Minikube Introduction

What Is The Minikube?

• Minikube is local Kubernetes, focusing on making it easy to learn and develop for Kubernetes.
• Minikube quickly sets up a local Kubernetes cluster on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
• What you’ll need
  • 2 CPUs or more
  • 2GB of free memory
  • 20GB of free disk space
  • Internet connection
  • Container or virtual machine manager, such as:  Docker, QEMU, Hyperkit, Hyper-V, KVM, Parallels, Podman, VirtualBox, or VMware Fusion/Workstation

Installing Minikube

• Please view Linux Setup For Developer for installing Minikube on your Linux system.
• If you are using Window or MacOs please view this page for more information.

Minikube Commands

• After installing the Minikube, you can use two commands below to start MiniKube and the DashBoard for the Minikube.

minikube start
minikube dashboard

• You can find all commands of Minikube in the table below.

Command	Description
minikube start	Starts a local Kubernetes cluster.
minikube dashboard	Opens the Kubernetes dashboard in your browser.
minikube status	Displays the status of the local Kubernetes cluster.
minikube ip	Displays the IP address of the local Kubernetes cluster.
minikube delete	Deletes the local Kubernetes cluster.
minikube image load	Loads a Docker image into the local Kubernetes cluster.
minikube service	Creates a Kubernetes service for a Pod.
minikube profile list	Lists all minikube profiles.
minikube profile use	Switches to a minikube profile.
minikube help	Displays help for a minikube command.
minikube addons list	Lists all available addons.
minikube addons enable [addon]	Enables an addon.
minikube addons disable [addon]	Disables an addon.
minikube config	Shows the minikube configuration.
minikube config set [key] [value]	Sets a minikube configuration value.
minikube ssh	Opens a shell to the minikube VM.
minikube ssh-key	Prints the SSH key for the minikube VM.
minikube docker-env	Prints environment variables for connecting to the Docker daemon inside minikube.
minikube podman-env	Prints environment variables for connecting to the Podman daemon inside minikube.
minikube cp	Copies a file or directory from your host machine to the minikube VM.
minikube mount	Mounts a directory from your host machine to the minikube VM.
minikube logs	Displays the logs for a Pod or container.
minikube pause	Pauses the minikube cluster.
minikube unpause	Unpauses the minikube cluster.
minikube tunnel	Opens a tunnel to the Kubernetes API server.
minikube update-check	Checks for updates to minikube.
minikube update-context	Updates the kubectl context for minikube.
minikube version	Displays the version of minikube.

Minikube Architecture

• As we knew in Kubernetes Introduction, to set up a Kubernetes production cluster, we would to prepare multiple master and worker nodes. It means we have to prepare several separated virtual or physical machines. So for learning or testing purpose on local it will take many efforts and resources.
• Minikube is simpler it is basically one node cluster where the master processes and the work processes both run on one node and this node will have a docker container runtime pre-installed so we will be able to run the containers or the pods with containers on this node.

• The way it is going to run on our machine is through a Container or virtual machine manager, such as: Docker, QEMU, Hyperkit, Hyper-V, KVM, Parallels, Podman, VirtualBox, or VMware Fusion/Workstation. So basically Minikube will create a container or a Virtual Machine environment on our machine and our node will run in that environment.
• Overall, Minikube is a one node kubernetes cluster that runs in container or a Virtual Machine on our machine which we can use for testing kubernetes on our local.

Kubectl

• Kubectl is a command line tool for interacting with Kubernetes clusters. It is the primary interface through which administrators and developers can manage and control Kubernetes resources. Kubectl allows us to perform various operations on Kubernetes clusters, including deploying applications, inspecting and managing cluster resources, debugging applications, and more.

• Please view Linux Setup For Developer for installing Kubectl on your Linux system.
• Below is all commands of Kubectl which are grouped into tables.

Cluster Management

Command	Description
kubectl config	Manage kubeconfig files and contexts.
kubectl cluster-info	Display cluster information.

Resource Management

Command	Description
kubectl apply	Apply configuration changes to cluster resources.
kubectl get	Retrieve resource information.
kubectl describe	View detailed resource information.
kubectl create	Create a new resource.
kubectl delete	Delete a resource.
kubectl edit	Edit a resource's configuration.
kubectl exec	Run a command inside a Pod.
kubectl logs	View container logs.
kubectl port-forward	Forward ports from a Pod to your local machine.
kubectl attach	Attach to a running container.

Resource Inspection and Status

Command	Description
kubectl describe	Describe resources in detail.
kubectl get events	List events related to resources.
kubectl top	Display resource usage statistics (e.g., CPU, memory).
kubectl rollout status	Check the status of a rollout (e.g., for Deployments).
kubectl rollout history	View rollout history.

Resource Scaling

Command	Description
kubectl scale	Scale the number of replicas for a resource.
kubectl autoscale	Configure horizontal pod autoscaling.

Resource Editing and Patching

Command	Description
kubectl edit	Edit resource configurations.
kubectl patch	Apply partial changes to a resource.
kubectl apply -f -	Apply changes from stdin.

Resource Labeling

Command	Description
kubectl label	Add or update labels on resources.
kubectl annotate	Add or update annotations on resources.

Resource Port Forwarding

Command	Description
kubectl port-forward	Forward ports from a Pod to your local machine.

Resource Deletion

Command	Description
kubectl delete	Delete resources by name, label, or other criteria.
kubectl delete all	Delete all resources in a namespace.

Resource Inspection and Debugging

Command	Description
kubectl get logs	Fetch logs from a container.
kubectl describe pod	Describe details of a Pod.
kubectl logs -f	Stream container logs.

Resource Status Checking

Command	Description
kubectl get pods	Check the status of Pods.
kubectl get services	Check the status of Services.
kubectl get nodes	Check the status of cluster nodes.
kubectl get pv/pvc	Check the status of PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims.

Resource Exporting and Importing

Command	Description
kubectl get -o json/yaml	Export resource configurations.
kubectl apply -f	Import resources from configuration files.

Resource Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Command	Description
kubectl auth	Manage Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) settings.
kubectl auth can-i	Check if a user or group has specific permissions.

Namespace Management

Command	Description
kubectl create namespace	Create a new namespace.
kubectl delete namespace	Delete a namespace and its resources.

Context and Configuration

Command	Description
kubectl config	Manage kubeconfig files, contexts, and clusters.
kubectl config use-context	Switch between contexts.
kubectl config current-context	Display the current context.

Other Commands

Command	Description
kubectl version	Display the client and server Kubernetes versions.
kubectl wait	Wait for resources to reach a specific condition.

Debugging and Troubleshooting

Command	Description
kubectl debug	Create a new Pod for debugging purposes.
kubectl trace	Trace system calls in running containers.

See Also

• Linux Setup For Developer
• Kubernetes Introduction
• Minikube Sample Project

References

• Minikube