1. Set up the prerequisites

BinderHub is built to run in a Kubernetes cluster. It relies on JupyterHub to launch and manage user servers, as well as a docker registry to cache docker images it builds.

To deploy your own BinderHub, you’ll first need to set up a Kubernetes cluster. The following instructions will assist you in doing so.

1.1. Setting up a Kubernetes cluster

First, deploy a Kubernetes cluster by following the instructions in the Zero to JupyterHub guide. When you’re done, move on to the next section.

1.2. Installing Helm

Helm, the package manager for Kubernetes, is a useful tool for: installing, upgrading and managing applications on a Kubernetes cluster. Helm packages are called charts. We will be installing and managing JupyterHub on our Kubernetes cluster using a Helm chart.

A Helm chart is mostly Helm templates and default values that are used to render the templates into valid k8s resources. Each installation of a chart is called a release, and each version of the release is called a revision.

Several methods to install Helm exist, the simplest way to install Helm is to run Helm’s installer script in a terminal.

curl -sf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3

1.2.1. Verifying the setup

Verify that you have installed helm, kubectl, and have an ability to communicate with your Kubernetes cluster.

helm version

Which will output something similar to:

version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.4.0", GitCommit:"7090a89efc8a18f3d8178bf47d2462450349a004", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.14.10"}

Then check your kubectl version:

kubectl version

Which will output something similar to:

Client Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"19", GitVersion:"v1.19.3", GitCommit:"1e11e4a2108024935ecfcb2912226cedeafd99df", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2020-10-14T12:50:19Z", GoVersion:"go1.15.2", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}
Server Version: version.Info{Major:"1", Minor:"19", GitVersion:"v1.19.2", GitCommit:"f5743093fd1c663cb0cbc89748f730662345d44d", GitTreeState:"clean", BuildDate:"2020-09-16T13:32:58Z", GoVersion:"go1.15", Compiler:"gc", Platform:"linux/amd64"}

Now that you’ve installed Kubernetes and Helm, it’s time to Set up the container registry.