bitnamicharts/keycloak repository overview

⁠Bitnami Secure Images Helm chart for Keycloak

Keycloak is a high performance Java-based identity and access management solution. It lets developers add an authentication layer to their applications with minimum effort.

Overview of Keycloak⁠

Trademarks: This software listing is packaged by Bitnami. The respective trademarks mentioned in the offering are owned by the respective companies, and use of them does not imply any affiliation or endorsement.

⁠ TL;DR

helm install my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/keycloak

⁠ Introduction

Bitnami charts for Helm are carefully engineered, actively maintained and are the quickest and easiest way to deploy containers on a Kubernetes cluster that are ready to handle production workloads.

This chart bootstraps a Keycloak⁠ deployment on a Kubernetes⁠ cluster using the Helm⁠ package manager.

⁠ Before you begin

• Kubernetes 1.23+
• Helm 3.8.0+
• PV provisioner support in the underlying infrastructure

⁠ Installing the chart

To install the chart with the release name my-release:

helm install my-release oci://REGISTRY_NAME/REPOSITORY_NAME/keycloak

These commands deploy a Keycloak application on the Kubernetes cluster in the default configuration.

⁠ Configuration and installation details

This section covers metrics, external database, realm import/export, Gateway API, Ingress, TLS, and other options.

⁠ Prometheus metrics

This chart can be integrated with Prometheus by setting metrics.enabled to true. This will expose Keycloak native Prometheus endpoint in a metrics service, which can be configured under the metrics.service section. It will have the necessary annotations to be automatically scraped by Prometheus.

⁠Prometheus requirements

It is necessary to have a working installation of Prometheus or Prometheus Operator for the integration to work. Install the Bitnami Prometheus helm chart⁠ or the Bitnami Kube Prometheus helm chart⁠ to easily have a working Prometheus in your cluster.

⁠Integration with Prometheus Operator

The chart can deploy ServiceMonitor objects for integration with Prometheus Operator installations. To do so, set the value metrics.serviceMonitor.enabled=true. Ensure that the Prometheus Operator CustomResourceDefinitions are installed in the cluster or it will fail with the following error:

no matches for kind "ServiceMonitor" in version "monitoring.coreos.com/v1"

Install the Bitnami Kube Prometheus helm chart⁠ for having the necessary CRDs and the Prometheus Operator.

⁠ Rolling vs immutable tags⁠

It is strongly recommended to use immutable tags in a production environment. This ensures your deployment does not change automatically if the same tag is updated with a different image.

Bitnami will release a new chart updating its containers if a new version of the main container, significant changes, or critical vulnerabilities exist.

⁠ Use an external database

Sometimes, you may want to have Keycloak connect to an external PostgreSQL database rather than a database within your cluster - for example, when using a managed database service, or when running a single database server for all your applications. To do this, set the postgresql.enabled parameter to false and specify the credentials for the external database using the externalDatabase.* parameters. Here is an example:

postgresql.enabled=false
externalDatabase.host=myexternalhost
externalDatabase.user=myuser
externalDatabase.password=mypassword
externalDatabase.database=mydatabase
externalDatabase.port=5432
externalDatabase.schema=public

It is not supported but possible to run Keycloak with an external MSSQL database with the following settings:

externalDatabase:
  host: "mssql.example.com"
  port: 1433
  user: keycloak
  database: keycloak
  existingSecret: passwords
extraEnvVars:
  - name: KC_DB # override values from the conf file
    value: 'mssql'
  - name: KC_DB_URL
    value: 'jdbc:sqlserver://mssql.example.com:1433;databaseName=keycloak;'

⁠ Importing and exporting a realm

⁠Importing a realm

You can import a realm by setting the KEYCLOAK_EXTRA_ARGS to contain the --import-realm argument.

This will import all *.json under /opt/bitnami/keycloak/data/import files as a realm into Keycloak as per the official documentation here⁠. You can supply the files by mounting a volume e.g. with docker compose as follows:

keycloak:
  image: REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/keycloak:latest
  volumes:
    - /local/path/to/realms/folder:/opt/bitnami/keycloak/data/import

⁠Exporting a realm

You can export a realm using the GUI, but it will not export users even when that option is set, this is a known Keycloak bug⁠.

By using the kc.sh script you can export a realm with users. Be sure to mount the export folder to a local folder:

keycloak:
  image: REGISTRY_NAME/bitnami/keycloak:latest
  volumes:
    - /local/path/to/export/folder:/export

Then open a terminal in the running Keycloak container and run:

kc.sh export --dir /export/ --users realm_file

This will export the all the realms with users to the /export folder.

⁠ Gateway API

This chart provides support for exposing Keycloak using the Gateway API⁠ and its HTTPRoute resource. If you have a Gateway controller installed on your cluster, such as APISIX, Contour, Envoy Gateway, NGINX Gateway Fabric or Kong Ingress Controller you can utilize the Gateway controller to serve your application. To enable Gateway API integration, set httpRoute.enabled to true. The Gateway to be used can be customized by setting the httpRoute.parentRefs parameter. By default, it will reference a Gateway named gateway in the same namespace as the release.

You can specify the list of hostnames to be mapped to the deployment using the httpRoute.hostnames parameter. Additionally, you can customize the rules used to route the traffic to the service by modifying the httpRoute.matches and httpRoute.filters parameters or adding new rules using the httpRoute.extraRules parameter.

This chart also supports creating a BackendTLSPolicy to define the SNI the Gateway should use to connect to the Keycloak backend pods and how the certificate served by these pods should be verified. To do so, set the backendTLSPolicy.enabled parameter to true. Please note it's required to secure traffic using TLS as explained in the Securing traffic using TLS⁠ section to be able to use this feature.

⁠ Ingress

This chart provides support for Ingress resources. If you have an ingress controller installed on your cluster, such as nginx-ingress-controller⁠ or contour⁠ you can utilize the ingress controller to serve your application. To enable Ingress integration, set ingress.enabled to true.

The most common scenario is to have one host name mapped to the deployment. In this case, the ingress.hostname property can be used to set the host name. The ingress.tls parameter can be used to add the TLS configuration for this host.

However, it is also possible to have more than one host. To facilitate this, the ingress.extraHosts parameter (if available) can be set with the host names specified as an array. The ingress.extraTLS parameter (if available) can also be used to add the TLS configuration for extra hosts.

Adding the TLS parameter (where available) will cause the chart to generate HTTPS URLs, and the application will be available on port 443. The actual TLS secrets do not have to be generated by this chart. However, if TLS is enabled, the Ingress record will not work until the TLS secret exists.

Learn more about Ingress controllers⁠.

⁠Configure TLS Secrets for use with Ingress

This chart facilitates the creation of TLS secrets for use with the Ingress controller (although this is not mandatory). There are several common use cases:

• Generate certificate secrets based on chart parameters.
• Enable externally generated certificates.
• Manage application certificates using an external service (like cert-manager⁠).
• Create self-signed certificates within the chart (if supported).

In the first two cases, a certificate and a key are needed. Files are expected in .pem format.

Here is an example of a certificate file:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----
MIID6TCCAtGgAwIBAgIJAIaCwivkeB5EMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBCwUAMFYxCzAJBgNV
...
jScrvkiBO65F46KioCL9h5tDvomdU1aqpI/CBzhvZn1c0ZTf87tGQR8NK7v7
-----END CERTIFICATE-----

Here is an example of a certificate key:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
MIIEogIBAAKCAQEAvLYcyu8f3skuRyUgeeNpeDvYBCDcgq+LsWap6zbX5f8oLqp4
...
wrj2wDbCDCFmfqnSJ+dKI3vFLlEz44sAV8jX/kd4Y6ZTQhlLbYc=
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

• If using Helm to manage the certificates based on the parameters, copy these values into the certificate and key values for a given *.ingress.secrets entry.
• If managing TLS secrets separately, it is necessary to create a TLS secret with name INGRESS_HOSTNAME-tls (where INGRESS_HOSTNAME is a placeholder to be replaced with the host name you set using the *.ingress.hostname parameter).
• If your cluster has a cert-manager⁠ add-on to automate the management and issuance of TLS certificates, add to *.ingress.annotations the corresponding ones⁠ for cert-manager.
• If using self-signed certificates created by Helm, set both *.ingress.tls and *.ingress.selfSigned to true.

⁠ Securing traffic using TLS

TLS support for the web interface can be enabled in the chart by specifying the tls.enabled=true. Two possible options are available:

• Provide your own secret with the PEM or JKS certificates
• Have the chart auto-generate the certificates.

⁠Providing your own TLS secret

To provide your own secret set the tls.existingSecret value. It is possible to use PEM or JKS.

To use PEM Certs:

• tls.usePemCerts=true: Use PEM certificates instead of a JKS file.
• tls.certFilename: Certificate filename. Defaults to tls.crt.
• tls.certKeyFilename: Certificate key filename. Defaults to tls.key

To use JKS keystore:

• tls.usePemCerts=false: Use JKS file.
• tls.keystoreFilename: Certificate filename. Defaults to keycloak.keystore.jks.
• tls.truststoreFilename: truststore filename. Defaults to keycloak.truststore.jks.

In the following example we will use PEM certificates. First, create the secret with the certificates files:

kubectl create secret generic certificates-tls-secret --from-file=./cert.pem --from-file=./cert.key

Then, use the following parameters:

tls.enabled=true
tls.autoGenerated.enabled=false
tls.usePemCerts=true
tls.existingSecret="certificates-tls-secret"
tls.certFilename="cert.pem"
tls.certKeyFilename="cert.key"

⁠Auto-generation of TLS certificates

It is also possible to rely on the chart certificate auto-generation capabilities. The chart supports two different ways to auto-generate the required certificates:

• Using Helm capabilities. Enable this feature by setting tls.autoGenerated.enabled to true and tls.autoGenerated.engine to helm.
• Relying on CertManager (please note it's required to have CertManager installed in your K8s cluster). Enable this feature by setting tls.autoGenerated.enabled to true and tls.autoGenerated.engine to cert-manager. Please note it's supported to use an existing Issuer/ClusterIssuer for issuing the TLS certificates by setting the tls.autoGenerated.certManager.existingIssuer and tls.autoGenerated.certManager.existingIssuerKind parameters.

⁠Use with ingress offloading SSL

If your ingress controller has the TLS/SSL Termination, you might need to properly configure the reverse proxy headers using the proxyHeaders parameter. Find more information in the upstream documentation⁠.

⁠ Update credentials

Bitnami charts configure credentials at first boot. Any further change in the secrets or credentials require manual intervention. Follow these instructions:

• Update the user password following the upstream documentation⁠
• Update the password secret with the new values (replace the SECRET_NAME and PASSWORD placeholders)

kubectl create secret generic SECRET_NAME --from-literal=admin-password=PASSWORD --dry-run -o yaml | kubectl apply -f -

⁠ Backup and restore

To back up and restore Helm chart deployments on Kubernetes, you need to back up the persistent volumes from the source deployment and attach them to a new deployment using Velero⁠, a Kubernetes backup/restore tool. Find the instructions for using Velero in this guide⁠.

⁠ Resource requests and limits

Bitnami charts allow setting resource requests and limits for all containers inside the chart deployment. These are inside the resources value (check parameter table). Setting requests is essential for production workloads and these should be adapted to your specific use case.

To make this process easier, the chart contains the resourcesPreset values, which automatically sets the resources section according to different presets. Check these presets in the bitnami/common chart⁠. However, in production workloads using resourcesPreset is discouraged as it may not fully adapt to your specific needs. Find more information on container resource management in the official Kubernetes documentation⁠.

⁠ Set pod affinity

This chart allows you to set your custom affinity using the affinity parameter. Find more information about pod affinity in the Kubernetes documentation⁠.

As an alternative, you can use the preset configurations for pod affinity, pod anti-affinity, and node affinity available at the bitnami/common⁠ chart. To do so, set the podAffinityPreset, podAntiAffinityPreset, or nodeAffinityPreset parameters.

⁠ Add extra environment variables

In case you want to add extra environment variables (useful for advanced operations like custom init scripts), you can use the extraEnvVars property.

extraEnvVars:
  - name: KEYCLOAK_LOG_LEVEL
    value: DEBUG

Alternatively, you can use a ConfigMap or a Secret with the environment variables. To do so, use the extraEnvVarsCM or the extraEnvVarsSecret values.

⁠ Use sidecars and init containers

If additional containers are needed in the same pod (such as additional metrics or logging exporters), they can be defined using the sidecars config parameter.

sidecars:
- name: your-image-name
  image: your-image
  imagePullPolicy: Always
  ports:
  - name: portname
    containerPort: 1234

If these sidecars export extra ports, extra port definitions can be added using the service.extraPorts parameter (where available), as shown in the following example:

service:
  extraPorts:
  - name: extraPort
    port: 11311
    targetPort: 11311

If additional init containers are needed in the same pod, they can be defined using the initContainers parameter. Here is an example:

initContainers:
  - name: your-image-name
    image: your-image
    imagePullPolicy: Always
    ports:
      - name: portname
        containerPort: 1234

Learn more about sidecar containers⁠ and init containers⁠.

⁠ Initialize a fresh instance

The Bitnami Keycloak⁠ image allows you to use your custom scripts to initialize a fresh instance. In order to execute the scripts, you can specify custom scripts using the initdbScripts parameter as dict.

In addition to this option, you can also set an external ConfigMap with all the initialization scripts. This is done by setting the initdbScriptsConfigMap parameter. Note that this will override the previous option.

The allowed extensions is .sh.

⁠ Deploy extra resources

There are cases where you may want to deploy extra objects, such a ConfigMap containing your app's configuration or some extra deployment with a micro service used by your app. For covering this case, the chart allows adding the full specification of other objects using the extraDeploy parameter.

⁠ FIPS parameters

The FIPS parameters only have effect if you are using images from the Bitnami Secure Images catalog⁠.

For more information on this new support, see the FIPS Compliance section⁠.

⁠ Parameters

The following subsections list global, common, and component-specific parameters.

⁠ Global parameters

⁠ Common parameters

Note: the README for this chart is longer than the DockerHub length limit of 25000, so it has been trimmed. The full README can be found at https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-tanzu/bitnami-secure-images/bitnami-secure-images/services/bsi-app-doc/apps-charts-keycloak-index.html⁠