Kubernetes - Tools, Tips & Tricks

k9s

k9s: ../Kubernetes CLI To Manage Your Clusters In Style!

k9s demo

Usage

When first opened, k9s show the list of pods.

From the Pods view, you can:

Change the selected pod (Up, Down),
- then doing actions with that selected pod (by pressing the key bindings in blue color), e.g.
  - Describe that pod, by pressing d
  - Logs, show logs of all containers of that pod, by pressing l
  - …
  - View that selected pod, by pressing Enter
Change the namespace (by pressing the key bindings in pink color)
- to all by pressing 0
- to default by pressing 1 (by default, k9s use default namespace)
Change to another list (resource)
- List all the resources, by pressing Ctrl +A
- Change to the view for that resource, by pressing Enter
for example: change back to the default view - Pods
- Ctrl + A
  - Downs to select pods (the 2nd one)
  - Enter
- Press : to enter command mode
  - Type in the command for pod: pod (or any of po,pod,pods,v1/pods - showed in Ctrl + A)

Action	Key Binding	Note
Change the selected resource	`Up` - `Down`
View (the selected resource)	`Enter`	Available for any selected resource
Back	`Esc`
Quit K9s	`Ctrl + C`
Help	`?`	Available at any view, change depend on which view is showing
Show all available resource alias	`Ctrl + A`	1. `Up`/`Down`; 2. `Enter` (to close the `Aliases` view: use `Ese` or press `Ctrl + A` again)

Headlamp

Headlamp¹ (a CNCF Sandbox project²): A Kubernetes web UI that is fully-featured, user-friendly and extensible

Headlamp demo

https://github.com/headlamp-k8s/headlamp

https://www.cncf.io/projects/headlamp/

Tips & Tricks

Use the right version of `kubectl` for each cluster/project with `asdf`

You must use a kubectl version that is compatible with your cluster control plane (kube-apiserver).

Why

kubectl is supported within one minor version (older or newer) of kube-apiserver.

e.g.

kube-apiserver is at 1.30
kubectl is supported at 1.31, 1.30, and 1.29

For more information, see

How?

See the demo at asdf-demo repository

Make aliases for `kubectl`

Just a simple alias k for kubectl
- For zsh
```
alias k="kubectl"
```
Use shell plugin that provides a lot of aliases, e.g.
- oh-my-zsh’s plugin kubectl Some useful aliases the plugin adds: k, kaf, kga. For the full lists, see kubectl.plugin.zsh | ohmyzsh.
- If you want more, kubectl-aliases add 800 aliases, see the full lists and the syntax explanation

Show cluster information in shell prompt

oh-my-zsh plugin kubectx
Use starship prompt, with its command for Kubernetes
Use fish shell, which show it by default

Add shell completions for `kubectl`

Configuration for completion

Add color to `kubectl` output with `kubecolor`

kubecolor colorizes your kubectl command output and does nothing else.

You can use kubecolor as a complete alternative of kubect

kubectl get pods - demo

kubectl describe pod - demo

Configuration

zsh

# .zshrc
alias k="kubectl"

if [ "$(command -v kubecolor)" ]; then
  alias kubectl="kubecolor"
  compdef kubecolor=kubectl
fi

fish

# ~/.config/fish/config.fish
if status is-interactive
  abbr --add k kubectl # https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/abbr.html

  if  command -v kubecolor &>/dev/null
      alias kubectl=kubecolor # https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/alias.html

      # make kubecolor inherit completions from kubectl # https://fishshell.com/docs/current/cmds/complete.html
      complete -c kubecolor -w kubectl
  end
end

Switch between contexts (cluster) with `kubectx`

kubectx: ../a tool to switch between contexts (clusters) on kubectl faster.

kubectx demo

Switch between namespaces with `kubens`

kubens: ../a tool to switch between Kubernetes namespaces (and configure them for kubectl) easily.

kubens demo

Switch between contexts/namspace with `kubeswitch`

kubeswitch: ../kubectx for operators, treat clusters as cattle, not pets.

kubeswitch demo

LQT's Personal Notes