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Setup Access with KubeConfig and Kubectl

This guide will cover how to access your Kubernetes cluster using a kubeconfig file and a tool called kubectl.

Prerequisites​

  • A running Kubernetes cluster in Massdriver (AKS, EKS, or GKE)
  • kubectl installed

Downloading your kubeconfig file​

  1. In Massdriver, navigate to the Kubernetes cluster you want to access
  2. Click on the deployment and open the Details tab
  3. Under Artifacts, click the download button and then click Kube Config

Download kubeconfig

Setting KUBECONFIG environment variable​

note

By default, kubectl looks for a file named config in the $HOME/.kube directory. If you want to use a different kubeconfig file, you can specify it using the KUBECONFIG environment variable.

  1. Move the downloaded kubeconfig file to a location of your choice (preferably in the $HOME/.kube directory)

  2. In your terminal, set the KUBECONFIG environment variable to the path of the downloaded kubeconfig file

export KUBECONFIG=/path/to/kubeconfig.yaml

You can also specify other kubeconfig files by setting the --kubeconfig flag for kubectl commands.

Basic commands​

Get cluster information​

General:

kubectl get namespaces  # Lists all namespaces
kubectl api-resources   # Lists all resources in the cluster

Pods:

kubectl get pods                 # Lists all pods in default namespace
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>  # Lists all pods in a specific namespace
kubectl get pods -A              # Lists all pods in all namespaces
kubectl get pods -w              # Watches for changes to pods
kubectl get pods -o wide         # Lists pods with more information
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>  # Describes a specific pod
kubectl top pod <pod-name>       # Shows CPU and memory usage of a specific pod
kubectl logs <pod-name>          # Shows logs of a specific pod
kubectl logs -f <pod-name>       # Shows logs of a specific pod and follows the logs

Services:

kubectl get services                    # Lists all services in default namespace
kubectl get services -n <namespace>     # Lists all services in a specific namespace
kubectl describe service <service-name> # Describes a specific service

Nodes:

kubectl get nodes                   # Lists all nodes
kubectl describe node <node-name>   # Describes a specific node

Deployments:

kubectl get deployments                        # Lists all deployments in default namespace
kubectl get deployments -n <namespace>         # Lists all deployments in a specific namespace
kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name>  # Describes a specific deployment

Accessing cluster resources​

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- sh       # Executes a shell in a specific pod
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- env      # Prints environment variables of a specific pod
kubectl port-forward <pod-name> 8080:80 # Forwards a local port to a port on a specific pod
kubectl apply -f <file.yaml>            # Applies a configuration file to the cluster