In the world of container orchestration, Kubernetes has become the de facto standard. Despite its simplicity in some respects, it has also introduced new levels of complexity in the deployment and management of distributed applications and services.
To assist you with understanding the most common kubectl commands & plugins, we've created a cheat sheet as a reference for operations engineers, software engineers, and cloud infrastructure managers who use Kubernetes primarily.
If you think anyone on your team would benefit from learning some of the most essential Kubernetes commands, please save the sheet below and share it with them.
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Using logs when troubleshooting your Kubernetes cluster and applications is vital. The Kubernetes cluster and applications maintain detailed logs of every event, which can be used to narrow down the root causes of failures.
| Role Based Access Control - Plugins |
Description |
| rakkess |
Show an access matrix for k8s server resources |
| kubectl-who-can |
Display who has RBAC permissions to perform actions on different resources in Kubernetes |
| Storage - Plugins |
Description |
| kubectl-plugin-pvc |
For PVC operations, a simple kubectl binary plugin. |
| kubectl-dfi |
Images on Kubernetes nodes can be listed and shown by their disk resources. |
| kubectl-df-pv |
Allowing administrators to manage persistent volumes with a DF (disk-free)-like utility. |
| Exec - Plugins |
Description |
| kubectl-enter |
Exec into node via kubectl. |
| kubectl-cssh |
A kubectl plugin to ssh into Kubernetes nodes within separate tmux panes. |
| kubectl-iexec |
Kubectl plugin to interactively exec into a pod. |
| kubectl-ssh |
A kubectl plugin to ssh into a pod's node. |
| kubectl-kcn |
A script and kubectl plugin which makes it easier to ssh into nodes within your cluster. |
| kubectl-exec-all |
Kubectl plugin to execute a command in all running pods of a resource. |
| kubectl-nsenter |
Simple kubectl plugin to take pod name, SSH onto node and spawn an nsenter shell. |
| kvaps kubectl-ssh |
Tiny plugin for connecting to node in the cluster over SSH. |
| kubectl-warp |
Kubernetes CLI plugin for syncing and executing local files in Pod on Kubernetes. |
| kubectl-plugin-ssh-jump |
A kubectl plugin to SSH into Kubernetes nodes using a SSH jump host Pod. |
| kubectl-texec |
Attach to the pod matching the label with Tmux. |
| Linting - Plugins |
Description |
| kubectl-lint |
Performs linting. |
| kubectl-neat |
Improves the readability of Kubernetes' yaml and json output. |
| ksort |
Sort manifest files according to kind. |
| Debugging - Plugins |
Description |
| kubectl-debug |
Debug your pod by a new container with troubleshooting tools already installed. |
| kube-profefe |
Makes continuous profiling easier to perform in Kubernetes. |
| Debugging - Plugins |
Description |
| kubectl-sudo |
Run Kubernetes commands with the security privileges of another user. |
| outdated |
Find and report outdated images running in a Kubernetes cluster. |
| kubectl-kubesec |
Security risk analysis for Kubernetes resources. |
| Networking - Plugins |
Description |
| ksniff |
An easy way to sniff on Kubernetes pods with tcpdump and Wireshark. |
| kubectl-swiftnp |
A kubectl plugin that renders details about network policies. |
| kubectl-trace |
Using the kubectl networking command, you can schedule bpftrace programs on your Kubernetes cluster. |
| kubectl-capture |
A plugin for kubectl that triggers a Sysdig capture. |
| Pods |
Description (# Get commands with basic output) |
| kubectl get services |
# List all services in the namespace. |
| kubectl get pods --all-namespaces |
# List all pods in all namespaces. |
| kubectl get pods -0 wide |
# List all pods in the current namespace, with more details. |
| kubectl get deployment my-dep |
# List a particular deployment. |
| kubectl get pods |
# List all pods in the namespace. |
| kubectl get pod my-pod -o yaml |
# Get a pod's YAML. |
| Deleting Resource |
Description |
| kubectl delete -f ./pod.json |
# Delete a pod using the type and name specified in pod.json. |
| kubectl delete pod unwanted -now |
# Delete a pod with no grace period. |
| kubectl delete pod, service baz foo |
# Delete pods and services with same names "baz" and "foo". |
| kubectl delete pods,services -l name=myLabel |
# Delete pods and services with label name=myLabel. |
| kubectl -n my-ns delete pod, svc -all |
# Delete all pods and services in namespace my-ns. |
| kubectl get pods -n mynamespace -o no-headers=true | awk '/pattern1 |
pattern2/{print$1}' | xargs kubectl delete -n mynamespace pod |
| Namespace Switching |
Description |
Additional Info |
| kubectx |
Switch faster between clusters and namespaces in Kubectl. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| kubectl-ns |
Simple kubectl plugin to display/switch namespaces. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| kubectl-use |
Plugin for simple switch kubernetes contexts and namespaces. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| kubectl-switch |
Kubernetes multi-cluster command-line management tool. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| caas-one kubectl-switch |
Kubernetes multi-cluster command-line management tool. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| juanvallejo kubectl-ns |
Kubernetes multi-cluster command-line management tool. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| km |
EKS MFA kubeconfig management tool. |
Context/Namespace Switching |
| Resource CRUDs |
Description |
Additional Info |
| ketall |
Like kubectl get all, but get really all resources. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-grep |
Filter Kubernetes resources by matching their names. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-all |
Kubectl plugin to list all resources in given namespaces. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-watch |
Watches Kubernetes resources. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-custom-cols |
A kubectl plugin that helps you customize output columns. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubepod |
Search pods faster in kubectl. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-resources |
Plugin to access kubernetes resources requests, limits, and usage. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-free |
Show various requested resources on Kubernetes nodes. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-match-name |
Regex matching for resource names. |
Resource CRUDs |
| kubectl-elksporter |
A simple Ruby-script to exports k8sresources. |
Resource CRUDs |
| Authentication |
Description |
Additional Info |
| kubelogin |
Kubectl plugin for Kubernetes OpenID Connect authentication (kubectl iidc-login). |
Authn/Authz |
| k8s-pixy-auth |
K8s plugin to authentication against an OIDC compatible issuer using PKCE (pixy) flow. |
Authn/Authz |
| kubectl-login |
Kubectl plugin for re-authenticate into OpenID Connect Provider via CLI. |
Authn/Authz |
| zjj2wry kubectl-logiw |
The kubectl plugin is used to login to the Kubernetes cluster by OIDC authentication. |
Authn/Authz |
| kubectl-pass |
Kubectl plugin for integration with pass (the standard UNIX password manager). |
Authn/Authz |
| Other Commands |
Description |
Additional Info |
| kubectl-open-svc-plugin |
Kubectl open-sec plugin makes services accessible via their ClusterIP from outside your cluster. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-doctor |
K8s cluster triangle plugin - scan your cluster for anomalies (brew doctor equivalent). |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-view-serviceaccount-kubeconfig-plugin |
A kubectl plugin that shows a kubeconfig to access the apiserver with a specific service account. |
Uncategorized |
| unfork |
Kubectl plugin to find forked Helm Charts and other k8s resources and unfork them. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-config-merge |
A Kubectl plugin for merging multiple kubeconfig files, a cli-runtime example. |
Uncategorized |
| konfig |
Konfig helps to merge, split, or import kubeconfig files. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectlsafe |
Safe operations in kubectl with plugin kubectlsafe. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-rainbow |
Simple binary to colorize output. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-ansible |
A sensible dynamic inventory plugin for Kubernetes cluster nodes. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-config-cleanup |
A kubectl plugin for automatically cleaning up your kubeconfig. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-gitlab-bootstrap |
Quickly add a Kubernetes cluster to a GitLab project. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-captain |
Kubectl plugin for captain. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-preflight |
Preflight Checks and Support Bundles Framework for Kubernetes Applications. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-support-bundle |
Holds all scripts to create packages and manifest files required for publishing with virtual binary as a krew package for kubectl. |
Uncategorized |
| kubectl-virt-plugin |
A CLI tool providing you with status and configuration of Kubernetes cluster fleet. |
Uncategorized |
| kcf |
Kubernetes PreUpGrade (Checker). |
Uncategorized |
| kubepug |
Uncategorized |
Uncategorized |
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Try learning something new by reading our posts about open source log aggregators or use cases for Elasticsearch if you enjoyed this cheat sheet covering the most useful Linux commands.
