irembo-backstage-helm-chart

Backstage Helm Chart

This Helm chart deploys Backstage with PostgreSQL as a database backend.

Features

Complete Backstage Application: Deploys the full Backstage application using the official Spotify image
PostgreSQL Database: Uses PostgreSQL subchart for data persistence
Lifecycle Management: Implements Helm hooks for proper application lifecycle
GitOps Ready: Designed to work with ArgoCD in a GitOps workflow
Comprehensive Testing: Includes test templates for quality assurance
Chart Schema Validation: Uses JSON Schema to validate chart values.

Prerequisites

Kubernetes 1.19+
Helm 3.2.0+
PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure (for PostgreSQL persistence)

Installing the Chart

To install the chart with the release name backstage:

helm install backstage ./backstage

Configuration

Parameter	Description	Default
`replicaCount`	Number of replicas for the deployment	`1`
`image.repository`	Backstage image repository	`roadiehq/community-backstage-image`
`image.tag`	Backstage image tag	`latest`
`image.pullPolicy`	Image pull policy	`IfNotPresent`
`service.type`	Kubernetes service type	`ClusterIP`
`service.port`	Kubernetes service port	`80`
`postgresql.enabled`	Enable PostgreSQL deployment	`true`
`postgresql.auth.username`	PostgreSQL username	`backstage`
`postgresql.auth.password`	PostgreSQL password	`backstage123`
`postgresql.auth.database`	PostgreSQL database name	`backstage`

Using Helm Lifecycle Hooks

This chart implements several lifecycle hooks:

Pre-install: Performs database migration setup
Post-upgrade: Clears application caches
Pre-rollback: Creates database snapshots

Implementing Helm Conditional Dependencies

The PostgreSQL dependency can be enabled or disabled using:

postgresql:
  enabled: true  # Set to false to disable PostgreSQL

Dependency Management

This chart uses PostgreSQL as a subchart. Benefits of using subcharts:

Encapsulation: Clean separation of components
Versioning: Each subchart can be versioned independently
Reusability: Subcharts can be reused across different parent charts

ArgoCD Integration

To deploy this chart using ArgoCD, apply the argocd-backstage-app.yaml file:

kubectl apply -f argocd-backstage-app.yaml

Custom Plugin

This chart comes with a custom Helm plugin for checking the health of Backstage:

# Install the plugin
mkdir -p ~/.helm/plugins/backstage
cp helm-backstage-plugin.sh ~/.helm/plugins/backstage/backstage.sh
cp plugin.yaml ~/.helm/plugins/backstage/

# Run the plugin
helm backstage-health backstage irembo

Chart Signing & Provenance

This Helm chart is cryptographically signed with a GPG key and includes a .prov file for provenance verification.

🔐 Verifying the Chart Signature

To verify the chart before installation, follow these steps:

1. Download the public GPG key

Visit the Releases page and download the corresponding public-key-<version>.asc file for your chart release. Example:

curl -LO https://github.com/1moses1/irembo-backstage-helm-chart/releases/download/backstage-v0.1.7/public-key-v0.1.7.asc

2. Import the public key into your GPG keyring

gpg --import public-key-v0.1.7.asc

3. Add and update the Helm repo

helm repo add irembo-backstage-helm https://1moses1.github.io/irembo-backstage-helm-chart/
helm repo update

4. Download the chart and verify

helm pull irembo-backstage-helm/backstage --version 0.1.7 --verify

This command checks the chart’s .prov file against the GPG signature and confirms the integrity and authenticity of the Helm release.

The .tgz, .prov, and .asc files are also available on the GitHub Releases page.

📦 Installing the Chart

After successful verification, you can proceed to install the chart:

helm install my-backstage irembo-backstage-helm/backstage --version 0.1.7

To upgrade an existing release:

helm upgrade my-backstage irembo-backstage-helm/backstage --version 0.1.7

Optional: Customize with values

helm install my-backstage irembo-backstage-helm/backstage --version 0.1.7 -f values.yaml

# Or with specific values
helm install my-backstage irembo-backstage-helm/backstage --version 0.1.7 --set key=value

🔎 Provenance on Artifact Hub

Once indexed, Artifact Hub will display a Verified Provenance badge for this chart version. View it here: Backstage Chart on Artifact Hub

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