What This Chart Deploys

What a helm install of chart/skywalking actually creates in your cluster, which pieces are optional, and which value key turns each one on or off.

This repository ships one chart, chart/skywalking, published as skywalking-helm. A single release of it carries the OAP backend, Horizon UI, and — when you ask for them — Satellite and a storage backend running as a subchart. Everything below is about that one release.

A default install

Three values have no defaults and must be supplied every time: oap.image.tag, oap.storageType, ui.image.tag.

helm install skywalking oci://registry-1.docker.io/apache/skywalking-helm \
  --version 5.0.0 -n skywalking --create-namespace \
  --set oap.image.tag=11.0.0 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=horizon-1.0.0

With everything else left at its default (elasticsearch.enabled=true), that release contains:

kind	name (release `skywalking`)	notes
Deployment	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-oap`	`oap.replicas: 2`, runs `-Dmode=no-init`
Job	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-oap-init-<hash>`	one-shot, runs `-Dmode=init` to create the storage schema
Service	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-oap`	ClusterIP; ports `11800`, `12800`, `17128`
Deployment	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-ui`	`ui.replicas: 1`, `strategy: Recreate`
Service	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-ui`	ClusterIP, `80` → container `8081`
ConfigMap	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-ui`	only when `ui.config` is set — the rendered `horizon.yaml`, mounted over the image’s
ServiceAccount	`skywalking-skywalking-helm-oap`	used by both the OAP Deployment and the init Job
Role + RoleBinding	`skywalking-skywalking-helm`	`get/watch/list` on pods, configmaps
ClusterRole + ClusterRoleBinding	`skywalking-skywalking-helm`	`get/watch/list` on pods, pods/log, endpoints, services, nodes, namespaces, configmaps, deployments, replicasets, Istio `serviceentries`
ECK operator	`elastic-operator` StatefulSet, webhook Service/Secret, CRDs, RBAC	from the `eck-operator` subchart
Elasticsearch	`skywalking-elasticsearch`	ECK custom resource, version `8.18.8`, one nodeSet of `3`

Resource names are <release>-<chart name> (skywalking-helm) plus a component suffix, unless you set nameOverride / fullnameOverride.

The eck-operator subchart carries the ECK CRDs (eck-operator.installCRDs, default true), but they are ordinary templates — Helm cannot apply a CRD and an Elasticsearch custom resource of that kind in the same release. On a cluster that has never run ECK, install the CRDs first and then add --set eck-operator.installCRDs=false. Steps in Elasticsearch.

Components and their switches

component	value key	default	what it renders
OAP Deployment + Service	—	always	`oap-deployment.yaml`, `oap-svc.yaml`
OAP init Job	—	always	`oap-init.job.yaml`, a normal release resource (not a Helm hook)
OAP ServiceAccount + RBAC	`serviceAccounts.oap.create`	`true`	ServiceAccount, Role, RoleBinding, ClusterRole, ClusterRoleBinding
OAP config-override ConfigMap	`oap.config`	`{}` (nothing)	`<fullname>-oap-cm-override`, mounted into `/skywalking/config`
OAP dynamic-config ConfigMap	`oap.dynamicConfig.enabled`	`false`	`skywalking-dynamic-config` + `SW_CONFIGURATION=k8s-configmap`
Horizon UI Deployment, Service, ConfigMap	`ui.enabled`	`true`	all UI resources; `false` deploys OAP only
UI Ingress	`ui.ingress.enabled`	`false`	`ui-ingress.yaml`
UI PersistentVolumeClaim	`ui.persistence.enabled`	`false`	`<fullname>-ui-data` for `/data`; otherwise an `emptyDir`
Satellite	`satellite.enabled`	`false`	Deployment, Service, ServiceAccount, Role, RoleBinding
Satellite config override	`satellite.config`	`{}` (nothing)	`<fullname>-satellite-cm-override`
Elasticsearch (ECK operator + cluster)	`elasticsearch.enabled`	`true`	`eck-operator` and `eck-elasticsearch` subcharts
PostgreSQL	`postgresql.enabled`	`false`	Bitnami `postgresql` subchart (demo only, no persistence by default)
BanyanDB	`banyandb.enabled`	`false`	`skywalking-banyandb-helm` subchart; also needs `banyandb.image.tag`

elasticsearch.enabled and oap.storageType are independent. If you switch oap.storageType to banyandb or postgresql, also set elasticsearch.enabled=false — otherwise the chart still deploys an Elasticsearch cluster that nothing uses.

What OAP gets out of the box

Init container. Every OAP pod and the init Job start with an init container that blocks until the backend answers — wait-for-elasticsearch (busybox:1.30 + nc), wait-for-postgresql (postgres:13 + pg_isready), or wait-for-banyandb (curlimages/curl against /api/healthz).
Two modes. The Deployment runs -Dmode=no-init and keeps port 12800 closed until the schema exists; the Job runs -Dmode=init and creates it. See The OAP Init Job.
Cluster coordination. SW_CLUSTER=kubernetes with SW_CLUSTER_K8S_NAMESPACE and a label selector — that is what the ServiceAccount and RBAC above are for.
JVM. oap.javaOpts defaults to -Xmx2g -Xms2g; oap.resources is empty (no requests or limits) by default.
Storage env. SW_STORAGE plus the backend-specific variables are derived from oap.storageType and whether the backend is embedded or external.
Probes. Liveness/readiness are TCP on 12800; the startup probe allows 30 × 10s so a cold start can wait for the init Job.

Ports

service	port	value key	purpose
OAP	`11800`	`oap.ports.grpc`	agent / Satellite gRPC ingest
OAP	`12800`	`oap.ports.rest`	HTTP ingest + GraphQL query
OAP	`17128`	`oap.ports.admin`	admin REST (`/status/`, `/debugging/`, the `ui-management` template store Horizon reads in `live` mode); OAP 11 only — set `null` on OAP 10.x
UI	`80` → `8081`	`ui.service.externalPort` / `ui.service.internalPort`	Horizon BFF
Satellite	`11800`	`satellite.ports.grpc`	agent gRPC ingest
Satellite	`1234`	`satellite.ports.prometheus`	Satellite self-telemetry

oap.ports is a free-form map: add zipkin-receiver, zipkin-query, promql, logql, traceql or metrics entries and they are opened on both the container and the Service. Setting zipkin-receiver / zipkin-query additionally sets the matching SW_RECEIVER_ZIPKIN* / SW_QUERY_ZIPKIN* environment variables, and zipkin-query makes the chart wire Horizon’s oap.zipkinUrl.

Optional: Satellite

A gateway that fronts OAP for agent traffic. Off by default; it needs its own image tag.

helm install skywalking oci://registry-1.docker.io/apache/skywalking-helm \
  --version 5.0.0 -n skywalking \
  --set oap.image.tag=11.0.0 \
  --set oap.storageType=elasticsearch \
  --set ui.image.tag=horizon-1.0.0 \
  --set satellite.enabled=true \
  --set satellite.image.tag=v0.4.0

Agents then point at the Satellite Service instead of the OAP one. See Satellite Gateway.

Optional: an embedded storage backend

backend	enable	what lands in the release
Elasticsearch	`elasticsearch.enabled=true` (default)	ECK operator + an `Elasticsearch` CR (`8.18.8`, 3 nodes)
BanyanDB	`banyandb.enabled=true` + `banyandb.image.tag`	StatefulSet, ServiceAccount, a `-grpc` ClusterIP Service (`17912`) and a `-http` Service (`17913`, type `LoadBalancer` by default)
PostgreSQL	`postgresql.enabled=true`	Bitnami PostgreSQL — demo defaults, persistence disabled

Set the corresponding *.enabled to false and fill in *.config.* to point OAP at an existing external instance instead. Details per backend: Elasticsearch, BanyanDB, PostgreSQL, or start at Pick a Storage Backend.

What this chart does not deploy

Any login for the UI. Horizon ships no default credentials and does not fail closed — the pod goes Ready and nobody can sign in. Configure users: Set Up Logins.
Agents or instrumentation. You install those with your applications.
An ingress controller or a StorageClass. ui.ingress.enabled renders an Ingress object but installs no controller, and every claim the release makes falls back to the cluster’s default StorageClass. See Requirements.
Storage you sized yourself. The chart’s ES nodeSet ships without volumeClaimTemplates, so ECK falls back to its own default claim (1Gi on the default StorageClass) — enough to start, not enough to keep. The PostgreSQL subchart is set to primary.persistence.enabled: false, so that one really is ephemeral.

Every value in the table above, with its full description, is in the Chart Values reference.

Kubernetes Helm