The Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl,[54] is used to run commands against Kubernetes clusters. You’ll use kubectl to inspect and manage your service’s cluster resources and view logs. Try to use kubectl for one-off operations. For operations you run again and again, like deploying or upgrading a service, you’ll use the Helm package manager or an operator, which we’ll take a look at later in this chapter.
To install kubectl, run the following:
| | $ curl -LO \ |
| | https://storage.googleapis.com/kubernetes-release/release/\ |
| | v1.18.0/bin/$(uname)/amd64/kubectl |
| | $ chmod +x ./kubectl |
| | $ mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl |
We need a Kubernetes cluster and its API for kubectl to call and do anything. In the next section, we’ll use the Kind tool to run a local Kubernetes cluster in Docker.