Add basic documentation for Helm deploy

deployment/README.md

@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
 # Human-Connection Nitro \| Deployment Configuration
 
-We deploy with [kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/). In order to deploy your own
-network you have to [install kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl/)
-and get a kubernetes cluster.
+There are a couple different ways we have tested to deploy an instance of Human Connection, with [kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/) and via [Helm](https://helm.sh/docs/). In order to manage your own
+network, you have to [install kubectl](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl/), [install Helm](https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/) (optional, but the preferred way),
+and set up a kubernetes cluster. Since there are many different options to host your cluster, we won't go into specifics here.
 
 We have tested two different kubernetes providers: [Minikube](./minikube/README.md)
 and [Digital Ocean](./digital-ocean/README.md).
 
-Check out the specific documentation for your provider. After that, learn how 
-to apply the specific kubernetes configuration for [Human Connection](./human-connection/README.md).
+Check out the specific documentation for your provider. After that, choose whether you want to go with the recommended deploy option [Helm](./helm/README.md), or use kubernetes to apply the configuration for [Human Connection](./human-connection/README.md).

deployment/helm/human-connection/README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+# Helm installation of Human Connection
+
+Deploying Human Connection with Helm is very straight forward. All you have to
+do is to change certain parameters, like domain names and API keys, then you
+just install our provided Helm chart to your cluster.
+
+## Configuration
+
+You can customize the network with your configuration by changing the `values.yaml`, all variables will be available as
+environment variables in your deployed kubernetes pods.
+
+Probably you want to change this environment variable to your actual domain:
+
+```bash
+# in folder /deployment/helm
+CLIENT_URI: "https://develop.human-connection.org"
+```
+
+If you want to edit secrets, you have to `base64` encode them. See [kubernetes documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/secret/#creating-a-secret-manually). You can also use `helm-secrets`, but we have yet to test it.
+
+```bash
+# example how to base64 a string:
+$ echo -n 'admin' | base64
+YWRtaW4=
+```
+Those secrets get `base64` decoded and are available as environment variables in
+your deployed kubernetes pods.
+
+# https
+If you start with setting up the `https`, when you install the app, it will automatically take care of the certificates for you.
+
+First check that you are using `Helm v3`, this is important since it removes the need for `Tiller`. See, [FAQ](https://helm.sh/docs/faq/#removal-of-tiller)
+
+```bash
+$ helm version
+# output should look similar to this:
+#version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.0.2", GitCommit:"19e47ee3283ae98139d98460de796c1be1e3975f", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.13.5"}
+```
+
+Apply cert-manager CRDs before installing (or it will fail)
+
+```bash
+$ kubectl apply --validate=false -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jetstack/cert-manager/release-0.13.0/deploy/manifests/00-crds.yaml
+```
+
+Next, create the `cert-manager` namespace
+```bash
+$ kubectl create namespace cert-manager
+```
+Add the `jetstack` repo and update
+
+```bash
+$ helm repo add jetstack https://charts.jetstack.io
+$ helm repo update
+```
+
+Install cert-manager
+```bash
+$ helm install cert-manager --namespace cert-manager --version v0.13.0 jetstack/cert-manager
+```
+
+# Deploy
+
+Once you are satisfied with the configuration, you can install the app.
+
+```bash
+# in folder /deployment/helm
+$ helm install develop ./ --namespace human-connection
+```
+Where `develop` is the release name, in this case develop for our develop server and `human-connection` is the namespace, again customize for your needs. The release name can be anything you want. Just keep in mind that it is used in the templates to prepend the `CLIENT_URI` and other places.
+
+This will set up everything you need for the network, including `deployments`, and their `pods`, `services`, `ingress`, `volumes`(PersitentVolumes), `PersistentVolumeClaims`, and even `ClusterIssuers` for https certificates.