Kubernetes Cheat Sheet

This article consists a list of kubectl commands which are helpful for your day to day job.


Creating Objects

Name Command
Create resource kubectl apply -f file_name.yaml
Create from multiple files kubectl apply -f file_name_1.yaml -f file_name_2.yaml
Create all files in directory kubectl apply -f directory_name
Create from url kubectl apply -f https://url/uri
Create pod kubectl run pod_name --image image_name
Create pod, then expose it as service kubectl run pod_name --image image_name --port port --expose
Create pod yaml file kubectl run pod_name --image image_name --dry-run=client -o yaml > file_name.yaml
Create deployment kubectl create deployment deployment_name --image image_name
Create deployment yaml file kubectl create deployment deployment_name --image image_name --dry-run=client -o yaml > file_name.yaml
Create service kubectl create service service-type service_name --tcp=port:target_port
Create service yaml file kubectl create service service-type service_name --tcp=port:target_port --dry-run=client -o yaml > file_name.yaml
Expose service from pod/deployment kubectl expose deployment {pod/deployment_name} --type=service-type --port port --target-port target_port
Create config map from key-value kubectl create configmap configmap_name --from-literal={key:value} --from-literal={key:value}
Create config map from file kubectl create configmap configmap_name --from-file=file_name
Create config map from env file kubectl create configmap configmap_name --from-env-file=file_name
Create secret from key-value kubectl create secret generic secret_name --from-literal={key:value} --from-literal={key:value}
Create secret from file kubectl create secret generic secret_name --from-file=file_name
Create job kubectl create job job_name --image=image_name
Create job from cronjob kubectl create job job_name --from=cronjob/cronjob-name
Create cronjob kubectl create cronjob --image=image_name --schedule='cron-syntax' -- {command} {args}

Monitoring Usage Commands

Name Command
Get node cpu and memory utilization kubectl top node node_name
Get pod cpu and memory utilization kubectl top pods pod_name

Node Commands

Name Command
Describe node kubectl describe node node_name
Get node in yaml kubectl get node node_name -o yaml
Get node kubectl get node node_name
Drain node kubectl drain node node_name
Cordon node kubectl cordon node node_name
Uncordon node kubectl uncordon node node_name

Pod Commands

Name Command
Get pod kubectl get pod pod_name
Get pod in yaml kubectl get pod pod_name -o yaml
Get pod wide information kubectl get pod pod_name -o wide
Get pod with watch kubectl get pod pod_name -w
Edit pod kubectl edit pod pod_name
Describe pod kubectl describe pod pod_name
Delete pod kubectl delete pod pod_name
Log pod kubectl logs pod pod_name
Tail -f pod kubectl logs pod -f pod_name
Execute into pod kubectl exec -it pod pod_name /bin/bash
Running Temporary Image kubectl run pod_name --image=curlimages/curl --rm -it --restart=Never -- curl {destination

Deployment Commands

Name Command
Get deployment kubectl get deployment deployment_name
Get deployment in yaml kubectl get deployment deployment_name -o yaml
Get deployment wide information kubectl get deployment deployment_name -o wide
Edit deployment kubectl edit deployment deployment_name
Describe deployment kubectl describe deployment deployment_name
Delete deployment kubectl delete deployment deployment_name
Log deployment kubectl logs deployment/deployment_name -f
Update image kubectl set image deployment deployment_name container_name=new_image_name
Scale deployment with replicas kubectl scale deployment deployment_name --replicas replicas_name

Service Commands

Name Command
Get service kubectl get service service_name
Get service in yaml
Get service wide information kubectl get service service_name -o wide
Edit service kubectl edit service service_name
Describe service kubectl describe service service_name
Delete service kubectl delete service service_name

Endpoints Commands

Name Command
Get endpoints kubectl get endpoints endpoints_name

Ingress Commands

Name Command
Get ingress kubectl get ingress
Get ingress in yaml kubectl get ingress -o yaml
Get ingress wide information kubectl get ingress -o wide
Edit ingress kubectl edit ingress ingress_name
Describe ingress kubectl describe ingress ingress_name
Delete ingress kubectl delete ingress ingress_name

DaemonSet Commands

Name Command
Get daemonset kubectl get daemonset daemonset_name
Get daemonset in yaml kubectl get daemonset daemonset_name -o yaml
Edit daemonset kubectl edit daemonset daemonset_name
Describe daemonset kubectl describe daemonset daemonset_name
Delete daemonset kubectl delete deployment daemonset_name

StatefulSet Commands

Name Command
Get statefulset kubectl get statefulset statefulset_name
Get statefulset in yaml kubectl get statefulset statefulset_name -o yaml
Edit statefulset kubectl edit statefulset statefulset_name
Describe statefulset kubectl describe statefulset statefulset_name
Delete statefuleset kubectl delete statefulset statefulset_name

ConfigMaps Commands

Name Command
Get configmap kubectl get configmap configmap_name
Get configmap in yaml kubectl get configmap configmap_name -o yaml
Edit configmap kubectl edit configmap configmap_name
Describe configmap kubectl describe configmap configmap_name
Delete configmap kubectl delete configmap configmap_name

Secret Commands

Name Command
Get secret kubectl get secret secret_name
Get secret in yaml kubectl get secret secret_name -o yaml
Edit secret kubectl edit secret secret_name
Describe secret kubectl describe secret secret_name
Delete secret kubectl delete secret secret_name

Rollout Commands

Name Command
Restart deployment kubectl rollout restart deployment deployment_name
Undo deployment with the latest revision kubectl rollout undo deployment deployment_name
Undo deployment with specified revision kubectl rollout undo deployment deployment_name --to-revision revision_number
Get all revisions of deployment kubectl rollout history deployment deployment_name
Get specified revision of deployment kubectl rollout history deployment deployment_name --revision= revision_number

Job Commands

Name Command
Get job kubectl get job job_name
Get job in yaml kubectl get job job_name -o yaml
Edit job in yaml kubectl edit job job_name
Describe job kubectl describe job job_name
Delete job kubectl delete job job_name

Cronjob Commands

Name Command
Get cronjob kubectl get cronjob cronjob_name
Get cronjob in yaml kubectl get cronjob cronjob_name -o yaml
Edit cronjob kubectl edit cronjob cronjob_name
Describe cronjob kubectl describe cronjob cronjob_name
Delete cronjob kubectl delete cronjob cronjob_name

Network Policy Commands

Name Command
Get networkpolicy kubectl get networkpolicy networkpolicy_name
Get networkpolicy in yaml kubectl get networkpolicy networkpolicy_name -o yaml
Get networkpolicy wide information kubectl get networkpolicy networkpolicy_name -o wide
Edit networkpolicy kubectl edit networkpolicy networkpolicy_name
Describe networkpolicy kubectl describe networkpolicy networkpolicy_name
Delete networkpolicy kubectl delete networkpolicy networkpolicy_name

Labels and Selectors Commands

Name Command
Show labels of node,pod and deployment kubectl get {node/pod/deployment} --show-labels
Attach labels to kubectl label {node/pod/deployment} pod_name {key}={value}
Remove labels from kubectl label {node/pod/deployment} {pod_name} {key}-
Select node,pod and deployment by using labels kubectl get {node/pod/deployment} -l {key}={value}



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