Kubernetes/Helm

Kubernetes and Helm provide the following functionality:

  • Kubernetes allows you to deploy and manage containerized applications.
  • Helm simplifies the management of Kubernetes resources by providing an extra layer of abstraction.

A schema showing how Kubernetes allows you to deploy and manage containerized applications

Beside installing Kubernetes and Helm, you also have to create the infrastructure where you will deploy Appway. Instructions explaining how to do this depend on where you create the infrastructure:

For testing purposes, Docker Desktop or Minikube is the easiest option to set up and use on a single machine.

Helm and Kubernetes Resources

To be able to deploy and customize FNZ Studio, you need the Helm (Kubernetes) templates as well as the configuration values that are specific for each FNZ Studio environment.

It is important to separate the templates from the actual values since the same templates can be used to deploy multiple FNZ Studio environments.

You can find a Helm Chart for the Platform that can be extended to cover more complex scenarios in the following attachment (zip file): studio-4.0.0.tgz

The file contains:

  • The FNZ Studio Helm Chart (the "templates")

  • Example resources that show how the Helm Chart can be configured under example-config. (the "values")

The provided example config can be used as a starting point for deploying FNZ Studio on Kubernetes.

Configuration

There are different ways to provide the configuration properties to an FNZ Studio instance. You can find more details here: Configuration Properties.

To use environment variables to configure the Platform, add them in example-config/values.yaml.

Copy 
# file name: example-config/values.yaml
...
extraEnv: |
  - name: NM_SYSTEM_COLOR
    value: black
Note: A configuration properties file can also be mounted as a volume if this is preferred. See the dedicated section on volumes available with the official Kubernetes documentation for more details on how to work with volumes and to understand the advantages and disadvantages of using them.

License File

The Helm chart supports three license setups:

  1. License is part of the Docker image. In this case, no further configuration is needed.

  2. License is already a secret in the k8s cluster. In this case, update the example-config/values.yaml file as follows:

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    appway:
      license:
        enabled: true
        existingSecret:
          name: studio-license

    and make sure the license is present with $ kubectl get secret -n appway-ns.

  3. License secret generated from a file. In this case, check section "License file" in the README.md file of the Helm chart.

Secret

Since the FNZ Studio image is stored in a private repository,you need to provide the registry, username, and password in the example-config/values.yaml. The Helm chart will then create a Kubernetes secret to access it.

See templates/docker-image-secret.yaml to see how this is implemented.

For more information, see the related article available with the official Kubernetes documentation.

Role Binding

Role Binding allows Hazelcast access to the Kubernetes API. This is used by the KubernetesHazelcastDiscovery extension to discover and connect the cluster nodes.

See templates/rolebinding.yaml to see how this is implemented.

For more information, see the related article available with the official Kubernetes documentation.

Access Service

Service to be able to access FNZ Studio. See templates/service-appway.yaml to see how this is implemented.

For more information, see the related article available with the official Kubernetes documentation.

StatefulSet

StatefulSet that can be used to deploy multiple FNZ Studio instances:

Note: This example assumes that the Docker image you built and are using contains an FNZ Studio extension for the Cluster Storage (e.g. AzureHazelcastStore, AWSHazelcastStore, CassandraHazelcastStore, RelationalDbHazelcastStore). The credentials for these extensions can be specified using environment variables as shown above.

See templates/statefulset.yaml.

This StatefulSet is customized by using an external file with configuration values, see example-config/values.yaml.

For more information, see the related article available with the official Kubernetes documentation.

Helm Chart

See Chart.yaml

Using the Helm Chart

See System Installation Using Containers (2026) (section Deploy the Platform and following) to deploy, configure, upgrade, and stop FNZ Studio.