kubectx & kubens: Quick Start

This post shows examples of kubectx & kubens.

install

% brew install kubectx

This will install both kubectx and kubens.

kubectx

kubectx help manage k8s contexts.

% kubectx -h
USAGE:
  kubectx                       : list the contexts
  kubectx <NAME>                : switch to context <NAME>
  kubectx -                     : switch to the previous context
  ...

Listing the contexts is as simple as follows:

% kubectl config get-contexts
CURRENT   NAME        CLUSTER     AUTHINFO    NAMESPACE
*         kind-kind   kind-kind   kind-kind   
          minikube    minikube    minikube    default
% kubectx
kind-kind
minikube

Change the context:

% kubectx minikube
Switched to context "minikube".
% kubectx         
kind-kind
minikube
% kubectx -
Switched to context "kind-kind".
% kubectx  
kind-kind
minikube

kubens

kubens help manage k8s namaepaces (ns).

% kubens -h     
USAGE:
  kubens                    : list the namespaces in the current context
  kubens <NAME>             : change the active namespace of current context
  kubens -                  : switch to the previous namespace in this context
  ...

Here is the comparizon between kubectl and kubens:

% kubectl get ns
NAME                 STATUS   AGE
default              Active   4m11s
kube-node-lease      Active   4m12s
kube-public          Active   4m12s
kube-system          Active   4m12s
local-path-storage   Active   4m6s
% kubens        
default
kube-node-lease
kube-public
kube-system
local-path-storage

Change the namespaces:

% kubens kube-system
Context "kind-kind" modified.
Active namespace is "kube-system".
% kubens            
default
kube-node-lease
kube-public
kube-system
local-path-storage
% kubens -
Context "kind-kind" modified.
Active namespace is "default".
% kubens  
default
kube-node-lease
kube-public
kube-system
local-path-storage