Kubernetes Command Cheatsheet

Cluster Information and Health

1. Check cluster components (control plane availability):

kubectl get componentstatuses

2. Get general cluster information:

kubectl cluster-info

3. List all nodes in the cluster (health/status):

kubectl get nodes

4. Get detailed information about a node:

kubectl describe node <node-name>

5. View the current Kubernetes version running:

kubectl version --short

6. Check any existing cluster issues or warning events globally:

kubectl get events --all-namespaces --sort-by='.metadata.creationTimestamp'

Workload / Pod Management

7. View all pods across all namespaces:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

8. List the pods in a specific namespace (e.g., default, longhorn-system):

kubectl get pods -n <namespace>

9. Get detailed information for a specific pod:

kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

10. Delete a pod (restarts the pod, useful for troubleshooting):

kubectl delete pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

11. Create or apply resources from a YAML file:

kubectl apply -f <filename>.yaml

12. View YAML/JSON configuration dump of a resource:

• Output YAML:

  kubectl get <resource> <name> -o yaml

• Output JSON:

  kubectl get <resource> <name> -o json

13. Get logs from a pod:

kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>

14. Stream continuous logs from a pod:

kubectl logs -f <pod-name> -n <namespace>

15. Get logs for a specific container in a multi-container pod:

kubectl logs <pod-name> -c <container-name> -n <namespace>

16. Launch a debug pod for troubleshooting (basic busybox container in interactive terminal):

kubectl run debug --image=busybox -it --rm -- /bin/sh

17. Forcefully delete a pod (if stuck in terminating or other strange states):

kubectl delete pod <pod-name> --grace-period=0 --force -n <namespace>

Service & Endpoint Management

18. List all services in a namespace:

kubectl get svc -n <namespace>

19. Get detailed information about a service:

kubectl describe svc <service-name> -n <namespace>

20. Forward a local port to a pod (e.g., for local access to service, like database):

kubectl port-forward <pod-name> <local-port>:<remote-port> -n <namespace>

21. Test if a service is functioning by listing endpoints:

kubectl get endpoints <service-name> -n <namespace>

Storage Management (Longhorn)

22. List Longhorn volumes:

kubectl get volumes -n longhorn-system

23. Describe a Longhorn volume:

kubectl describe <longhorn-volume-name> -n longhorn-system

24. List PersistentVolumeClaims (PVCs) in a namespace:

kubectl get pvc -n <namespace>

25. Delete a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC) carefully:

kubectl delete pvc <pvc-name> -n <namespace>

26. Check the status of Longhorn-csi or other stateful sets:

kubectl get statefulsets -n longhorn-system

27. List all StorageClasses (to verify Longhorn's StorageClasses):

kubectl get storageclass

Namespace Management

28. List all namespaces:

kubectl get namespaces

29. Switch context to a different namespace:

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<namespace>

30. Create a new namespace:

kubectl create namespace <namespace-name>

31. Delete a namespace (use caution):

kubectl delete namespace <namespace-name>

PostgreSQL Management (example provider)

32. List PostgreSQL-related resources (assuming you have CRDs or a PostgreSQL operator installed):

kubectl get postgresql -n <namespace>

33. Describe a PostgreSQL instance:

kubectl describe postgresql <pg-instance-name> -n <namespace>

34. Connect to the PostgreSQL pod for database debugging:

kubectl exec -it <pg-pod-name> -n <namespace> -- psql -U postgres

Resource & Utilization Monitoring

35. View resource usage (CPU/Memory) for nodes and pods (requires metrics-server):

• For nodes:

  kubectl top nodes

• For pods (in a specific namespace):

  kubectl top pods -n <namespace>

36. Check events for troubleshooting issues in a namespace:

kubectl get events -n <namespace>

37. Get details about a Deployment:

kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name> -n <namespace>

Scale Deployments

38. Scale up/down the number of replicas in a Deployment:

kubectl scale deployment <deployment-name> --replicas=<number-of-replicas> -n <namespace>

39. Autoscale a Deployment based on CPU usage:

kubectl autoscale deployment <deployment-name> --cpu-percent=<percent> --min=<min-replicas> --max=<max-replicas> -n <namespace>

Debugging & Troubleshooting

40. Check recent events sorted by timestamp to diagnose issues:

kubectl get events --sort-by='.metadata.creationTimestamp' -n <namespace>

41. Open a shell session inside a running container:

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -n <namespace> -- /bin/bash

42. Run one-off commands in a container (e.g., to run a curl command):

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -n <namespace> -- curl <url>

43. Get the history of resource changes for a deployment (e.g., when scaling happens):

kubectl rollout history deployment <deployment-name> -n <namespace>

Service Account Management (API & Permissions)

44. List all service accounts in a namespace:

kubectl get serviceaccounts -n <namespace>

45. Get details about a specific service account:

kubectl describe serviceaccount <service-account-name> -n <namespace>

46. Create a service account:

kubectl create serviceaccount <service-account-name> -n <namespace>

47. Delete a service account:

kubectl delete serviceaccount <service-account-name> -n <namespace>

Configuration Management

48. View all ConfigMaps in a namespace:

kubectl get configmap -n <namespace>

49. Describe a specific ConfigMap:

kubectl describe configmap <configmap-name> -n <namespace>

50. List Secrets (API keys, credentials, etc.) in a namespace:

kubectl get secrets -n <namespace>

51. Decode a base64-encoded Secret to reveal its true content:

kubectl get secret <secret-name> -n <namespace> -o jsonpath="{.data.<secret-key>}" | base64 --decode

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Additional Tips:

• Backup critical configurations: Before making any destructive operations like delete, always back up your resource configurations or use GitOps processes.
• Use dry-run mode for testing deletions: Use --dry-run=client to simulate applying or deleting things without actually making changes.

Tools like kubectl krew can extend the functionality of kubectl and provide additional kubectl plugins for advanced features.