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Setting up kubectl

kubectl is the official CLI of the Kubernetes project.
It enables full‑featured interaction with existing Kubernetes clusters via their API.

In the context of NETWAYS Managed Kubernetes, kubectl can be used either with a generic Admin configuration or in the context of an NWS-ID.

Installation of kubectl

kubectl is available for all common operating systems. Installation can be done either via package managers or by downloading the binary.

Installation as Binary

The Kubernetes project provides release binaries for kubectl for at least all supported Kubernetes versions:

ARCH="arm64"
if [ $(uname -m) = "x86_64" ]; then
    ARCH="amd64"
fi
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/${ARCH}/kubectl"
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl

ARCH="arm64"
if [ $(uname -m) = "x86_64" ]; then
    ARCH="amd64"
fi
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/darwin/${ARCH}/kubectl"
chmod +x ./kubectl
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
sudo chown root: /usr/local/bin/kubectl

curl.exe -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.35.2/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe"
PATH variable on Windows

After the installation on Windows, the download directory of the kubectl binary must be added to the PATH environment variable.

Installation via Package Manager

Alternatively to downloading the release binaries, kubectl can be installed on many common operating systems via package managers:

version=$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
version=${version%.*}
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo mkdir -p -m 755 /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL "https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/deb/Release.key" | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/deb/ /" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo chmod 644 /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

version=$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
version=${version%.*}
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/rpm/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/rpm/repodata/repomd.xml.key
EOF
sudo dnf install -y kubectl

version=$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
version=${version%.*}
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/zypp/repos.d/kubernetes.repo
[kubernetes]
name=Kubernetes
baseurl=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/rpm/
enabled=1
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/$version/rpm/repodata/repomd.xml.key
EOF
sudo zypper update
# confirm key handling with 't' or 'a'
sudo zypper install -y kubectl

snap install kubectl --classic

brew install kubectl

sudo port selfupdate
sudo port install kubectl

choco install kubernetes-cli

scoop install kubectl

winget install -e --id Kubernetes.kubectl

Verifying the Installation

The successful installation of the kubectl CLI can be verified with the following command:

kubectl version --client

The currently latest version is v1.35.x

Configuring kubectl

After installation, kubectl must be configured to interact with the desired clusters.

As mentioned at the beginning, this can be done either in the Admin context or in the context of an NWS-ID.

kubectl with NWS-ID

Setting up kubectl with the NWS-ID requires the tool kubelogin.

The so‑called kubeconfig can be downloaded from MyNWS.

To do this, navigate in MyNWS to the cluster overview and select Download Kubeconfig from the action menu of the desired cluster.

Download the kubeconfig from MyNWS

A popup opens with download options for NWS-ID or the Admin context.

Download options for NWS-ID or Admin context

The desired option can be selected by choosing the appropriate tab and clicking Kubeconfig to download.

Configuration under $HOME/.kube/config

Afterwards, the kubeconfig is placed under $HOME/.kube/config.

This is the default directory that kubectl searches for a configuration.

Configuration via environment variable $KUBECONFIG

Alternatively, the kubeconfig to use can be set via the $KUBECONFIG environment variable.

KUBECONFIG=/tmp/nws-kubeconfig.yaml kubectl cluster-info

This enables working with multiple configuration files.

Configuration of multiple Kubeconfigs

If you frequently work with multiple kubectl configurations, third‑party tools are useful.

kubie or kubectx allow, for example, managing and loading multiple independent configuration files.