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Setting Up Kubernetes

Updated Aug 19, 2022 ·

Overview​

This is a simple guide to set up a local Kubernetes cluster using Kind. This setup is useful for development and testing, especially before deploying to cloud environments.

  • Use Docker to run containers
  • Use kubectl to manage the cluster
  • Use Kind to create a lightweight local cluster

Install Docker​

Docker is needed to run the Kubernetes cluster using containers.

## Update your package list
sudo apt update

## Install required dependencies
sudo apt install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg-agent software-properties-common

## Add Docker’s GPG key and repo
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update

## Install Docker and Containerd
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Make Docker usable without sudo:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker

Check installation:

docker version

Install kubectl​

kubectl is the tool used to interact with Kubernetes clusters.

## Download the binary
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -Ls https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"

## Move it to a directory in your system path
chmod +x kubectl

## Make it executable
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

Confirm the installation:

kubectl version --client

Install Kind​

Kind creates a local Kubernetes cluster using Docker containers.

  • Download Kind binary from GitHub
  • Move it to a path directory
  • Make it executable

Example:

curl -Lo kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.22.0/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x kind
sudo mv kind /usr/local/bin/

Check Kind version:

kind version

Create a Cluster with Ingress​

You can create a simple cluster or one with extra features like Ingress.

Example cluster.yaml:

# cluster.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
  - role: control-plane
    kubeadmConfigPatches:
      - |
        kind: InitConfiguration
        nodeRegistration:
          kubeletExtraArgs:
            node-labels: "ingress-ready=true"
    extraPortMappings:
      - containerPort: 80
        hostPort: 80
        protocol: TCP
      - containerPort: 443
        hostPort: 443
        protocol: TCP

Create the cluster:

kind create cluster --config cluster.yaml

The cluster runs in a Docker container, so it's lightweight and fast to reset or recreate.

Optional: You might need to verify if ~/.kube/config is created:

ls -la ~/.kube/config

If it doesn't exist yet, create it:

mkdir -p ~/.kube/config

Then set the custom KUBECONFIG path temporarily:

export KUBECONFIG=~/.kube/config

Use kubectl with the Cluster​

kind automatically sets up kubectl to connect to your new cluster.

  • No extra steps are needed for Kind
  • For cloud clusters (like GKE, EKS, AKS), follow their setup guides

To get information about the cluster:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind

Sample output:

Kubernetes control plane is running at https://127.0.0.1:33783
CoreDNS is running at https://127.0.0.1:33783/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

Deleting the Cluster​

Once you're done with the labs, delete the cluster:

kind delete cluster