Kubernetes Environments

The steps to initialize the kubectl command are different for the various Kubernetes environments.

Minikube

Minikube is a tool that makes it easy to run Kubernetes locally. Minikube runs a single-node Kubernetes cluster inside a VM on your laptop for users looking to try out Kubernetes or develop with it day-to-day. For more information, see the Minikube website: https://kubernetes.io/docs/getting-started-guides/minikube/.

To set the context for the kubectl utility use the following command.

kubectl config use-context minikube

IBM Cloud

The IBM cloud container service provides advanced capabilities for building cloud-native apps, adding DevOps to existing apps, and relieving the pain around security, scale, and infrastructure management. For more information, see the IBM Cloud website: https://www.ibm.com/cloud/container-service

To set the context for the kubectl utility use the IBM Cloud CLI to obtain the kubectl configuration file.

ibmcloud ks cluster config -c <cluster-name>

Microsoft™ Azure Container Registry

Azure Container Service (AKS) manages your hosted Kubernetes environment, making it quick and easy to deploy and manage containerized applications without container orchestration expertise. It also eliminates the burden of ongoing operations and maintenance by provisioning, upgrading, and scaling resources on demand, without taking your applications offline. For more information, see the Microsoft™ Azure AKS website: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/aks/

To set the context for the kubectl utility use the Microsoft Azure CLI.

az aks get-credentials --resource-group <group-name> --name <cluster-name>

Google Cloud Platform

Google Cloud Platform lets you build and host applications and websites, store data, and analyze data on Google's scalable infrastructure. For more information, see the Google Cloud website: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/

To set the context for the kubectl utility use the Google Cloud CLI.

gcloud container clusters get-credentials <cluster-name>

Red Hat OpenShift

Red Hat OpenShift is an open source container application platform based on the Kubernetes container orchestrator for enterprise application development and deployment. For more information, see https://www.openshift.com/.

To set the context for the kubectl utility use the Red Hat OpenShift CLI.

oc login

The oc binary is the preferred mechanism for accessing the Red Hat OpenShift CLI and can be used interchangeably with the kubectl utility.