Setting Up Kubernetes Cluster with Kind

by Bala

Complete guide for creating and managing local Kubernetes clusters using Kind (Kubernetes in Docker)

Setting Up Kubernetes Cluster with Kind

This guide provides detailed instructions for setting up and managing local Kubernetes clusters using Kind (Kubernetes in Docker), perfect for development and testing environments.

Video Tutorial

Learn more about setting up Kubernetes clusters with Kind in this comprehensive video tutorial:

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What is Kind?

Kind (Kubernetes in Docker) is a tool for running local Kubernetes clusters using Docker container “nodes”. It was primarily designed for testing Kubernetes itself but is perfect for local development and CI.

Prerequisites

  • Docker installed and running
  • kubectl CLI tool
  • Go (optional, for building from source)
  • Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL2

Installation

macOS

# Using Homebrew
brew install kind

# Using Binary
curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.20.0/kind-darwin-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind

Linux

# Using Binary
curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.20.0/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind

Windows (PowerShell)

curl.exe -Lo kind-windows-amd64.exe https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.20.0/kind-windows-amd64
Move-Item .\kind-windows-amd64.exe c:\some-dir-in-your-PATH\kind.exe

Basic Cluster Operations

1. Create a Basic Cluster

kind create cluster --name my-cluster

2. Create Multi-Node Cluster

# multi-node-config.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
- role: worker
- role: worker
- role: worker
kind create cluster --name multi-node --config multi-node-config.yaml

3. Advanced Cluster Configuration

# advanced-config.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
networking:
  apiServerAddress: "127.0.0.1"
  apiServerPort: 6443
  podSubnet: "10.244.0.0/16"
  serviceSubnet: "10.96.0.0/12"
nodes:
- role: control-plane
  kubeadmConfigPatches:
  - |
    kind: InitConfiguration
    nodeRegistration:
      kubeletExtraArgs:
        node-labels: "ingress-ready=true"
  extraPortMappings:
  - containerPort: 80
    hostPort: 80
    protocol: TCP
  - containerPort: 443
    hostPort: 443
    protocol: TCP
- role: worker
  extraMounts:
  - hostPath: /path/to/host/dir
    containerPath: /path/in/container
- role: worker
  extraMounts:
  - hostPath: /path/to/host/dir
    containerPath: /path/in/container
kind create cluster --name advanced --config advanced-config.yaml

Cluster Management

1. List Clusters

kind get clusters

2. Delete Cluster

kind delete cluster --name my-cluster

3. Load Docker Images

# Build your image
docker build -t my-app:latest .

# Load image into Kind cluster
kind load docker-image my-app:latest --name my-cluster

Setting Up Ingress

1. Install NGINX Ingress Controller

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/main/deploy/static/provider/kind/deploy.yaml

2. Configure Ingress

# ingress-example.yaml
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: example-ingress
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
spec:
  rules:
  - host: example.local
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: example-service
            port:
              number: 80

Storage Configuration

1. Local Path Provisioner

# local-path-storage.yaml
apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: standard
  annotations:
    storageclass.kubernetes.io/is-default-class: "true"
provisioner: rancher.io/local-path
volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
reclaimPolicy: Delete

2. Persistent Volume Example

# pv-example.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: example-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
    - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 1Gi

Networking Features

1. MetalLB Setup

# metallb-config.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  namespace: metallb-system
  name: config
data:
  config: |
    address-pools:
    - name: default
      protocol: layer2
      addresses:
      - 172.18.255.1-172.18.255.250

2. Custom CNI Configuration

# custom-cni-config.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
networking:
  disableDefaultCNI: true
  podSubnet: "10.244.0.0/16"
nodes:
- role: control-plane
- role: worker

Development Workflow

1. Hot Reload Setup

# skaffold.yaml
apiVersion: skaffold/v2beta26
kind: Config
build:
  artifacts:
  - image: my-app
    context: .
    docker:
      dockerfile: Dockerfile
deploy:
  kubectl:
    manifests:
    - k8s/*.yaml

2. Debug Configuration

# debug-pod.yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: debug-pod
spec:
  containers:
  - name: debug
    image: ubuntu
    command: ["sleep", "infinity"]

Monitoring Setup

1. Metrics Server

kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yaml

2. Prometheus & Grafana

# monitoring-config.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
  extraMounts:
  - hostPath: ./prometheus-data
    containerPath: /prometheus
  - hostPath: ./grafana-data
    containerPath: /grafana

CI/CD Integration

1. GitHub Actions Example

# .github/workflows/kind-test.yml
name: Kind Test
on: [push]
jobs:
  kind:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: actions/checkout@v2
    - uses: engineerd/setup-kind@v0.5.0
      with:
        version: "v0.20.0"
    - name: Test
      run: |
        kubectl cluster-info
        kubectl get pods -A

2. Jenkins Pipeline

// Jenkinsfile
pipeline {
    agent {
        docker {
            image 'kindest/node:v1.27.3'
        }
    }
    stages {
        stage('Setup Kind') {
            steps {
                sh '''
                    kind create cluster
                    kubectl cluster-info
                '''
            }
        }
    }
}

Best Practices

  1. Resource Management
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
  kubeadmConfigPatches:
  - |
    kind: InitConfiguration
    nodeRegistration:
      kubeletExtraArgs:
        eviction-hard: 'memory.available<5%'
        system-reserved: 'memory=1Gi'
  1. Security Configuration
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
  kubeadmConfigPatches:
  - |
    kind: ClusterConfiguration
    apiServer:
      extraArgs:
        audit-log-path: /var/log/audit.log
        audit-policy-file: /etc/kubernetes/audit-policy.yaml

Troubleshooting

Common Issues and Solutions

  1. Cluster Creation Fails
# Check Docker resources
docker system info

# Clean up old clusters
kind delete clusters --all

# Check system resources
free -h
df -h
  1. Network Issues
# Check cluster networking
kubectl get nodes -o wide
kubectl get pods -A -o wide

# Debug DNS
kubectl run dnsutils --image=gcr.io/kubernetes-e2e-test-images/dnsutils --command -- sleep infinity
kubectl exec -it dnsutils -- nslookup kubernetes.default
  1. Resource Constraints
# Check node capacity
kubectl describe node

# Check pod resources
kubectl top pods -A

Additional Resources