Kubectl

Kubectl is the standard command-line tool for interacting with Kubernetes clusters across all major cloud providers (AKS, EKS, GKE) and on-premises environments. It enables you to deploy, manage, and troubleshoot Kubernetes resources efficiently.

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Installation

Linux/WSL

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

NixOS

Add to your configuration.nix:

{ pkgs, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [ kubectl ];
}

Then run:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch

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Connecting to Managed Clusters

• AKS: az aks get-credentials --resource-group <rg> --name <cluster>

• EKS: aws eks update-kubeconfig --region <region> --name <cluster>

• GKE: gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster> --region <region>

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Common Usage Examples

• Create a deployment:

  kubectl create deployment webapp --image=nginx:1.25

• View deployment status:

  kubectl rollout status deployment/webapp

• Scale a deployment:

  kubectl scale deployment/webapp --replicas=5

• Update deployment image:

  kubectl set image deployment/webapp nginx=nginx:1.26

• Create a service:

  kubectl expose deployment webapp --type=LoadBalancer --port=80

• View pod logs:

  kubectl logs <pod-name>

• Create a secret:

  kubectl create secret generic mysecret --from-literal=key=value

• Create a ConfigMap:

  kubectl create configmap myconfig --from-literal=key=value

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Real-Life DevOps Scenarios

• Use kubectl in CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure Pipelines, GitLab CI) for automated deployments and rollbacks.

• Integrate with GitOps tools (ArgoCD, Flux) for declarative cluster management.

• Use LLMs (Copilot, Claude) to generate manifests and troubleshoot errors.

• Automate cluster context switching for multi-cloud workflows.

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Best Practices (2025)

• Always use the latest stable version of kubectl

• Use kubectl --context to manage multiple clusters

• Validate YAML with kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f <file>

• Use kubectl explain <resource> for quick documentation

• Prefer declarative (apply) over imperative (create, edit) workflows

• Use RBAC and namespaces for security and isolation

Common Pitfalls

• Not matching kubectl version to cluster version (can cause errors)

• Forgetting to set the correct context before running commands

• Applying unvalidated YAML (syntax or schema errors)

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References

• Kubectl Official Docs

• Kubectl Cheat Sheet

• AKS Quickstart

• EKS User Guide

• GKE Quickstart