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Using OpenCloud DEV Helm Charts with Rancher Desktop on macOS

This guide shows you how to set up a local Kubernetes environment on macOS using Rancher Desktop for developing and testing the OpenCloud DEV Helm chart.

Prerequisites​

  1. A macOS system (tested on macOS Sequoia 15.4)
  2. Homebrew package manager
  3. Helm (installed via Homebrew)
# Install Helm using Homebrew
brew install helm
  1. kubectl command-line tool
# Install kubectl using Homebrew
brew install kubectl

Setting Up Rancher Desktop​

# Install Rancher Desktop using Homebrew
brew install --cask rancher
  1. Launch Rancher Desktop
  2. In Preferences:
    • Choose Kubernetes version (tested with 1.32.3)
    • Set Container Engine to "moby" (Docker API compatible)
    • Enable Kubernetes
    • Allow Kubernetes to start completely

Getting the OpenCloud Helm Charts​

First, clone the OpenCloud Helm charts repository:

# Clone the OpenCloud Helm repository
git clone https://github.com/opencloud-eu/helm.git opencloud-helm
cd opencloud-helm

Installing OpenCloud DEV Chart​

# Create namespace for OpenCloud
kubectl create namespace opencloud

# Install the OpenCloud DEV chart
helm install opencloud -n opencloud ./charts/opencloud-dev

# Watch the pod status until it's ready
kubectl get pods -n opencloud -w

Accessing OpenCloud​

Set up port forwarding to access the OpenCloud instance:

kubectl port-forward -n opencloud svc/opencloud-service 9200:443

Now access OpenCloud at https://localhost:9200 in your browser. You'll need to accept the security risk from the self-signed certificate.

Note: We're using port 9200 here to avoid conflicts with the privileged port 443, which would require root privileges on macOS/Linux systems.

Login with:

  • Username: admin
  • Password: admin

Monitoring and Debugging​

# View logs from the OpenCloud pod
kubectl logs -n opencloud -l app=opencloud -f

# See the pod details
kubectl describe pod -n opencloud -l app=opencloud

# Access Kubernetes dashboard through Rancher Desktop UI
# (Click Dashboard button in Rancher Desktop)

Clean Up​

# Uninstall OpenCloud
helm uninstall -n opencloud opencloud

# Delete namespace (optional - PVCs with keep policy will survive)
kubectl delete namespace opencloud

Tested Configuration​

This guide has been tested with:

  • macOS Sequoia 15.4
  • Rancher Desktop 1.18.2
  • Kubernetes 1.32.3
  • Container Engine: moby
  • OpenCloud DEV chart version 0.1.0
  • OpenCloud version 2.0.0

Troubleshooting​

  • TLS/Certificate Issues: The self-signed certificates will show warnings in browsers. This is expected in development environments.
  • Port Conflicts: If port 9200 is already in use, change the port-forward command to use a different local port.
  • Performance: For better performance, consider adjusting the resources allocated to Rancher Desktop in its preferences.
  • Dashboard Access: Rancher Desktop provides a built-in Kubernetes dashboard for easier debugging.
  • Log Collection: If you encounter issues, collect logs with kubectl logs -n opencloud -l app=opencloud > opencloud.log

Next Steps​

Now that you have successfully set up OpenCloud DEV charts with Rancher Desktop, you can:

  1. Explore the OpenCloud web interface at https://localhost:9200
  2. Learn more about OpenCloud features
  3. Read about Helm chart customization options

For a comparison of Rancher Desktop with other Kubernetes options for macOS, see our Kubernetes Options Comparison guide.