1Gi
  config: |
    state_dir = "/data"
    [auth]
    mode = "token"
    [[databases]]
    name = "app"
    environments = ["production"]


agent:
  enabled: true
  image:
    repository: ghcr.io/dbward-dev/dbward-agent
    tag: ""
  replicas: 1
  config: |
    agent_id = "prod-agent"
    poll_interval_ms = 1000
    [server]
    url = "http://dbward-server:3000"
    agent_token = "${DBWARD_AGENT_TOKEN}"
    [databases.app.production]
    url = "${DATABASE_URL}"


secrets:
  create: true
  agentToken: ""
  databaseUrl: ""


networkPolicy:
  enabled: true

For full configuration details, see server.md (server.toml options) and agent.md (agent.toml options).

Why HTTP? The agent URL http://dbward-server:3000 uses a bare hostname (no dots), which is recognized as cluster-internal communication. HTTPS is not required. If you use an external FQDN, configure HTTPS or set allow_insecure = true.

Multi-agent

Section titled “Multi-agent”

The chart models a single agent configuration. For multiple databases or environments with different capabilities:

  • Deploy a second release: helm install dbward-staging deploy/helm/dbward/ --set ...
  • Or extend values.yaml with custom templates

Upgrade

Section titled “Upgrade”
Terminal window
helm upgrade dbward deploy/helm/dbward/ \
  --set server.image.tag=v0.1.3 \
  --set agent.image.tag=v0.1.3

The server applies SQLite migrations automatically on startup.

Uninstall

Section titled “Uninstall”
Terminal window
helm uninstall dbward

Note: The PVC (dbward-server-data) is not deleted by helm uninstall. Delete it manually if you want to remove all state.

Network Policy

Section titled “Network Policy”

The chart includes a NetworkPolicy when networkPolicy.enabled=true. For details on what traffic is allowed, see Kubernetes deployment — Network Policy.

See also

Section titled “See also”