Preparing the Kubernetes Learning Environment

Before learning Kubernetes, you need to set up your local environment first. Once you install the tools described here, you will be able to start hands-on practice right away in the upcoming lessons. It is strongly recommended that you complete Container Basics before proceeding.

Kubernetes version note: examples in this chapter target upstream Kubernetes v1.35 (latest as of Mar 2026). On EKS, the standard-support window covers v1.30 through v1.35. Reference: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/kubernetes-versions-standard.html

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System Requirements

Running a local Kubernetes cluster requires a certain amount of resources.

Item	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	4GB	8GB or more
CPU	2 cores	4 cores or more
Disk	20GB free space	40GB or more
OS	Windows 10+, macOS 12+, Ubuntu 20.04+	Latest version

Note

On systems with less than 4GB of RAM, even if the cluster starts, Pods will frequently crash. If you are studying on a laptop, close unnecessary programs before proceeding.

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Step 1: Install Docker (Required Prerequisite)

Kubernetes is a tool that orchestrates containers, so Docker must be installed first.

Docker installation is covered in 03-containers. If you have not installed it yet, please do so first.

Verify Installation

docker version

Expected Output

Client:
 Version:           24.0.7
 API version:       1.43
 Go version:        go1.21.3
 ...

Server:
 Engine:
  Version:          24.0.7
  API version:      1.43 (minimum version 1.12)
  ...

If both Client and Server information are displayed, everything is working correctly.

Note

Installing Docker Desktop includes Docker Engine along with basic Kubernetes support, but for learning purposes, it is recommended to use minikube or kind separately. The built-in K8s in Docker Desktop has limited configuration flexibility.

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Step 2: Install kubectl

kubectl is the CLI tool for communicating with a Kubernetes cluster. Since it is the command you will type most often while using K8s, it must be installed.

Windows

Option 1: Using Chocolatey (Recommended)

choco install kubernetes-cli

Option 2: Direct Download

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/v1.31.0/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe"

Place the downloaded kubectl.exe in a directory included in your PATH, such as C:\usr\local\bin\.

macOS

brew install kubectl

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Option 1: Using apt

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg

# Add the official Kubernetes GPG key
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.31/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg

# Add the repository
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.31/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y kubectl

Option 2: Direct download with curl

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
chmod +x kubectl
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/

Verify Installation

kubectl version --client

Expected Output

Client Version: v1.31.0
Kustomize Version: v5.4.2

If a version number is displayed, the installation was successful.

Practical Tip

Typing kubectl every time can be tedious. Setting up an alias as shown below makes it much easier.

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias k='kubectl'

After adding it, apply the changes:

source ~/.bashrc   # or source ~/.zshrc

After this, you can type short commands like k get pods.

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Step 3: Install a Local Cluster Tool

For hands-on practice, you need to create a Kubernetes cluster on your own machine. There are three popular tools for this.

Tool Comparison

Item	minikube	kind	k3d
Description	Local K8s cluster (VM or Docker-based)	Creates K8s cluster inside Docker containers	Runs K3s (lightweight K8s) in Docker
Multi-node	Supported (requires configuration)	Supported by default	Supported by default
Resource Usage	Moderate (higher when using VMs)	Low	Lowest
Startup Speed	Moderate (1-3 min)	Fast (30 sec - 1 min)	Fastest (20-40 sec)
Addon Support	Rich (built-in dashboard, ingress, etc.)	Manual setup	Manual setup
Learning Difficulty	Easiest	Moderate	Moderate
Recommended For	People learning K8s for the first time	CI/CD, multi-node testing	Lightweight local development

For beginners, minikube is recommended. It has extensive documentation and easy addon installation.

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Option A: minikube (Recommended)

Installation

Windows:

choco install minikube

macOS:

brew install minikube

Linux:

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube
rm minikube-linux-amd64

Start the Cluster

minikube start

Expected Output

😄  minikube v1.33.0 on Darwin 14.3
✨  Automatically selected the docker driver
📌  Using Docker Desktop driver with root privileges
👍  Starting "minikube" primary control-plane node in "minikube" cluster
🚜  Pulling base image v0.0.43 ...
🔥  Creating docker container (CPUs=2, Memory=4096MB) ...
🐳  Preparing Kubernetes v1.35.0 on Docker 26.0.1 ...
    ▪ Generating certificates and keys ...
    ▪ Booting up control plane ...
    ▪ Configuring RBAC rules ...
🔗  Configuring bridge CNI (Container Networking Interface) ...
🔎  Verifying Kubernetes components...
    ▪ Using image gcr.io/k8s-minikube/storage-provisioner:v5
🌟  Enabled addons: storage-provisioner, default-storageclass
🏄  Done! kubectl is now configured to use "minikube" cluster and "default" namespace by default

If you see Done!, the cluster has started successfully.

Check Status

minikube status

Expected Output

minikube
type: Control Plane
host: Running
kubelet: Running
apiserver: Running
kubeconfig: Configured

If all items show Running, everything is working correctly.

Useful minikube Commands

minikube stop          # Stop the cluster (save resources)
minikube start         # Restart a stopped cluster
minikube delete        # Completely delete the cluster
minikube dashboard     # Open the web dashboard
minikube addons list   # Check available addons

Practical Tip

When you finish practicing, stop the cluster with minikube stop. If you leave it running, it will continue consuming CPU and memory.

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Option B: kind (Kubernetes IN Docker)

Installation

Windows:

choco install kind

macOS:

brew install kind

Linux:

curl -Lo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/v0.23.0/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind
sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind

Create a Cluster

kind create cluster

Expected Output

Creating cluster "kind" ...
 ✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.35.0) 🖼
 ✓ Preparing nodes 📦
 ✓ Writing configuration 📜
 ✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
 ✓ Installing CNI 🔌
 ✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
Set kubectl context to "kind-kind"
You can now use your cluster with:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind

Have a nice day! 👋

Multi-node Cluster (Optional)

You can add worker nodes by creating a kind-config.yaml file.

# kind-config.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
  - role: control-plane
  - role: worker
  - role: worker

kind create cluster --config kind-config.yaml

Delete the Cluster

kind delete cluster

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Option C: k3d (K3s in Docker)

Installation

Windows:

choco install k3d

macOS:

brew install k3d

Linux:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/k3d-io/k3d/main/install.sh | bash

Create a Cluster

k3d cluster create mycluster

Expected Output

INFO[0000] Prep: Network
INFO[0000] Created network 'k3d-mycluster'
INFO[0000] Created image volume k3d-mycluster-images
INFO[0000] Starting new tools node...
INFO[0001] Creating node 'k3d-mycluster-server-0'
INFO[0001] Pulling image 'ghcr.io/k3d-io/k3d-tools:5.7.1'
INFO[0004] Pulling image 'docker.io/rancher/k3s:v1.35.0-k3s1'
INFO[0010] Starting node 'k3d-mycluster-server-0'
INFO[0014] Cluster 'mycluster' created successfully!
INFO[0014] You can now use it with: kubectl cluster-info

Delete the Cluster

k3d cluster delete mycluster

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Step 4: Install Helm

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. Just as you install programs with apt or yum on Linux, you use Helm to install K8s applications.

Windows

choco install kubernetes-helm

macOS

brew install helm

Linux

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3 | bash

Verify Installation

helm version

Expected Output

version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.15.2", GitCommit:"1a500d5...", GitTreeState:"clean", GoVersion:"go1.22.4"}

Practical Tip

Helm is covered in detail later in 12-helm-kustomize, but installing it in advance allows you to immediately follow along with Helm-based installation commands that appear throughout the course.

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Step 5: Install Additional Tools (Optional)

The tools below are not required, but installing them will significantly boost your productivity when working with K8s.

kubectx + kubens

These are tools for quickly switching between multiple clusters (contexts) and namespaces.

Why you need them: Instead of typing kubectl config use-context ... every time, you can simply switch with kubectx name.

Installation

macOS:

brew install kubectx

Windows:

choco install kubectx kubens

Linux:

# Install via krew (kubectl plugin manager)
kubectl krew install ctx
kubectl krew install ns

Usage Examples

# List clusters (contexts)
kubectx

# Switch cluster
kubectx minikube

# List namespaces
kubens

# Switch namespace
kubens kube-system

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k9s (TUI Management Tool)

This is a tool for visually managing a K8s cluster from the terminal. You can quickly handle Pod status, logs, deletion, and more using keyboard shortcuts.

Installation

macOS:

brew install derailed/k9s/k9s

Windows:

choco install k9s

Linux:

curl -sS https://webi.sh/k9s | sh

Launch

k9s

A screen like the following will appear in the terminal.

 ____  __.________
|    |/ _/   __   \______
|      < \____    /  ___/
|    |  \   /    /\___ \
|____|__ \ /____//____  >
        \/             \/

Context: minikube
Cluster: minikube
User:    minikube
K9s Rev: v0.32.4

  <Pod>                          default
  NAME                READY  STATUS   RESTARTS  AGE

Press q to exit. You can type :pod, :svc, :deploy, etc. to browse resources.

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Lens (GUI Management Tool)

If you want to manage a K8s cluster with a mouse, use Lens.

Installation

1. Download from https://k8slens.dev
2. Run the installer
3. Create an account (free)
4. After launching, local clusters are detected automatically

Note

Lens comes in two versions: Open Lens (open-source) and the commercial Lens Desktop. Open Lens is sufficient for learning purposes, but recent versions may have feature differences. If you are comfortable with the terminal, k9s alone is sufficient.

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Final Verification

Once all installations are complete, run the following commands in order to verify.

1. Verify kubectl

kubectl version --client

Expected output:

Client Version: v1.31.0
Kustomize Version: v5.4.2

2. Verify Cluster Status (minikube)

minikube status

Expected output:

minikube
type: Control Plane
host: Running
kubelet: Running
apiserver: Running
kubeconfig: Configured

3. Verify Cluster Connection

kubectl cluster-info

Expected output:

Kubernetes control plane is running at https://127.0.0.1:xxxxx
CoreDNS is running at https://127.0.0.1:xxxxx/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

4. Verify Nodes

kubectl get nodes

Expected output:

NAME       STATUS   ROLES           AGE   VERSION
minikube   Ready    control-plane   5m    v1.35.0

If STATUS shows Ready, everything is working correctly.

5. Verify Helm

helm version

Expected output:

version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.15.2", ...}

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Troubleshooting

minikube start Fails

Symptom: Exiting due to DRV_NOT_HEALTHY or docker is not running

Cause: Docker is not running.

Solution:

# Check Docker status
docker info

# Start Docker Desktop (Windows/Mac)
# On Linux, start the service
sudo systemctl start docker

After that, try minikube start again.

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kubectl Commands Cannot Connect to the Cluster

Symptom: The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused

Cause: kubectl does not know about any cluster.

Solution:

# Check current context
kubectl config current-context

# List available contexts
kubectl config get-contexts

If there is no context, verify that a cluster is running.

minikube start   # for minikube
# or
kind create cluster   # for kind

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Pods Stuck in Pending State Due to Insufficient Memory

Symptom: kubectl get pods shows STATUS as Pending continuously

Solution:

# Allocate more memory to minikube
minikube delete
minikube start --memory=4096 --cpus=2

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Practical Tip

The tool versions used in this course may change over time. Make it a habit to check the official documentation for the latest versions when installing.

Tool	Official Documentation
kubectl	https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/
minikube	https://minikube.sigs.k8s.io/docs/start/
kind	https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/
k3d	https://k3d.io/
Helm	https://helm.sh/docs/intro/install/
k9s	https://k9scli.io/

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Next Step

Once the environment preparation is complete, proceed to Kubernetes Cluster Architecture. We will draw the big picture of how K8s is structured internally.