Kubernetes Cheatsheet
Essential kubectl commands for managing Kubernetes clusters, pods, deployments, and services.
Useful Kubernetes Resources
- Kubernetes Docs - Official documentation
- kubectl Reference - Command reference
- Kubernetes Patterns - Design patterns for K8s
- CKAD Exercises - Practice exercises
Cluster Information
kubectl cluster-info
Display cluster information
kubectl get nodes
List all nodes in the cluster
kubectl describe node <name>
Show detailed node information
kubectl get namespaces
List all namespaces
kubectl config view
Show kubectl configuration
kubectl config current-context
Show current context
kubectl config use-context <name>
Switch to a different context
Pods
kubectl get pods
List pods in current namespace
kubectl get pods -A
List pods in all namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide
List pods with more details
kubectl describe pod <name>
Show detailed pod information
kubectl logs <pod>
View pod logs
kubectl logs -f <pod>
Follow pod logs in real-time
kubectl logs <pod> -c <container>
View logs of specific container
kubectl exec -it <pod> -- /bin/bash
Execute shell inside pod
kubectl port-forward <pod> 8080:80
Forward local port to pod
kubectl delete pod <name>
Delete a pod
kubectl run nginx --image=nginx
Create a pod from an image
Deployments
kubectl get deployments
List all deployments
kubectl describe deployment <name>
Show deployment details
kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<image>
Create a deployment
kubectl scale deployment <name> --replicas=3
Scale deployment replicas
kubectl set image deployment/<name> <container>=<image>
Update container image
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name>
Check rollout status
kubectl rollout history deployment/<name>
View rollout history
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name>
Rollback to previous revision
kubectl rollout restart deployment/<name>
Restart a deployment
kubectl delete deployment <name>
Delete a deployment
Services
kubectl get services
List all services
kubectl describe service <name>
Show service details
kubectl expose deployment <name> --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer
Expose deployment as a service
kubectl delete service <name>
Delete a service
ConfigMaps & Secrets
kubectl get configmaps
List all ConfigMaps
kubectl create configmap <name> --from-literal=key=value
Create ConfigMap from literal
kubectl create configmap <name> --from-file=<path>
Create ConfigMap from file
kubectl get secrets
List all secrets
kubectl create secret generic <name> --from-literal=key=value
Create a secret
kubectl describe secret <name>
Show secret details (not values)
kubectl get secret <name> -o jsonpath='{.data.key}' | base64 -d
Decode secret value
Apply & Create
kubectl apply -f <file.yaml>
Create/update resources from file
kubectl apply -f <directory>
Apply all files in directory
kubectl create -f <file.yaml>
Create resources from file
kubectl delete -f <file.yaml>
Delete resources from file
kubectl diff -f <file.yaml>
Show diff before applying
Labels & Selectors
kubectl get pods -l app=nginx
Get pods with specific label
kubectl get pods --selector=app=nginx
Same as above (full syntax)
kubectl label pod <name> env=prod
Add label to a pod
kubectl label pod <name> env-
Remove label from a pod
kubectl get pods --show-labels
Show all labels on pods
Resource Management
kubectl top nodes
Show node resource usage
kubectl top pods
Show pod resource usage
kubectl get events
List cluster events
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'
List events sorted by time
kubectl api-resources
List all available resource types
kubectl explain pod
Show documentation for a resource
Debugging
kubectl describe pod <name>
Detailed pod information (events, status)
kubectl logs <pod> --previous
View logs from previous container
kubectl get pod <name> -o yaml
Get pod YAML definition
kubectl run debug --image=busybox -it --rm -- sh
Run temporary debug pod
kubectl cp <pod>:/path/file ./local-file
Copy file from pod to local
kubectl attach <pod> -it
Attach to running container
Namespaces
kubectl create namespace <name>
Create a namespace
kubectl get pods -n <namespace>
Get pods in specific namespace
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<name>
Set default namespace for context
kubectl delete namespace <name>
Delete a namespace
YAML Templates
# Pod
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: nginx
spec:
containers:
- name: nginx
image: nginx:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 80
# Deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
name: nginx-deployment
spec:
replicas: 3
selector:
matchLabels:
app: nginx
template:
metadata:
labels:
app: nginx
spec:
containers:
- name: nginx
image: nginx:latest
ports:
- containerPort: 80
# Service
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: nginx-service
spec:
selector:
app: nginx
ports:
- port: 80
targetPort: 80
type: LoadBalancer
