Install the kubectl Command Line

In order to start working on a Kubernetes cluster, it is necessary to install the Kubernetes command line (kubectl). Follow these steps to install the kubectl CLI:

• Execute the following commands to install the kubectl CLI. OS_DISTRIBUTION is a placeholder for the binary distribution of kubectl, remember to replace it with the corresponding distribution for your Operating System (OS).

    $ curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/$(curl -s https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/stable.txt)/bin/OS_DISTRIBUTION/amd64/kubectl
    $ chmod +x ./kubectl
    $ sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
  

  TIP: Once the kubectl CLI is installed, you can obtain information about the current version with the kubectl version command.

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  NOTE: You can also install kubectl by using the sudo apt-get install kubectl command.

• Check that kubectl is correctly installed and configured by running the kubectl cluster-info command:

    $ kubectl cluster-info
  

  NOTE: The kubectl cluster-info command shows the IP addresses of the Kubernetes node master and its services.

  

• You can also verify the cluster by checking the nodes. Use the following command to list the connected nodes:

    $ kubectl get nodes
  

  

• To get complete information on each node, run the following:

    $ kubectl describe node
  

  

Learn more about the kubectl CLI.