Deploy Thunder on Kubernetes

This guide walks you through deploying Thunder to a Kubernetes cluster using Helm charts. It covers a quick single-command install for development and a production-ready setup with external PostgreSQL.

Architecture Overview

The diagram above shows the Thunder deployment in Kubernetes, including the application pods, ingress controller, and database configuration.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure the following are available:

Infrastructure:

• A running Kubernetes cluster (v1.19 or later). You can use minikube or kind locally, or a managed service such as EKS, GKE, or AKS for production.
• An NGINX Ingress Controller or a compatible alternative.
• Valid TLS certificates for production deployments.

Required Tools:

Tool	Installation Guide	Version Check
Git	Install Git	git --version
Helm	Install Helm	helm version
kubectl	Install kubectl	kubectl version
Docker	Install Docker	docker --version

Verify cluster access before proceeding:

kubectl cluster-info
helm version
kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx

Install Thunder

Step 1: Install the Helm Chart

Install Thunder from the GitHub Container Registry:

helm install thunder oci://ghcr.io/asgardeo/helm-charts/thunder

To install a specific version:

helm install thunder oci://ghcr.io/asgardeo/helm-charts/thunder --version 0.11.0

Step 2: Verify the Installation

# Check pod status
kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/name=thunder

# Check services
kubectl get services -l app.kubernetes.io/name=thunder

# Check ingress
kubectl get ingress

Step 3: Access Thunder

1. Get the external IP address of your NGINX Ingress Controller.
2. Add an entry to your /etc/hosts file that maps the IP address to thunder.local.
3. Open Thunder at http://thunder.local.

If you are using a cloud provider, the load balancer assigns the external IP automatically.

Installation Options

Option 1: Inline Value Overrides

Pass configuration values directly on the command line. The following example installs Thunder with SQLite for development or testing:

helm install thunder oci://ghcr.io/asgardeo/helm-charts/thunder \
  --set configuration.database.config.type=sqlite \
  --set configuration.database.runtime.type=sqlite

Option 2: Custom Values File

For production deployments, use a values file to manage configuration:

1. Create a custom-values.yaml file:

   deployment:
     replicaCount: 3
     resources:
       requests:
         cpu: 500m
         memory: 512Mi
       limits:
         cpu: 2
         memory: 1Gi
   
   ingress:
     hostname: thunder.example.com
   
   configuration:
     database:
       config:
         type: postgres
         host: postgres.default.svc.cluster.local
         port: 5432
         name: configdb
         username: thunder_user
         password: <config-db-password>
         sslmode: require
       runtime:
         type: postgres
         host: postgres.default.svc.cluster.local
         port: 5432
         name: runtimedb
         username: thunder_user
         password: <runtime-db-password>
         sslmode: require
       user:
         type: postgres
         host: postgres.default.svc.cluster.local
         port: 5432
         name: userdb
         username: thunder_user
         password: <user-db-password>
         sslmode: require

2. Install using the values file:

   helm install thunder oci://ghcr.io/asgardeo/helm-charts/thunder -f custom-values.yaml

Database Setup

Thunder supports both PostgreSQL and SQLite. PostgreSQL is recommended for production.

PostgreSQL

Before deploying Thunder, prepare the PostgreSQL instance:

1. Create the three required databases:

   CREATE DATABASE configdb;
   CREATE DATABASE runtimedb;
   CREATE DATABASE userdb;

2. Create a dedicated user:

   CREATE USER thunder_user WITH PASSWORD '<secure-password>';

3. Grant the required privileges in each database:

   ALTER DEFAULT PRIVILEGES IN SCHEMA public GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON TABLES TO thunder_user;
   GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO thunder_user;

4. Run the initialization scripts from backend/dbscripts to create the schema.

For a PostgreSQL setup using Helm, refer to the Bitnami PostgreSQL Helm Chart.

Once the databases are ready, configure Thunder to connect to them:

configuration:
  database:
    config:
      type: postgres
      host: postgres.example.com
      port: 5432
      name: configdb
      username: thunder_user
      password: <config-db-password>
      sslmode: require
    runtime:
      type: postgres
      host: postgres.example.com
      port: 5432
      name: runtimedb
      username: thunder_user
      password: <runtime-db-password>
      sslmode: require
    user:
      type: postgres
      host: postgres.example.com
      port: 5432
      name: userdb
      username: thunder_user
      password: <user-db-password>
      sslmode: require

SQLite

For development or testing, configure Thunder to use SQLite:

configuration:
  database:
    config:
      type: sqlite
      sqlitePath: repository/database/configdb.db
      sqliteOptions: "_journal_mode=WAL&_busy_timeout=5000&_pragma=foreign_keys(1)"
    runtime:
      type: sqlite
      sqlitePath: repository/database/runtimedb.db
      sqliteOptions: "_journal_mode=WAL&_busy_timeout=5000&_pragma=foreign_keys(1)"
    user:
      type: sqlite
      sqlitePath: repository/database/userdb.db
      sqliteOptions: "_journal_mode=WAL&_busy_timeout=5000&_pragma=foreign_keys(1)"

Upgrade and Rollback

To upgrade to a new version:

helm upgrade thunder oci://ghcr.io/asgardeo/helm-charts/thunder \
  --version 0.12.0 \
  -f custom-values.yaml

To roll back to a previous release:

helm rollback thunder 1

Next Steps

• Deploy Thunder on OpenChoreo — Deploy Thunder on the OpenChoreo platform.
• Deploy Thunder with Docker — Run Thunder locally using Docker.