Original article [here](https://faun.pub/kubectl-commands-cheatsheet-43ce8f13adfb)

Updated: Dec 21, 2020

I’ve personally used these commands to debug in production. I also used GUI methods like k9s and lenses.io.

0. Impersonate a user and group

kubectl get pods --as-group="somecompany:somecompany-teamname" --as="test"

1. Explain a resource

❯ kubectl explain hpa

KIND:     HorizontalPodAutoscaler
VERSION:  autoscaling/v1

DESCRIPTION:
     configuration of a horizontal pod autoscaler.
     
FIELDS:
     apiVersion   <string>
       APIVersion defines the versioned schema of this representation of an
     object. Servers should convert recognized schemas to the latest internal
     value, and may reject unrecognized values. More info:
     https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/api-conventions.md#resources
     
     kind <string>
       Kind is a string value representing the REST resource this object
       represents. Servers may infer this from the endpoint the client submits
       requests to. Cannot be updated. In CamelCase. More info:
       https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/api-conventions.md#types-kinds
     
     metadata     <Object>
       Standard object metadata. More info:
       https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/api-conventions.md#metadata
     
     spec <Object>
       behaviour of autoscaler. More info:
       https://git.k8s.io/community/contributors/devel/sig-architecture/api-conventions.md#spec-and-status.status       <Object>
       current information about the autoscaler.

kubectl explain svc

2. Get nodes region and zone

❯ kubectl get nodes --label-columns failure-domain.beta.kubernetes.io/region,failure-domain.beta.kubernetes.io/zone

NAME                                        STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION               REGION      ZONE
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   eu-west-1   eu-west-1b
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   eu-west-1   eu-west-1a
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   eu-west-1   eu-west-1c

3. Get All Labels

❯ kubectl get nodes --show-labels

NAME                                        STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION               LABELS
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   alpha.eksctl.io/cluster-name=dev-cluster-1,alpha.eksctl.io/instance-id=i-04c61a8ef573ef91b,alpha.eksctl.io/nodegroup-name=dev-cluster-1001-stateless,beta.kubernetes.io/arch=amd64,beta.kubernetes.io/instance-type=m5.large,beta.kubernetes.io/os=linux,failure-domain.beta.kubernetes.io/region=eu-west-1,failure-domain.beta.kubernetes.io/zone=eu-west-1b,kubernetes.io/arch=amd64,kubernetes.io/hostname=ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal,kubernetes.io/os=linux,node-lifecycle=on-demand

4. Get all nodes labelled Node-Class (and label it)

❯ kubectl get nodes
NAME                                        STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801

❯ kubectl label node ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal node-class=test
node/ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal labeled

❯ kubectl get nodes --label-columns node-class
NAME                                        STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION               NODE-CLASS
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   test
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801

5. Get Arch, OS, Instance type and node type if kops (also works with EKS)

❯ kubectl get nodes -o wide -L beta.kubernetes.io/arch -L beta.kubernetes.io/os -L beta.kubernetes.io/instance-type -L  kops.k8s.io/instancegroup

❯ kubectl get nodes -L beta.kubernetes.io/arch -L beta.kubernetes.io/os -L beta.kubernetes.io/instance-type -L  kops.k8s.io/instancegroup

NAME                                        STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION               INTERNAL-IP   EXTERNAL-IP   OS-IMAGE         KERNEL-VERSION                  CONTAINER-RUNTIME   ARCH    OS      INSTANCE-TYPE   INSTANCEGROUP
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   11.0.109.70   <none>        Amazon Linux 2   4.14.209-160.335.amzn2.x86_64   docker://19.3.6     amd64   linux   m5.large
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   11.0.148.55   <none>        Amazon Linux 2   4.14.209-160.335.amzn2.x86_64   docker://19.3.6     amd64   linux   m5.large
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal   Ready    <none>   5d21h   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801   11.0.186.88   <none>        Amazon Linux 2   4.14.209-160.335.amzn2.x86_64   docker://19.3.6     amd64   linux   m5.large

6. Get node version and name only

❯ kubectl get nodes -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,VER:.status.nodeInfo.kubeletVersion

NAME                                        VER
ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal   v1.16.15-eks-ad4801

7. Get scheduleable nodes

❯ kubectl get nodes --output 'jsonpath={range $.items[*]}{.metadata.name} {.spec.taints[*].effect}{"\n"}{end}' | awk '!/NoSchedule/{print $1}'

ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal
ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal
ip-11-0-186-88.eu-west-1.compute.internal

8. Get all deployments nameonly

❯ kubectl get deployment -o=jsonpath='{.items[*].metadata.name}'

cluster-autoscaler-aws-cluster-autoscaler nginx-ingress-controller nginx-ingress-default-backend sealed-secrets

9. Get one deployment only (first one)

❯ kubectl get deployment -o=jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}'

cluster-autoscaler-aws-cluster-autoscaler

10. Get all pods statuses only

❯ kubectl get pods -o=jsonpath='{.items[*].status.phase}' --all-namespacesRunning 

Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Pending Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running Running

11. Get pods qos

❯ kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,NAMESPACE:.metadata.namespace,QOS-CLASS:.status.qosClassNAME                                                         NAMESPACE           QOS-CLASS
cluster-autoscaler-aws-cluster-autoscaler-76b79d696f-gfj2z   admin               BestEffort
nginx-ingress-controller-b594dbb8b-cl4gn                     admin               BestEffort
nginx-ingress-default-backend-674d599c48-7nfmj               admin               BestEffort
sealed-secrets-95c76d5d5-t786z                               admin               BestEffort
cloudwatch-agent-4jl4h                                       amazon-cloudwatch   Guaranteed
cloudwatch-agent-92rbq                                       amazon-cloudwatch   Guaranteed
cloudwatch-agent-m8bv6                                       amazon-cloudwatch   Guaranteed
fluentd-cloudwatch-5zs72                                     amazon-cloudwatch   Burstable
fluentd-cloudwatch-9zsdh                                     amazon-cloudwatch   Burstable
fluentd-cloudwatch-pq99b                                     amazon-cloudwatch   Burstable
argocd-application-controller-d99d77688-xbqv5                argocd              BestEffort
argocd-dex-server-6c865df778-k6rgt                           argocd              BestEffort
argocd-redis-8c568b5db-2rqzg                                 argocd              BestEffort
argocd-repo-server-675bddcbb8-vr46x                          argocd              BestEffort
argocd-server-55685944cb-jmbwz                               argocd              BestEffort
ghost-6dc5f59ccb-kt9cc                                       demo                Burstable
ghost-mariadb-0                                              demo                BestEffort
guestbook-ui-6796b99796-4v698                                demo                BestEffort
mongodb-c7754bcf9-hf6qw                                      demo                BestEffort
redis-master-0                                               demo                BestEffort
weave-scope-agent-weave-scope-25z84                          demo                BestEffort
weave-scope-agent-weave-scope-cwdmt                          demo                BestEffort
weave-scope-agent-weave-scope-vb7wr                          demo                BestEffort
weave-scope-cluster-agent-weave-scope-7c8b798d7b-m4hdb       demo                BestEffort
weave-scope-frontend-weave-scope-66cfd495b5-cvmck            demo                BestEffort
nginx-88f46754c-49gm6                                        example-app         Guaranteed
grafana-69db6fb4d-lz57k                                      gotk-system         BestEffort
helm-controller-7886cd4fdc-mdb8g                             gotk-system         Burstable
kustomize-controller-5c8b54b7b6-q6tn4                        gotk-system         Burstable
notification-controller-75cf575899-bh5q6                     gotk-system         Burstable
prometheus-854d98f4d6-lljcn                                  gotk-system         Burstable
source-controller-7db7bd4b5b-dzjcp                           gotk-system         Burstable
chao-5d59df7bdc-vbk2w                                        gremlin             BestEffort
gremlin-bgcdm                                                gremlin             BestEffort
gremlin-fwqct                                                gremlin             BestEffort
gremlin-mq2kh                                                gremlin             BestEffort
aws-node-2wtc2                                               kube-system         Burstable
aws-node-45965                                               kube-system         Burstable
aws-node-77dvh                                               kube-system         Burstable
coredns-6658f9f447-qn79n                                     kube-system         Burstable
coredns-6658f9f447-sd8rh                                     kube-system         Burstable
kube-proxy-7c274                                             kube-system         Burstable
kube-proxy-99s26                                             kube-system         Burstable
kube-proxy-zfmkp                                             kube-system         Burstable
event-exporter-7fd4455f6f-fwkv4                              monitoring          BestEffort
metrics-server-6b6bbf4668-77ftc                              monitoring          BestEffort

12. Get images running

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -o jsonpath="{..image}" |\
tr -s '[[:space:]]' '\n' |\
sort |\
uniq -c6 602401143452.dkr.ecr.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/amazon-k8s-cni:v1.6.1
   4 602401143452.dkr.ecr.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/eks/coredns:v1.6.6
   6 602401143452.dkr.ecr.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/eks/kube-proxy:v1.15.11
   6 amazon/cloudwatch-agent:1.247345.36b249270
   8 argoproj/argocd:v1.6.1
   1 bitnami/ghost:3.1.1-debian-9-r0
   1 bitnami/mariadb:10.3.22-debian-10-r27
   1 bitnami/redis:5.0.7
   6 busybox
   6 busybox:latest
   1 docker.io/bitnami/ghost:3.1.1-debian-9-r0
   1 docker.io/bitnami/mariadb:10.3.22-debian-10-r27
   2 docker.io/bitnami/mongodb:4.0.13
   1 docker.io/bitnami/redis:5.0.7
   6 fluent/fluentd-kubernetes-daemonset:v1.7.3-debian-cloudwatch-1.0
   2 gcr.io/heptio-images/ks-guestbook-demo:0.2
   2 ghcr.io/fluxcd/helm-controller:v0.1.3
   2 ghcr.io/fluxcd/kustomize-controller:v0.1.2
   2 ghcr.io/fluxcd/notification-controller:v0.1.2
   2 ghcr.io/fluxcd/source-controller:v0.1.1
   2 grafana/grafana:7.2.1
   2 gremlin/chao:latest
   6 gremlin/gremlin:latest
   2 k8s.gcr.io/cluster-autoscaler:v1.17.1
   2 k8s.gcr.io/defaultbackend-amd64:1.5
   2 k8s.gcr.io/metrics-server-amd64:v0.3.6
   1 nginx
   1 nginx:latest
   2 okteto/bin:1.1.20
   2 okteto/hello-world:node-dev
   2 opsgenie/kubernetes-event-exporter:0.7
   2 prom/prometheus:v2.21.0
   2 quay.io/bitnami/sealed-secrets-controller:v0.9.6
   2 quay.io/dexidp/dex:v2.22.0
   2 quay.io/kubernetes-ingress-controller/nginx-ingress-controller:0.32.0
   2 redis:5.0.3
  10 weaveworks/scope:1.12.0

13. Where is my pod running

kubectl get pods -n sock-shop -l name=carts -o wide

14. Check node/pod usage memory and cpu

kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods

15. Check health of etcd

kubectl get --raw=/healthz/etcd

16. Check status of node autoscaler

kubectl describe configmap cluster-autoscaler-status -n kube-system

17. Get where pods are running from nodenames

❯ kubectl get pod -o=custom-columns=NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.status.phase,NODE:.spec.nodeName --all-namespacesNAME                                                         STATUS    NODE
cluster-autoscaler-aws-cluster-autoscaler-76b79d696f-gfj2z   Running   ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal
nginx-ingress-controller-b594dbb8b-cl4gn                     Running   ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal
nginx-ingress-default-backend-674d599c48-7nfmj               Running   ip-11-0-109-70.eu-west-1.compute.internal
sealed-secrets-95c76d5d5-t786z                               Running   ip-11-0-148-55.eu-west-1.compute.internal

Example sorting pods by nodeName:

kubectl get pods -o wide --sort-by="{.spec.nodeName}"

Example of getting pods on nodes using label filter:

for n in $(kubectl get nodes -l your_label_key=your_label_value --no-headers | cut -d " " -f1); do 
        kubectl get pods --all-namespaces  --no-headers --field-selector spec.nodeName=${n} 
  done

or by number of restarts

kubectl get pods --sort-by="{.status.containerStatuses[:1].restartCount}"

Example filtering by nodeName using — template flag:

$ kubectl get nodes  NAME                         STATUS                     AGE
  ip-254-0-90-30.ec2.internal   Ready                      2d
  ip-254-0-90-35.ec2.internal   Ready                      2d
  ip-254-0-90-50.ec2.internal   Ready,SchedulingDisabled   2d
  ip-254-0-91-60.ec2.internal   Ready                      2d
  ip-254-0-91-65.ec2.internal   Ready                      2d
  $ kubectl get pods --template '{{range .items}}{{if eq .spec.nodeName "ip-254-0-90-30.ec2.internal"}}{{.metadata.name}}{{"\n"}}{{end}}}{{end}}'  filebeat-000
  app-0000
  node-exporter-0000
  prometheus-000

18. Check pods which are not Runnning

kubectl get pods --field-selector=status.phase!=Running --all-namespaces

19. Sort Nodes by Role, Age and kubelet version

kubectl get nodes --sort-by={.metadata.labels."kubernetes\.io\/role"}

kubectl get node --sort-by={.status.nodeInfo.kubeletVersion}

watch kubectl get node --sort-by={.status.nodeInfo.kubeletVersion}

watch "kubectl get nodes --sort-by={.metadata.labels.\"kubernetes\.io\/role\"}"

kubectl get nodes --sort-by=".status.conditions[?(@.reason == 'KubeletReady' )].lastTransitionTime"

20. Query apiservers

kubectl get --raw=/apis
kubectl get --raw=/logs/kube-apiserver.log

21. Setup a deployment with limits and requests

kubectl run ken-test --image=kenichishibata/docker-curl -i --tty --limits='cpu=50m,memory=128Mi' --requests='cpu=50m,memory=128Mi'
kubectl delete deployment ken-test

22. Get events for an individual resource

kubectl get event --field-selector=involvedObject.name =foo -w

23. Get apiresources

Check for an api resources available, this should show your crd api endpoints as well
kubectl api-resources
kubectl api-versions
Check apiservices added (registered)
kubectl get apiservices.apiregistration.k8s.io
kubectl get apiservices.apiregistration.k8s.io v1beta1.metrics.k8s.io -o yaml
Check hpa (maybe because you have custom metrics enabled in prometheus)?
kubectl get hpa
kubectl get hpa --all-namespaces kubectl get --raw /apis/metrics.k8s.io

Bonus: Stop using `— all-namespaces`

kubectl get pods -A
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

caffeinetiger/23-Advanced-kubectl-commands.md

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0. Impersonate a user and group

1. Explain a resource

2. Get nodes region and zone

3. Get All Labels

4. Get all nodes labelled Node-Class (and label it)

5. Get Arch, OS, Instance type and node type if kops (also works with EKS)

6. Get node version and name only

7. Get scheduleable nodes

8. Get all deployments nameonly

9. Get one deployment only (first one)

10. Get all pods statuses only

11. Get pods qos

12. Get images running

13. Where is my pod running

14. Check node/pod usage memory and cpu

15. Check health of etcd

16. Check status of node autoscaler

17. Get where pods are running from nodenames

18. Check pods which are not Runnning

19. Sort Nodes by Role, Age and kubelet version

20. Query apiservers

21. Setup a deployment with limits and requests

22. Get events for an individual resource

23. Get apiresources

Bonus: Stop using `— all-namespaces`

caffeinetiger/23-Advanced-kubectl-commands.md

0. Impersonate a user and group

1. Explain a resource

2. Get nodes region and zone

3. Get All Labels

4. Get all nodes labelled Node-Class (and label it)

5. Get Arch, OS, Instance type and node type if kops (also works with EKS)

6. Get node version and name only

7. Get scheduleable nodes

8. Get all deployments nameonly

9. Get one deployment only (first one)

10. Get all pods statuses only

11. Get pods qos

12. Get images running

13. Where is my pod running

14. Check node/pod usage memory and cpu

15. Check health of etcd

16. Check status of node autoscaler

17. Get where pods are running from nodenames

18. Check pods which are not Runnning

19. Sort Nodes by Role, Age and kubelet version

20. Query apiservers

21. Setup a deployment with limits and requests

22. Get events for an individual resource

23. Get apiresources

Bonus: Stop using — all-namespaces

Bonus: Stop using `— all-namespaces`