To access and execute commands in a Kubernetes cluster, you can use the kubectl
command-line utility. It allows you to deploy applications, manage cluster resources and view event logs.
The utility is cross-platform and can be installed on various operating systems, including Linux, macOS, and Windows.
For more detailed information, including a full list of available commands, refer to the official documentation.
To avoid unexpected issues, ensure that the kubectl
version differs from the cluster version by no more than one minor version.
For example, a client running version v1.31 can interact with control planes running versions v1.30, v1.31, and v1.32.
To check the client version:
Go to the customer portal
In the left-hand menu, navigate to Kubernetes and select your cluster
The cluster version will be displayed in the Version field
This guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to install kubectl
on macOS using curl.
For other operating systems, refer to the official documentation.
Download the suitable version by executing the following command in the terminal:
curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/{version}/bin/darwin/{CPU}/kubectl
Replace:
{version}
with the required version, e.g., v1.31.0
{CPU}
with the correct architecture:
For Intel: use amd64
For Apple Silicon: use arm64
Validate the binary file (optional):
Download the checksum file:
curl -LO https://dl.k8s.io/release/{version}/bin/darwin/{CPU}/kubectl.sha256
Validate the binary against the checksum:
echo "$(cat kubectl.sha256) kubectl" | shasum -a 256 --check
If successful, the output will display:
kubectl: OK
If the check fails, you will see:
kubectl: FAILED
shasum: WARNING: 1 computed checksum did NOT match
Download the same version of the binary and try again
Make the kubectl
binary executable:
chmod +x ./kubectl
Move the kubectl
binary to a directory included in your system PATH by executing the following commands:
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl
Note: ensure /usr/local/bin
is included in your PATH environment variable. If you receive an error such as No such file or directory, create the directory using the following command:
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin
Verify the installed version:
kubectl version --client
If successful, the output will display the version of the kubectl
client.
To use the kubectl
utility with a Kubernetes cluster, you need a configuration file (kubeconfig
). This allows you to locate and access one or multiple clusters and seamlessly switch between them. For more details, refer to the official documentation.
Download the configuration file for your cluster from the Kubernetes cluster details page in the customer portal:
Export the KUBECONFIG environment variable, specifying the path to the configuration file:
export KUBECONFIG={path to config file}
Ensure that kubectl
is properly configured by getting the cluster information:
kubectl cluster-info