Notes to Self

Alex Sokolsky's Notes on Computers and Programming

kubectl Cheat Sheet

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Installation and more.

Configuration File and Environment Variables

By default configuration is in ~/.kube/config.

Environment variables. Most important environment variable:

KUBECONFIG=$HOME/.kube/dev-config

Global flags

Flag Description
-A,--all-namespaces Use all the namespaces
-n,--namespace <namespace> The name of the namespace to use
--help Show information about a given command

Context and configuration

kubectl config

Command Description
kubectl config get-contexts List all contexts
kubectl config current-context Display the current context
kubectl config use-context <context> Switch to another context
kubectl config delete-context <context> Delete the specified context from the kubeconfig

Display resources

Use kubectl get or kubectl describe

Command Description
kubectl get <resource> List all resources of this type in the current namespace
kubectl get <resource> -o wide List all resources with more details
kubectl get <resource> -A List all resources of this type in all namespaces
kubectl get <resource> <name> List a particular resource
kubectl get <resource> <name> -o yaml Print a particular resource in YAML format
kubectl get <resource> <name> -l <key1>=<value1> List resources where label <key1> contains <value1>
kubectl describe <resource> Show detailed information about a resource

E.g. to list all pods:

kubectl get pod \
    -o=custom-columns=NODE:.spec.nodeName,NAME:.metadata.name \
    --all-namespaces

or just pods in one namespace:

kubectl get pod --namespace <namespace>

then

kubectl describe pod <podname> --namespace <namespace>

to get logs:

kubectl logs <pod>

Relevant events:

kubectl get events --namespace app-namespace  --sort-by='.metadata.creationTimestamp'

Apply configuration manifests

kubectl apply

Command Description
kubectl apply -f <file> Apply a manifest from a file
kubectl apply -f <dir> Apply all manifests in a directory
kubectl apply -k <dir> Apply resources from a kustomize directory

Create multiple YAML objects from stdin:

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: busybox-sleep
spec:
  containers:
  - name: busybox
    image: busybox:1.28
    env:
    - name: SLEEP_DURATION
      value: "1000000"
    args:
    - sleep
    - "${SLEEP_DURATION}"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: busybox-sleep-less
spec:
  containers:
  - name: busybox
    image: busybox:1.28
    env:
    - name: SLEEP_DURATION
      value: "1000"
    args:
    - sleep
    - "${SLEEP_DURATION}"
EOF

Create resources manually

kubectl run

Command Description
kubectl run <name> --image=<image> Start a pod
kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<image> Create a deployment
kubectl expose pod <pod> --port=<port> Create a service for an existing pod
kubectl expose deployment <name> --port=<port> Create a service for an existing deployment
kubectl create ingress <name> --rule=<host/path=svc:port> Create an ingress that routes traffic to a service
kubectl create job <name> --image=<image> Create a job
kubectl create job <name> --from=cronjob/<name> Create a job from a cronjob
kubectl create cronjob <name> --image=<image> --schedule=<schedule> Create a cronjob, using a schedule in Cron format
kubectl create secret generic <name> --from-literal=<key>=<value> Create a secret containing <key> and <value>
kubectl create secret docker-registry <name> --docker-server=<server> --docker-username=<username> --docker-password=<password> Create a secret for a Docker registry

E.g. to get an interactive shell within your cluster:

kubectl run my-shell --rm -i --tty --image ubuntu -- bash

where:

Generate YAML configuration manifests

Use kubectl create or kubectl expose.

Command Description
kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<image> --dry-run=client -o yaml Generate a deployment manifest
kubectl expose deployment <name> --port=<port> --dry-run=client -o yaml Generate a service manifest for a deployment

Edit resources

kubectl-edit, kubectl-set.

Command Description
kubectl edit <resource> <name> Edit a resource in a text editor
kubectl set image <resource> <name> <container>=<image> Update the image of a container in a pod

Set labels and annotations

Command Description
kubectl label <resource> <name> <key>=<value> Add a label to a resource
kubectl annotate <resource> <name> <key>=<value> Add an annotation to a resource

Delete resources

kubectl delete

Command Description
kubectl delete <resource> <name> Delete a particular resource
kubectl delete <resource> --all Delete all resources of a particular type in the current namespace

To delete a pod:

kubectl delete pod busybox-sleep-less

Create/Replace/Delete from a file

kubectl-create, kubectl-delete, kubectl-replace

Command Description
kubectl create -f <file> Create a resource from a file
kubectl delete [--force] -f <file> Delete a resource from a file
kubectl replace [--force] -f <file> Delete then create a resource from a file

Manage deployments

kubectl rollout

Command Description
kubectl rollout status deployment <name> Show the status of a deployment rollout
kubectl rollout history deployment <name> View the rollout history of a deployment
kubectl rollout undo deployment <name> Undo a previous rollout deployment
kubectl rollout restart deployment <name> Restart a deployment
kubectl scale deployment <name> --replicas=<n> Scale a deployment to <n> replicas
kubectl autoscale deployment <name> --min=<min> --max=<max> Autoscale a deployment between <min> and <max> replicas

Execute commands

kubectl exec

Command Description
kubectl exec <pod> -- <command> Execute a command in a running pod
kubectl exec -it <pod> --container main-app -- sh Open a shell in a running pod

View logs

kubectl logs

Command Description
kubectl logs <pod> -n <namespace> Print the logs for a pod
kubectl logs -f <pod> -n <namespace> Print the logs for a pod and keep streaming

Resource usage

kubectl top Command|Description —-|—— kubectl top node|Show resource (CPU/memory) usage of nodes kubectl top pod|Show resource (CPU/memory) usage of pods

Other commands

Command Description
kubectl version Show the version of the client and server
kubectl api-resources Print the supported API resources on the server

Switching context with kubectx

Use kubectx to switch the cluster you work with.

To list all contexts:

kubectx

To see the current context:

kubectx -c

To switch to a new context:

kubectx <context_name>

To switch back to previous context:

kubectx -

Switching namespace with kubectx kubens

To switch to a new namespace:

kubens <new_namespace>

To switch back to previous namespace:

kubens -