kubectl, helm, and Orka

On this page, you will learn how to:

Check if you're connected to the cluster and that helm is configured properly.
Use kubectl to deploy a service to all nodes and look at the load balancer behavior.
Install a helm chart.

📘
Quick command summary
kubectl config view
helm env
helm repo [list / add]
kubectl create -f \*.yaml [\*.yaml must exist on your path]
kubectl get all
kubectl describe
helm install NAME REPO
helm list

🚧
Apple ARM-based Nodes Support
Deploying Kubernetes resources is currently supported on Intel nodes only.
Read more about Apple ARM-based Support to see which commands and options are supported for Apple ARM-based nodes.

Before you begin

Install kubectl and helm and create an Orka kube account. See Tapping into Kubernetes.

Familiarize yourself with the limitations imposed on your cluster. See Kubernetes Limitations in Orka.

Step 1: Verify that you're connected to the cluster

Run a kubectl configuration check.

kubectl config view

If configured properly, you will see a similar output:

apiVersion: v1
clusters:
- cluster:
    certificate-authority-data: DATA+OMITTED
    server: https://10.10.10.99:6443
  name: kubernetes
contexts:
- context:
    cluster: kubernetes
    namespace: sandbox
    user: mykubeuser
  name: mykubeuser@kubernetes
current-context: mykubeuser@kubernetes
kind: Config
preferences: {}
users:
- name: mykubeuser
  user:
    token: eyJhbGciOiJSUz...

If the configuration is empty instead, check Tapping into Kubernetes.

Run a helm version and configuration check.

helm version

helm env

You must run Helm 3.

HELM_NAMESPACE should be set to sandbox instead of empty or kube-system.

Check if you've added the helm repos.

helm repo list

If the list is empty, you need to add some helm repos with helm repo add. For example: helm repo add stable https://kubernetes-charts.storage.googleapis.com/

Step 2: Use kubectl to deploy a service

Create a simple hello-kubernetes.yaml file in the current working directory of your terminal.

# hello-kubernetes.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: hello-kubernetes
spec:
  externalIPs:
  - 10.10.12.5
  type: LoadBalancer
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 8080
  selector:
    app: hello-kubernetes
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: hello-kubernetes
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: hello-kubernetes
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: hello-kubernetes
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: hello-kubernetes
        image: paulbouwer/hello-kubernetes:1.5
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
      securityContext:
        runAsUser: 1000

Create the service and the pods.

kubectl create -f hello-kubernetes.yaml

Verify the deployment.

kubectl get all

You should see a similar output:

NAME                                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/hello-kubernetes-676f8cf4c4-5nms6   1/1     Running   0          8s
pod/hello-kubernetes-676f8cf4c4-5xznz   1/1     Running   0          8s
pod/hello-kubernetes-676f8cf4c4-g42w2   1/1     Running   0          8s

NAME                       TYPE           CLUSTER-IP      EXTERNAL-IP              PORT(S)        AGE
service/hello-kubernetes   LoadBalancer   10.101.35.135   10.10.10.93,10.10.12.5   80:32409/TCP   10s

NAME                               READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/hello-kubernetes   3/3     3            3           9s

NAME                                          DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/hello-kubernetes-676f8cf4c4   3         3         3       9s

Check the replica distribution. The expected behavior is for each replica to occupy a separate node.

kubectl describe pods | grep Node

You should see a similar output:

Node:           macpro-3/10.10.10.6
Node-Selectors:  <none>
Node:           macpro-1/10.10.10.4
Node-Selectors:  <none>
Node:           macpro-2/10.10.10.5
Node-Selectors:  <none>

Step 3: Use helm

Install a helm chart that works within the scope of your RBAC access to the cluster (see Limitations) and that is compatible with the Kubernetes version of your environment.
For example: cerebro.

helm install cerebro stable/cerebro

Check your chart.

helm list

kubectl get all

You should see a similar output:

NAME   	NAMESPACE	REVISION	UPDATED                             	STATUS  	CHART        	APP VERSION
cerebro	sandbox  	1       	2020-02-21 18:33:42.209952 +0200 EET	deployed	cerebro-1.3.1	0.8.5   

---

NAME                           READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
pod/cerebro-868cf95bbf-99kx2   0/1     Running   0          14s

NAME              TYPE        CLUSTER-IP    EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)   AGE
service/cerebro   ClusterIP   10.98.27.91   <none>        80/TCP    14s

NAME                      READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
deployment.apps/cerebro   0/1     1            0           14s

NAME                                 DESIRED   CURRENT   READY   AGE
replicaset.apps/cerebro-868cf95bbf   1         1         0       15s

What's next

Explore other Kubernetes operations within the limits of the RBAC configuration of your cluster.

kubectl, helm, and Orka

📘
Quick command summary

🚧
Apple ARM-based Nodes Support

Before you begin

Step 1: Verify that you're connected to the cluster

Step 2: Use kubectl to deploy a service

Step 3: Use helm

What's next

📘Quick command summary

🚧Apple ARM-based Nodes Support

Before you begin

Step 1: Verify that you're connected to the cluster

Step 2: Use kubectl to deploy a service

Step 3: Use helm

What's next

📘
Quick command summary

🚧
Apple ARM-based Nodes Support