Kubernetes in Docker (kind)

kind is a tool for running local Kubernetes clusters using container “nodes”. Podman Desktop can help you run a local Kubernetes cluster using kind.

Create New Cluster

Select the Kubernetes tab.
If no Kubernetes cluster is configured, the Kubernetes tab offers the the option to create a new kind cluster.

Click in “Create new”.
It is possible to customise a few values (for example, multi-node cluster) but the default values are OK.

Click “Create”.
It might take a couple of minutes for Podman to download the containers. If all goes well, you will see the message “Successful operation”.

Click in “Go back to resources”.

Dashboard

After create your Kubernetes cluster, you can see a summary of it in the the dashboard subtab.

Change Kubernetes Context

If you have more than one Kubernetes cluster, you can change the context used by Podman clicking in the Kubernetes icon on the left bottom corner of the window.

Using kubectl

The access to the Kubernetes cluster is done using kubectl and the kubeconfig file. The kubeconfig file is located in ~/.kube/config.

Note

If you are using Windows, the kubeconfig file is located in %USERPROFILE%\.kube\config.

Note

If you are using WSL, you will have to copy the kubeconfig file from Windows.

Check the context.

kubectl config current-context

kind-kind-cluster

Check the connection to the Kubernetes cluster.

kubectl cluster-info

Kubernetes control plane is running at https://127.0.0.1:56038
CoreDNS is running at https://127.0.0.1:56038/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

To further debug and diagnose cluster problems, use 'kubectl cluster-info dump'.

Multi-node Cluster

You can use a configuration like

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