Adding a Sasquatch subchart

Sasquatch subcharts are applications or application resources deployed in the same namespace as Sasquatch. Chronograf, Kafdrop and Strimzi Kafka resources are examples of Sasquatch subcharts.

Subcharts can be either external charts or local charts, and they are added as dependencies of the Sasquatch parent chart in the Charts.yaml file.

External Charts vs. Local Subcharts

Ideally, a Sasquatch subchart should deploy a ready-to-use external Helm chart. However, there are exceptions when local charts are necessary:

• Customized Charts: For instance, the InfluxDB Enterprise Helm chart required significant customization and could not be deployed as a standard external chart in Sasquatch.

• Unavailable Charts: Certain Helm charts, like the one for kafdrop, may not be available in a public repository and must be added locally.

Adding External Charts

External charts are sourced from repositories and referenced using their repository URL. For example, the following snippet adds the Chronograf external chart as a dependency in the Charts.yaml file:

dependencies:
  - name: chronograf
    condition: chronograf.enabled
    version: 1.2.6
    repository: https://helm.influxdata.com/

The condition key controls whether the subchart is deployed in a particular environment, allowing you to enable or disable specific charts as needed.

Adding Local Subcharts

Local charts are placed under the sasquatch/charts directory. For example, the following snippet adds the kafdrop local chart as a dependency:

dependencies:
  - name: kafdrop
    condition: kafdrop.enabled
    version: 1.0.0

Using Subcharts for Application Resources

Local subcharts can be used to provide application resources. For example, you can define a custom ingress resource for an application by creating a local subchart with the necessary Kubernetes manifests. This allows you to manage application-specific configurations within the Sasquatch chart structure while maintaining modularity. Another example are Phalanx applications that depend on Sasquatch (such as the control-system or tap) they use local subcharts to define Kafka topics and user resources required for those applications.