Hey Everyone in today's blog we are going to set up our Kubernetes cluster in your local machine so that we can test our application before deploying it directly to production.

What is Minikube?

Minikube is like a tiny playground for practicing and learning about a bigger thing called Kubernetes.

Imagine Kubernetes as a super-smart manager for running and managing lots of software programs (we call them "containers") on a bunch of computers. It's like a traffic police for these containers, ensuring they run smoothly and don't crash into each other.

Now, Minikube is a mini-version of this Kubernetes manager that you can run on your own computer. It's like having a small-scale model of a big city's traffic system on your desk. You can experiment with it, test things out, and get comfortable with how Kubernetes works without needing a whole cluster of computers.

So, in very simple terms, Minikube is a tool that lets you practice and learn Kubernetes on your own computer, like a training wheels version before you tackle the real deal.

How Minikube Works

Minikube is a tool that allows you to run Kubernetes on your local machine. It creates a single-node cluster in a virtual machine (VM). This cluster allows you to demonstrate Kubernetes operations without having to install the full K8s.

Minikube works by taking a Docker image and running it using Kubectl. Kubectl is a command line interface for running commands against Kubernetes clusters.

Minikube uses the docker-machine to manage the Kubernetes VM. It embeds VirtualBox and VMware Fusion drivers so there are no additional steps to use them.

Minikube can create a one-node cluster by default, but you can also create a multi-node cluster.

Now Setup Minikube

So we are using Docker to run our cluster so if you haven't downloaded the Docker then click here to download it and install it. After that download the Minikube by clicking here and installing it. Installation instructions will be available on that page.

Now Open your terminal and run minikube status This will show you the status of Minikube and it will also confirm that you have successfully installed the Minikube. If you have messed up the configuration you can use `minikube delete --purge --all` command to delete Minikube and reinstall it.

if minikube status shows this

Then it's installed nicely we will run the minikube start to start Minikube.

Now the Minikube has started it pulls the images and runs on the docker. You can run the command minikube status to see the status.

Let's check the docker container with docker ps command.

As you can see it is running. That means we have set up Minikube.

Basic Commads to use Minikube

Now we will see some basic commands to use Minikube that we will need while using Minikube.

Start a cluster by running:

minikube start

Access the Kubernetes dashboard running within the minikube cluster:

minikube dashboard

Once started, you can interact with your cluster using kubectl, just like any other Kubernetes cluster. For instance, starting a server:

kubectl create deployment hello-minikube --image=kicbase/echo-server:1.0

Exposing a service as a NodePort

kubectl expose deployment hello-minikube --type=NodePort --port=8080

minikube makes it easy to open this exposed endpoint in your browser:

minikube service hello-minikube

Upgrade your cluster:

minikube start --kubernetes-version=latest

Start a second local cluster (note: This will not work if minikube is using the bare-metal/none driver):

minikube start -p cluster2

Stop your local cluster:

minikube stop

Delete your local cluster:

minikube delete

Delete all local clusters and profiles

minikube delete --all

THE END

That's all for today I hope you learn a lot. Start testing your application and learning Kubernetes.