[Kubernetes (K8S) Kind] Use Homebrew (brew) to install Kind Kubernetes (K8S) cluster on macOS

Kind

kind is a tool for running local Kubernetes clusters using Docker container “nodes”.
kind was primarily designed for testing Kubernetes itself, but may be used for local development or CI.

Prerequisites

• Homebrew

  Homebrew is the Missing Package Manager for macOS (or Linux).

  For more information about installing and using Homebrew, see the Homebrew - https://brew.sh/.

  Install Homebrew (brew).

  % /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Installation

% brew install kind

For more detailed instructions see the user guide - https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start.

Create cluster

Run kind create cluster -h to get command help:

% kind create cluster -h
Creates a local Kubernetes cluster using Docker container 'nodes'

Usage:
  kind create cluster [flags]

Flags:
      --config string       path to a kind config file
  -h, --help                help for cluster
      --image string        node docker image to use for booting the cluster
      --kubeconfig string   sets kubeconfig path instead of $KUBECONFIG or $HOME/.kube/config
      --name string         cluster name, overrides KIND_CLUSTER_NAME, config (default kind)
      --retain              retain nodes for debugging when cluster creation fails
      --wait duration       wait for control plane node to be ready (default 0s)

Global Flags:
      --loglevel string   DEPRECATED: see -v instead
  -q, --quiet             silence all stderr output
  -v, --verbosity int32   info log verbosity

Single node cluster

% kind create cluster
Creating cluster "kind" ...
 ✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.21.1) 🖼
 ✓ Preparing nodes 📦 📦 📦 📦 📦 📦
 ✓ Configuring the external load balancer ⚖️
 ✓ Writing configuration 📜
 ✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
 ✓ Installing CNI 🔌
 ✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
 ✓ Joining more control-plane nodes 🎮
 ✓ Joining worker nodes 🚜
Set kubectl context to "kind-kind"
You can now use your cluster with:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind

Not sure what to do next? 😅  Check out https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/

Multiple nodes cluster

First, create a config file kind-multiple-control-plane.yaml.

# cat kind-multiple-control-plane.yaml

# a cluster with 3 control-plane nodes and 3 workers
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
- role: control-plane
- role: control-plane
- role: worker
- role: worker
- role: worker

networking:
  # WARNING: It is _strongly_ recommended that you keep this the default
  # (127.0.0.1) for security reasons. However it is possible to change this.
  apiServerAddress: "192.168.80.33"
  # By default the API server listens on a random open port.
  # You may choose a specific port but probably don't need to in most cases.
  # Using a random port makes it easier to spin up multiple clusters.
  apiServerPort: 58014

Then, run kind create command to create a cluster.

% kind create cluster --config kind-multiple-control-plane.yaml
Creating cluster "kind" ...
 ✓ Ensuring node image (kindest/node:v1.21.1) 🖼
 ✓ Preparing nodes 📦 📦 📦 📦 📦 📦
 ✓ Configuring the external load balancer ⚖️
 ✓ Writing configuration 📜
 ✓ Starting control-plane 🕹️
 ✓ Installing CNI 🔌
 ✓ Installing StorageClass 💾
 ✓ Joining more control-plane nodes 🎮
 ✓ Joining worker nodes 🚜
Set kubectl context to "kind-kind"
You can now use your cluster with:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind

Not sure what to do next? 😅  Check out https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/docs/user/quick-start/

Check cluster info.

% kubectl cluster-info --context kind-kind
Kubernetes control plane is running at https://192.168.80.33:58014
CoreDNS is running at https://192.168.80.33:58014/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

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

Run kubect get nodes to check cluster nodes.

% kubectl get nodes --context kind-kind
NAME                  STATUS   ROLES                  AGE     VERSION
kind-control-plane    Ready    control-plane,master   5m39s   v1.21.1
kind-control-plane2   Ready    control-plane,master   5m10s   v1.21.1
kind-control-plane3   Ready    control-plane,master   4m16s   v1.21.1
kind-worker           Ready    <none>                 3m58s   v1.21.1
kind-worker2          Ready    <none>                 3m58s   v1.21.1
kind-worker3          Ready    <none>                 3m58s   v1.21.1

Run docker ps to cheker docker containers.

% docker ps
CONTAINER ID   IMAGE                                COMMAND                  CREATED         STATUS         PORTS                         NAMES
714bb9aea94c   kindest/haproxy:v20200708-548e36db   "/docker-entrypoint.…"   6 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes   192.168.80.33:58014->6443/tcp   kind-external-load-balancer
741bd68261fa   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes   127.0.0.1:50252->6443/tcp     kind-control-plane
39d98d72e35a   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes                                 kind-worker2
da46761e4c49   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes   127.0.0.1:50253->6443/tcp     kind-control-plane2
88f00272efe0   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes                                 kind-worker
f054dd65b71e   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes                                 kind-worker3
8ad315d2d8e9   kindest/node:v1.21.1                 "/usr/local/bin/entr…"   7 minutes ago   Up 6 minutes   127.0.0.1:50254->6443/tcp     kind-control-plane3

## References

[1] [kind - https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/](https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/)

[2] [Homebrew - https://brew.sh/](https://brew.sh/)

[3] [Install Tools | Kubernetes - https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/)

[4] [Kubernetes](https://kubernetes.io/)