While you would be working mostly the declarative way - using definition files, imperative commands can help in getting one time tasks done quickly, as well as generate a definition template easily. This would help save considerable amount of time during your exams.

Before we begin, familiarize with the two options that can come in handy while working with the below commands:

--dry-run: By default as soon as the command is run, the resource will be created. If you simply want to test your command , use the --dry-run=client option. This will not create the resource, instead, tell you whether the resource can be created and if your command is right.

-o yaml: This will output the resource definition in YAML format on screen.

Use the above two in combination to generate a resource definition file quickly, that you can then modify and create resources as required, instead of creating the files from scratch.

List of All k8s Objects

This command will list all of the k8s objects the API knows about and their short name if they have one. It will also show which objects are namespaced and which are global

kubectl api-resources

Example Output

NAME               SHORTNAMES    APIVERSION    NAMESPACED     KIND
bindings                         v1            true           Binding
componentstatuses  cs            v1            false          ComponentStatus
configmaps         cm            v1            true           ConfigMap
endpoints          ep            v1            true           Endpoints

POD

Create an NGINX Pod

kubectl run nginx --image=nginx

Generate POD Manifest YAML file (-o yaml). Don’t create it(–dry-run)

kubectl run nginx --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml

@@ Deployment Create a deployment

kubectl create deployment --image=nginx nginx

Generate Deployment YAML file (-o yaml). Don’t create it(–dry-run)

kubectl create deployment --image=nginx nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml

Generate Deployment with 4 Replicas

kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx --replicas=4

You can also scale a deployment using the kubectl scale command.

kubectl scale deployment nginx --replicas=4

Another way to do this is to save the YAML definition to a file and modify

kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml > nginx-deployment.yaml

You can then update the YAML file with the replicas or any other field before creating the deployment.

Editing Pods

Most edits to a pod using kubectl edit are forbidden but you can still use kubectl edit to speed up pod replacement.

  1. Edit the pod as normal kubectl edit mypod
  2. Make the required edits and save.
  3. You will get an error stating you can make that change with the contents of your edit. Exit your editor
  4. There will be a line stating the edits were saved in /tmp/some-file.yaml
  5. Use the above saved file to replace the pod:
    kubectl replace --force -f /tmp/some-file.yaml

Service

Create a Service named redis-service of type ClusterIP to expose pod redis on port 6379

kubectl expose pod redis --port=6379 --name redis-service --dry-run=client -o yaml

(This will automatically use the pod’s labels as selectors)

Or

kubectl create service clusterip redis --tcp=6379:6379 --dry-run=client -o yaml
(This will not use the pods labels as selectors, instead it will assume selectors as app=redis. You cannot pass in selectors as an option. So it does not work very well if your pod has a different label set. So generate the file and modify the selectors before creating the service)

Create a Service named nginx of type NodePort to expose pod nginx’s port 80 on port 30080 on the nodes:

kubectl expose pod nginx --type=NodePort --port=80 --name=nginx-service --dry-run=client -o yaml
(This will automatically use the pod’s labels as selectors, but you cannot specify the node port. You have to generate a definition file and then add the node port in manually before creating the service with the pod.)

Or

kubectl create service nodeport nginx --tcp=80:80 --node-port=30080 --dry-run=client -o yaml
(This will not use the pods labels as selectors)

Both the above commands have their own challenges. While one of it cannot accept a selector the other cannot accept a node port. I would recommend going with the kubectl expose command. If you need to specify a node port, generate a definition file using the same command and manually input the nodeport before creating the service.

Reference:
https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/generated/kubectl/kubectl-commands

https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/conventions/