kubectl

Progress checklist

• kubectl installed
• kubectl version --client returns expected output

KUBECTL KUBECTL
kubectl — the Kubernetes command-line tool used to interact with the cluster after it is provisioned. is the standard CLI for any Kubernetes cluster. After the EKS EKS
Elastic Kubernetes Service — AWS-managed Kubernetes control plane; you manage nodes and workloads, AWS runs the API server, etcd, and scheduler. cluster is created in the Cluster batch, you’ll use it to verify the control plane, list nodes, inspect pods, and (in later batches) deploy workloads.

EKS doesn’t replace kubectl — AWS gives you a managed control plane; kubectl remains your primary interface to the cluster.

Note

Your kubeconfig is not set up here. It’s populated in the Cluster batch by running aws eks update-kubeconfig. No further kubectl setup is needed until then.

1. Install kubectl. Required

   Install a version of kubectl that is within one minor version of the Kubernetes version your EKS cluster will run. The latest stable release is always safe to install now.

   macOS

   Install via Homebrew

   brew install kubectl

   Or, install a specific version:

   brew install kubernetes-cli

   Linux

   If curl is not installed, install it first (e.g. sudo apt install -y curl or sudo dnf install -y curl).

   Download the latest stable release binary:

   Download and install kubectl

   curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
   sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
   rm kubectl

   For ARM:

   curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/arm64/kubectl"
   sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
   rm kubectl

2. Verify the installation.

   kubectl version --client

   Expected output (version numbers will differ):

   Client Version: v1.30.x
   Kustomize Version: v5.x.x

   The client version is all that matters here. The server version will be shown once a cluster exists and kubeconfig is configured.

3. Note: kubeconfig is set up in the Cluster batch.

   When you reach the Cluster batch, you’ll run:

   aws eks update-kubeconfig --region <your-region> --name <cluster-name>

   This writes a kubeconfig entry for the EKS cluster into ~/.kube/config. After that, standard kubectl commands like kubectl get nodes will work against your cluster.

Next step

Continue to Git to install Git, set your identity, and clone the Terraform repo.