HELM Deployment Guide⚓

This guide provides comprehensive instructions for deploying the Locust Kubernetes Operator using its official Helm chart.

Quick Start⚓

For experienced users, here are the essential commands to get the operator running:

helm repo add locust-k8s-operator https://abdelrhmanhamouda.github.io/locust-k8s-operator/
helm repo update
helm install locust-operator locust-k8s-operator/locust-k8s-operator \
  --namespace locust-system --create-namespace

Installation⚓

Prerequisites⚓

• A running Kubernetes cluster (e.g., Minikube, GKE, EKS, AKS).
• Helm 3 installed on your local machine.

Step 1: Add the Helm Repository⚓

First, add the Locust Kubernetes Operator Helm repository to your local Helm client:

helm repo add locust-k8s-operator https://abdelrhmanhamouda.github.io/locust-k8s-operator/

Next, update your local chart repository cache to ensure you have the latest version:

helm repo update

Step 2: Install the Chart⚓

You can install the chart with a release name of your choice (e.g., locust-operator).

Default Installation:

To install the chart with the default configuration, run:

helm install locust-operator locust-k8s-operator/locust-k8s-operator \
  --namespace locust-system --create-namespace

Installation with a Custom Values File:

For more advanced configurations, it's best to use a custom values.yaml file. Create a file named my-values.yaml and add your overrides:

# my-values.yaml
replicaCount: 2

locustPods:
  resources:
    limits:
      cpu: "2000m"
      memory: "2048Mi"
    requests:
      cpu: "500m"
      memory: "512Mi"

# my-values.yaml (old format - still works via compatibility shims)
replicaCount: 2

config:
  loadGenerationPods:
    resource:
      cpuLimit: "2000m"
      memLimit: "2048Mi"

Then, install the chart, specifying your custom values file and a target namespace:

helm install locust-operator locust-k8s-operator/locust-k8s-operator \
  --namespace locust-system \
  --create-namespace \
  -f my-values.yaml

Verifying the Installation⚓

After installation, you can verify that the operator is running correctly by checking the pods in the target namespace:

kubectl get pods -n locust-system

You should see a pod with a name similar to locust-operator-b5c9f4f7-xxxxx in the Running state.

To view the operator's logs, run:

kubectl logs -f -n locust-system -l app.kubernetes.io/name=locust-k8s-operator

Configuration⚓

The following tables list the configurable parameters of the Locust Operator Helm chart and their default values.

Deployment Settings⚓

Kubernetes Resources⚓

Operator Resources⚓

The Go operator requires significantly fewer resources than the Java version:

Feature Toggles⚓

Webhook Configuration (optional)⚓

The conversion webhook is meant for cases where both the old and new CRDs are present in the cluster. Required when webhook.enabled: true:

Locust Pod Configuration⚓

Metrics Exporter⚓

Job Configuration⚓

Kafka Configuration⚓

OpenTelemetry Collector (Optional)⚓

Deploy an OTel Collector alongside the operator:

Pod Scheduling⚓

Backward Compatibility⚓

The following v1 paths are still supported via helper functions:

Upgrading the Chart⚓

To upgrade an existing release to a new version, use the helm upgrade command:

helm upgrade locust-operator locust-k8s-operator/locust-k8s-operator -f my-values.yaml

Uninstalling the Chart⚓

To uninstall and delete the locust-operator deployment, run:

helm uninstall locust-operator

This command will remove all the Kubernetes components associated with the chart and delete the release.

Next Steps⚓

Once the operator is installed, you're ready to start running performance tests! Head over to the Getting Started guide to learn how to deploy your first LocustTest.