Setting up kubectl

kubectl is a command-line program for interacting with the Kubernetes API. The following steps should be done from a local workstation to configure kubectl to work with a new cluster.

Download the kubectl Executable

Download kubectl from the Kubernetes release artifact site with the curl tool.

The linux kubectl binary can be fetched with a command like:

$ curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.2.4/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

On an OS X workstation, replace linux in the URL above with darwin:

$ curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/v1.2.4/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl

After downloading the binary, ensure it is executable and move it into your PATH:

$ chmod +x kubectl
$ mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

Configure kubectl

Configure kubectl to connect to the target cluster using the following commands, replacing several values as indicated:

• Replace ${MASTER_HOST} with the master node address or name used in previous steps
• Replace ${CA_CERT} with the absolute path to the ca.pem created in previous steps
• Replace ${ADMIN_KEY} with the absolute path to the admin-key.pem created in previous steps
• Replace ${ADMIN_CERT} with the absolute path to the admin.pem created in previous steps

$ kubectl config set-cluster default-cluster --server=https://${MASTER_HOST} --certificate-authority=${CA_CERT}
$ kubectl config set-credentials default-admin --certificate-authority=${CA_CERT} --client-key=${ADMIN_KEY} --client-certificate=${ADMIN_CERT}
$ kubectl config set-context default-system --cluster=default-cluster --user=default-admin
$ kubectl config use-context default-system

Verify kubectl Configuration and Connection

Check that the client is configured properly by using kubectl to inspect the cluster:

$ kubectl get nodes
NAME          LABELS                               STATUS
X.X.X.X       kubernetes.io/hostname=X.X.X.X       Ready