Deploying NATS with Helm

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The NATS Helm charts can be used to deploy a StatefulSet of NATS servers using Helm templates which are easy to extend. Using Helm3 you can add the NATS Helm repo as follows:
helm repo add nats https://nats-io.github.io/k8s/helm/charts/
helm install my-nats nats/nats
The ArtifactHub NATS Helm package contains a complete list of configuration options. Some common scenarios are outlined below.
Configuration
Server Image
nats:
  image: nats:2.7.4-alpine
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
Limits
nats:
  # The number of connect attempts against discovered routes.
  connectRetries: 30
​
  # How many seconds should pass before sending a PING
  # to a client that has no activity.
  pingInterval:
​
  # Server settings.
  limits:
    maxConnections:
    maxSubscriptions:
    maxControlLine:
    maxPayload:
​
    writeDeadline:
    maxPending:
    maxPings:
    lameDuckDuration:
​
  # Number of seconds to wait for client connections to end after the pod termination is requested
  terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 60
Logging
Note: It is not recommended to enable trace or debug in production since enabling it will significantly degrade performance.
nats:
  logging:
    debug:
    trace:
    logtime:
    connectErrorReports:
    reconnectErrorReports:
TLS setup for client connections
You can find more on how to set up and troubleshoot TLS connections at: running-a-nats-service/configuration/securing_nats/tls​
nats:
  tls:
    secret:
      name: nats-client-tls
    ca: "ca.crt"
    cert: "tls.crt"
    key: "tls.key"
Clustering
If clustering is enabled, then a 3-node cluster will be set up. More info at: running-a-nats-server/configuration/clustering#nats-server-clustering​
cluster:
  enabled: true
  replicas: 3
​
  tls:
    secret:
      name: nats-server-tls
    ca: "ca.crt"
    cert: "tls.crt"
    key: "tls.key"
Example:
helm install nats nats/nats --set cluster.enabled=true
Leafnodes
Leafnode connections to extend a cluster. More info at: running-a-nats-server/configuration/leafnodes​
leafnodes:
  enabled: true
  remotes:
    - url: "tls://connect.ngs.global:7422"
      # credentials:
      #   secret:
      #     name: leafnode-creds
      #     key: TA.creds
      # tls:
      #   secret:
      #     name: nats-leafnode-tls
      #   ca: "ca.crt"
      #   cert: "tls.crt"
      #   key: "tls.key"
​
  #######################
  #                     #
  #  TLS Configuration  #
  #                     #
  #######################
  # 
  #  # You can find more on how to setup and trouble shoot TLS connnections at:
  # 
  #  # https://docs.nats.io/running-a-nats-server/configuration/securing_nats/tls
  # 
  tls:
    secret:
      name: nats-client-tls
    ca: "ca.crt"
    cert: "tls.crt"
    key: "tls.key"
Websocket Configuration
websocket:
  enabled: true
  port: 443
​
  tls:
    secret:
      name: nats-tls
    cert: "fullchain.pem"
    key: "privkey.pem"
Setting up External Access
Using HostPorts
In case of both external access and advertisements being enabled, an initializer container will be used to gather the public IPs. This container will be required to have enough RBAC policy to be able to make a look up of the public IP of the node where it is running.
For example, to set up external access for a cluster and advertise the public IP to clients:
nats:
  # Toggle whether to enable external access.
  # This binds a host port for clients, gateways and leafnodes.
  externalAccess: true
​
  # Toggle to disable client advertisements (connect_urls),
  # in case of running behind a load balancer (which is not recommended)
  # it might be required to disable advertisements.
  advertise: true
​
  # In case both external access and advertise are enabled
  # then a service account would be required to be able to
  # gather the public IP from a node.
  serviceAccount: "nats-server"
Where the service account named nats-server has the following RBAC policy for example:
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: nats-server
  namespace: default
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: nats-server
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources:
  - nodes
  verbs: ["get"]
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: nats-server-binding
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: nats-server
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: nats-server
  namespace: default
The container image of the initializer can be customized via:
bootconfig:
  image: natsio/nats-boot-config:latest
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
Using LoadBalancers
When using a load balancer for external access, it is recommended to disable no advertise so that internal IPs from the NATS Servers are not advertised to the clients connecting through the load balancer.
nats:
  image: nats:alpine
​
cluster:
  enabled: true
  noAdvertise: true
​
leafnodes:
  enabled: true
  noAdvertise: true
​
natsbox:
  enabled: true
You could then use an L4 enabled load balancer to connect to NATS, for example:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nats-lb
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app.kubernetes.io/name: nats
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 4222
      targetPort: 4222
      name: nats
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 7422
      targetPort: 7422
      name: leafnodes
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 7522
      targetPort: 7522
      name: gateways
Gateways
A supercluster can be formed by pointing to remote gateways. You can find more about gateways in the NATS documentation: running-a-nats-server/configuration/gateways.
gateway:
  enabled: false
  name: 'default'
​
  #############################
  #                           #
  #  List of remote gateways  #
  #                           #
  #############################
  # gateways:
  #   - name: other
  #     url: nats://my-gateway-url:7522
​
  #######################
  #                     #
  #  TLS Configuration  #
  #                     #
  #######################
  # 
  #  # You can find more on how to setup and trouble shoot TLS connnections at:
  # 
  #  # https://docs.nats.io/running-a-nats-server/configuration/securing_nats/tls
  #
  # tls:
  #   secret:
  #     name: nats-client-tls
  #   ca: "ca.crt"
  #   cert: "tls.crt"
  #   key: "tls.key"
Auth setup
Auth with a Memory Resolver
auth:
  enabled: true
​
  # Reference to the Operator JWT.
  operatorjwt:
    configMap:
      name: operator-jwt
      key: KO.jwt
​
  # Public key of the System Account
  systemAccount:
​
  resolver:
    ############################
    #                          #
    # Memory resolver settings #
    #                          #
    ##############################
    type: memory
​
    # 
    # Use a configmap reference which will be mounted
    # into the container.
    # 
    configMap:
      name: nats-accounts
      key: resolver.conf
Auth using an Account Server Resolver
auth:
  enabled: true
​
  # Reference to the Operator JWT.
  operatorjwt:
    configMap:
      name: operator-jwt
      key: KO.jwt
​
  # Public key of the System Account
  systemAccount:
​
  resolver:
    ##########################
    #                        #
    #  URL resolver settings #
    #                        #
    ##########################
    type: URL
    url: "http://nats-account-server:9090/jwt/v1/accounts/"
JetStream
Setting up Memory and File Storage
File Storage is always recommended, since JetStream's RAFT Meta Group will be persisted to file storage. The Storage Class used should be block storage. NFS is not recommended.
nats:
  image: nats:alpine
​
  jetstream:
    enabled: true
​
    memStorage:
      enabled: true
      size: 2Gi
​
    fileStorage:
      enabled: true
      size: 10Gi
      # storageClassName: gp2 # NOTE: AWS setup but customize as needed for your infra.
Using with an existing PersistentVolumeClaim
For example, given the following PersistentVolumeClaim:
---
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
apiVersion: v1
metadata:
  name: nats-js-disk
  annotations:
    volume.beta.kubernetes.io/storage-class: "default"
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 3Gi
You can start JetStream so that one pod is bound to it:
nats:
  image: nats:alpine
​
  jetstream:
    enabled: true
​
    fileStorage:
      enabled: true
      storageDirectory: /data/
      existingClaim: nats-js-disk
      claimStorageSize: 3Gi
Clustering example
nats:
  image: nats:alpine
​
  jetstream:
    enabled: true
​
    memStorage:
      enabled: true
      size: "2Gi"
​
    fileStorage:
      enabled: true
      size: "1Gi"
      storageDirectory: /data/
      storageClassName: default
​
cluster:
  enabled: true
  # Cluster name is required, by default will be release name.
  # name: "nats"
  replicas: 3
Misc
NATS Box
A lightweight container with NATS and NATS Streaming utilities deployed along the cluster to confirm the setup. You can find the image at: https://github.com/nats-io/nats-box​
natsbox:
  enabled: true
  image: nats:alpine
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
​
  # credentials:
  #   secret:
  #     name: nats-sys-creds
  #     key: sys.creds
Configuration Reload sidecar
The NATS config reloader image to use:
reloader:
  enabled: true
  image: natsio/nats-server-config-reloader:latest
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
Prometheus Exporter sidecar
You can toggle whether to start the sidecar to be used to feed metrics to Prometheus:
exporter:
  enabled: true
  image: natsio/prometheus-nats-exporter:latest
  pullPolicy: IfNotPresent
Prometheus operator ServiceMonitor support
You can enable Prometheus operator ServiceMonitor:
exporter:
  # You have to enable exporter first
  enabled: true
  serviceMonitor:
    enabled: true
    ## Specify the namespace where Prometheus Operator is running
    # namespace: monitoring
    # ...
Pod Customizations
Security Context
 # Toggle whether to use setup a Pod Security Context
 # ## ref: https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/security-context/
securityContext:
  fsGroup: 1000
  runAsUser: 1000
  runAsNonRoot: true
Affinity
​https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/assign-pod-node/#affinity-and-anti-affinity​
matchExpressions must be configured according to your setup
affinity:
  nodeAffinity:
    requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
      nodeSelectorTerms:
        - matchExpressions:
            - key: node.kubernetes.io/purpose
              operator: In
              values:
                - nats
  podAntiAffinity:
    requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution:
      - labelSelector:
          matchExpressions:
            - key: app
              operator: In
              values:
                - nats
                - stan
        topologyKey: "kubernetes.io/hostname"
Service topology
​Service topology is disabled by default but can be enabled by setting topologyKeys. For example:
topologyKeys:
  - "kubernetes.io/hostname"
  - "topology.kubernetes.io/zone"
  - "topology.kubernetes.io/region"
CPU/Memory Resource Requests/Limits
Sets the pods CPU/memory requests/limits
nats:
  resources:
    requests:
      cpu: 2
      memory: 4Gi
    limits:
      cpu: 4
      memory: 6Gi
No resources are set by default.
Annotations
​https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/working-with-objects/annotations​
podAnnotations:
  key1 : "value1",
  key2 : "value2"
Name Overrides
Can change the name of the resources as needed with:
nameOverride: "my-nats"
Image Pull Secrets
imagePullSecrets:
- name: myRegistry
Adds this to the StatefulSet:
spec:
  imagePullSecrets:
    - name: myRegistry
Running a NATS service - Previous
NATS and Kubernetes
Creating a Kubernetes Cluster
Last modified 4mo ago