diff --git a/templates/nginx/configmap-http.yaml b/templates/nginx/configmap-http.yaml
index c4b8354d0..7de4cd27c 100644
--- a/templates/nginx/configmap-http.yaml
+++ b/templates/nginx/configmap-http.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{- if and (ne .Values.expose.type "ingress") (not .Values.expose.tls.enabled) }}
+{{- if and (ne .Values.expose.type "ingress") (ne .Values.expose.type "external") (not .Values.expose.tls.enabled) }}
 {{- $scheme := (include "harbor.component.scheme" .) -}}
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: ConfigMap
diff --git a/templates/nginx/configmap-https.yaml b/templates/nginx/configmap-https.yaml
index 74c667e00..4f0a42d10 100644
--- a/templates/nginx/configmap-https.yaml
+++ b/templates/nginx/configmap-https.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{- if and (ne .Values.expose.type "ingress") .Values.expose.tls.enabled }}
+{{- if and (ne .Values.expose.type "ingress") (ne .Values.expose.type "external") .Values.expose.tls.enabled }}
 {{- $scheme := (include "harbor.component.scheme" .) -}}
 apiVersion: v1
 kind: ConfigMap
diff --git a/templates/nginx/deployment.yaml b/templates/nginx/deployment.yaml
index 43884bc03..cbac4d596 100644
--- a/templates/nginx/deployment.yaml
+++ b/templates/nginx/deployment.yaml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-{{- if ne .Values.expose.type "ingress" }}
+{{- if and (ne .Values.expose.type "ingress") (ne .Values.expose.type "external") }}
 apiVersion: apps/v1
 kind: Deployment
 metadata:
diff --git a/values.yaml b/values.yaml
index 3780886fc..9c68a038c 100644
--- a/values.yaml
+++ b/values.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 expose:
-  # Set how to expose the service. Set the type as "ingress", "clusterIP", "nodePort" or "loadBalancer"
+  # Set how to expose the service. Set the type as "ingress", "clusterIP", "nodePort", "loadBalancer" or "external" if not using nginx
   # and fill the information in the corresponding section
   type: ingress
   tls:
@@ -396,7 +396,7 @@ enableMigrateHelmHook: false
 # contains a base64 encoded CA Certificate named `ca.crt`.
 # uaaSecretName:
 
-# If service exposed via "ingress", the Nginx will not be used
+# If service exposed via "ingress" or "external", the Nginx will not be used
 nginx:
   image:
     repository: goharbor/nginx-photon