Welcome to Kubectl cheatsheet

By Anvesh Muppeda & Sai Manasa Kota

🚀 Kubectl Helper: Your Ultimate Kubernetes Command Companion! 🌐

Master the art of Kubernetes with our feature-packed Kubectl Cheatsheet! This comprehensive guide empowers both beginners and seasoned professionals to navigate the Kubernetes landscape effortlessly. From cluster management and context switching to intricate pod manipulations, we've got you covered. Say goodbye to command memorization and hello to streamlined operations!

Cluster ⎈
Switching Between Contexts ⇢
Rollout 🔄
Labels 🏷️
Pod 🛡️
Nodes 💻
Troubleshooting With Logs 📊
Secrets Encode & Decode 🕵️
Taints & Tolerations 🔭
Patch 🛠️
Set ⚙️
Port Forward ↔️
Create Resources 🏗️
Delete Resources 🚮
Kubernetes Blogs 📝
Contact Information 📧
Feedback Welcome 🌟

1. Cluster

a. Listing all the resources in cluster

kubectl api-resources

b. Listing all the api versions in cluster

kubectl api-versions

c. Get the configurations of saved clusters

kubectl config view

d. Get the Kubernetes version running on the client and server

kubectl version

e. Get everything from the cluster

kubectl get all --all-namespaces

f. to Check Access

kubectl auth can-i create deployments
kubectl auth can-i create pods

g. to check IP range for pods within the namespaces

kubectl cluster-info dump | grep -m 1 cluster-cidr

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2. Switching between contexts

a. Get all preconfigured contexts and see which one is active:

kubectl config get-contexts

b. Get the current config name

kubectl config current-context

c. Get the current config with more details

kubectl config view --minify

d. Switch between the predefined contexts(Switch to a context/cluster)

kubectl config use-context <context-name>

e. Setting default namespace

The default namespace default is configured in your cluster's context. To change the default namespace, use the below command. Specify the desired namespace name that you want to set as the default.

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<NAMESPACE-NAME>

For example, to set the namespace kube-system as your default, you would run the following command

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=kube-system

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3. Rollout

The kubectl rollout command is primarily used with Kubernetes Deployments, Statefulsets and DaemonSets.

a. kubectl rollout syntax

kubectl rollout <COMMAND>

COMMAND can be one of the following:

status
history
restart
pause
resume
undo

b. To check the rollout status

 kubectl rollout status <resource-type>/<resource-name>

c. To get the rollout history

kubectl rollout status <resource-type>/<resource-name>

d. To restart the deployment

kubectl restart status <resource-type>/<resource-name>

e. To pause the deployment updates

kubectl rollout pause <resource-type>/<resource-name>

f. To resume the deployment updates

kubectl rollout resume <resource-type>/<resource-name>

g. To undo the deployment updates to previous revision

kubectl rollout undo <resource-type>/<resource-name>

Tip

Here you can use Deployments, Statefulsets and DaemonSets in place of .

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4. Labels

a. Adding a label to a specific resource

kubectl label <resource-type> <resource-name> <label-key>=<label-value>

b. Removing a label to a specific resource

kubectl label <resource-type> <resource-name> <label-key>-

c. List all the labels from a resource

kubectl get <resource-type> <resource-name> --show-labels

d. Overwrite the resource label

kubectl label --overwrite <resource-type> <resource-name> <label-key>=<label-new-value>

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5. Pod

a. To list the pods in specific namespace

kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

b. To list all pods in all namespaces

kubectl get pods -A

c. Exec into a pod

bash

kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> //bin//bash

sh

kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> //bin//sh

In windows

bash

winpty kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> //bin//bash

sh

winpty kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> //bin//sh

d. Watch a pod status

kubectl -n <namespace> get <pods/deployments>  -w
kubectl -n <namespace> get <pods/deployments> --watch

e. Print env variables of a pod

kubectl -n <namespace> exec <pod-name> -- printenv

f. To make a curl to a pod

sh

kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> -- /bin/sh -c "curl http://example.com"

bash

kubectl -n <namespace> exec -it <pod-name> -- /bin/bash -c "curl http://example.com"

g. Delete all pods which are evicted with namespace wise

kubectl get pod -n <namespace> | grep Evicted | awk '{print $1}' | xargs kubectl delete pod -n <namespace>

h. To get the pod definition in YAML format

kubectl -n <namespace> get pod pod-name -o yaml > pod.yaml

i. To get pod definition possible options

kubectl explain pods --recursive | less

j. Get the pod deatils with wide options

kubectl get pods -o wide

k. View detailed information about a pod

kubectl -n <namespace> describe pod <podname>

l. Create or apply a pod configuration

kubectl -n <namespace> apply -f <pod-definition.yaml>

m. Delete a pod

Delete a specific pod

kubectl -n <namespace> delete pod <pod-name>

Delete all pods

kubectl -n <namespace> delete pods --all

n. Execute a command in a running pod

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -- <command>

o. Copy files to/from a pod

Copy a file from your local machine to a pod

kubectl -n <namespace> cp <local-file> <pod-name>:<destination-path>

Copy a file from a pod to your local machine

kubectl -n <namespace> cp <pod-name>:<source-path> <local-destination>

p. Get pod events

kubectl get events

q. Get resource usage

kubectl -n <namespace> top pod

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6. Nodes

a. List nodes

kubectl get pods

b. List nodes with the resource usage

kubectl top node

c. Get node details

kubectl describe node <nodename>

d. Cordon a node

Mark a node as unschedulable, preventing new pods from being scheduled.

kubectl cordon node <nodename>

e. Uncordon a node

Mark a node as schedulable, allowing new pods to be scheduled.

kubectl uncordon node <nodename>

f. Drain Nodes

Evict pods from a node, moving them to other nodes. The --ignore-daemonsets flag is used to ignore DaemonSet managed pods.

kubectl drain <nodename> --ignore-daemonsets

g. Get the kubelet version for a specific node.

kubectl get node <nodename> -o jsonpath='{.status.nodeInfo.kubeletVersion}

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7. Streaming With Logs

a. Get logs from a pod

kubectl -n <namespace> logs <podname>

b. Stream Logs in Real-time

kubectl -n <namespace> -f logs <podname>

c. Specify Container in Multi-container Pods

kubectl -n <namespace> logs <podname> -c <containerName>

d. Retrieve Previous Container Logs

kubectl -n <namespace> logs --previous <pod-name>

e. Tail the Logs with a Specific Number of Lines

kubectl logs <pod-name> --tail=<lines>

f. Filter the logs based on a time window

kubectl logs --since=<time-period> <pod-name>

Tip

Here you can mention 10s, 10m, 10h, and 10d in place of (Just an exmaple).

g. Add timestamps in the Logs

kubectl -n <namespace> logs <pod-name> --timestamps

h. Deployment, Statefulset, Daemonset, and Job logs

kubectl -n <namespace> logs <resource-type>/<resource-name>

Tip

Here you can use Deployments, Statefulsets, DaemonSets, and Jobs in place of .

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8. certs

a. Encode your secret

echo -n 'your-secret' | base64

b. Decode your secret

echo -n 'your-string' | base64 --decode

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9. Taints & Tolerations

a. View Taints on a Node

kubectl describe node <node-name> | grep Taints

b. Add a Taint to a node

kubectl taint nodes <nodename> <key>=<value>:<effect>

Tip

Here you can use NoSchedule, NoExecute, and NoSchedule in place of .

c. Remove a Taint from a Node

kubectl taint nodes <nodename> <key>-

d. Adding tolerations to a pod YAML

Add the following section to your pod YAML

tolerations:
- key: "<key>"
  operator: "Equal"
  value: "<value>"
  effect: "<effect>"

e. Get Toleration in a Running Pod

kubectl get pod <pod-name> -o=jsonpath='{.spec.tolerations}'

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10 Patch

a. Patch using a file

kubectl patch <resource <resource-name> --patch-file patch-file.yaml

patch file looks like:

spec:
  template:
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: patch-demo-ctr-3
        image: gcr.io/google-samples/node-hello:1.0

c. Patch using a string

kubectl patch <resource> <resource-name> -p '<pathcing-string>'

Example

kubectl patch deployment sampledeploy -p '{"spec": {"replicas": 2}}'

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11. Set Command

a. Set a resource with specific option

kubectl set <resource-type> <resource-name> [options]

Example

kubectl set deployment sampledeploy --replicas=3

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12. Port Forward

kubectl port-forward forwards connections to a local port to a port on a pod. Compared to kubectl proxy, kubectl port-forward is more generic as it can forward TCP traffic while kubectl proxy can only forward HTTP traffic.
kubectl port-forward is useful for testing/debugging purposes so you can access your service locally without exposing it.

a. Syntax

kubectl port-forward -n <namespace> <resource-type>/<resource-name> <localhost-port>:<pod-port>

Example

kubectl port-forward -n default deploy/sampledeploy 8080:80

Once the connection is succesfull from local port to target resource port, then we can test local connection using curl to the end point or we can access the end point using localhost:8080

Testing

curl -X GET -s http://localhost:80/
curl -X GET -s http://localhost:80/_cluster/health

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13. Create a Resource

a. Create a resource in imperative way.

kubectl create <resource-type> <resource-name> --PARAMETER1=VALUE1

Example

kubectl create deployment sampledeploy --image=sampleimage

For Pod

kubectl run samplepod --image=sampleimage

b. Create a resource in declarative way

kubectl create -f manifest-file.yaml

c. Create/update resource

kubectl apply -f manifest-file.yaml

d. Create resources from all manifest files in a directory

kubectl create -f ./directory

e. Create resources from a link

kubectl create -f 'URL'

f. Edit and update the resources

kubectl edit <resource-type> <resource-name>

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14. Delete a Resource

a. Delete a resource by name

kubectl -n <namespace> delete <resource-type> <resource-name>

b. Delete a resource using a manifest file

kubectl delete -f manifest-file.yaml

d. Deleting resources with a label selector

kubectl delete <resource-type> --selector=<key>=<value>
kubectl delete <resource-type> --selector=<key>

Caution

PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK BEFORE RUNNING THESE COMMANDS!!

e. Deleting all resources in current namespace

kubectl delete all --all

f. Deleting all resources in specific namespace

kubectl -n <namespace> delete all --all

g. Deleting all resources matching a label selector

kubectl delete all --selector=<key>=<value>
kubectl delete all --selector=<key>

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Contact Information

If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out:

Email: muppedaanvesh@gmail.com 📧
LinkedIn: @Anvesh & @Manasa 🌐
GitHub Issues: Project Issues 🚀

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Feedback Welcome!

We welcome your feedback and suggestions! If you encounter any issues or have ideas for improvements, please open an issue on our GitHub repository. 🚀

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Welcome to Kubectl cheatsheet

Table of Contents

1. Cluster

a. Listing all the resources in cluster

b. Listing all the api versions in cluster

c. Get the configurations of saved clusters

d. Get the Kubernetes version running on the client and server

e. Get everything from the cluster

f. to Check Access

g. to check IP range for pods within the namespaces

2. Switching between contexts

a. Get all preconfigured contexts and see which one is active:

b. Get the current config name

c. Get the current config with more details

d. Switch between the predefined contexts(Switch to a context/cluster)

e. Setting default namespace

3. Rollout

a. kubectl rollout syntax

b. To check the rollout status

c. To get the rollout history

d. To restart the deployment

e. To pause the deployment updates

f. To resume the deployment updates

g. To undo the deployment updates to previous revision

4. Labels

a. Adding a label to a specific resource

b. Removing a label to a specific resource

c. List all the labels from a resource

d. Overwrite the resource label

5. Pod

a. To list the pods in specific namespace

b. To list all pods in all namespaces

c. Exec into a pod

bash

sh

In windows

bash

sh

d. Watch a pod status

e. Print env variables of a pod

f. To make a curl to a pod

sh

bash

g. Delete all pods which are evicted with namespace wise

h. To get the pod definition in YAML format

i. To get pod definition possible options

j. Get the pod deatils with wide options

k. View detailed information about a pod

l. Create or apply a pod configuration

m. Delete a pod

Delete a specific pod

Delete all pods

n. Execute a command in a running pod

o. Copy files to/from a pod

Copy a file from your local machine to a pod

Copy a file from a pod to your local machine

p. Get pod events

q. Get resource usage

6. Nodes

a. List nodes

b. List nodes with the resource usage

c. Get node details

d. Cordon a node

e. Uncordon a node

f. Drain Nodes

g. Get the kubelet version for a specific node.

7. Streaming With Logs

a. Get logs from a pod

b. Stream Logs in Real-time

c. Specify Container in Multi-container Pods

d. Retrieve Previous Container Logs

e. Tail the Logs with a Specific Number of Lines

f. Filter the logs based on a time window

g. Add timestamps in the Logs