• bgrant0607
  • janetkuo title: kubectl Usage Conventions

  • TOC {:toc}

Using kubectl in Reusable Scripts

If you need stable output in a script, you should:

  • Request one of the machine-oriented output forms, such as -o name, -o json, -o yaml, -o go-template, or -o jsonpath
  • Specify --output-version, since those output forms (other than -o name) output the resource using a particular API version
  • Specify --generator to pin to a specific behavior forever, if using generator-based commands (such as kubectl run or kubectl expose)
  • Don't rely on context, preferences, or other implicit state

Best Practices

kubectl run

In order for kubectl run to satisfy infrastructure as code:

  • Always tag your image with a version-specific tag and don't move that tag to a new version. For example, use :v1234, v1.2.3, r03062016-1-4, rather than :latest (see Best Practices for Configuration for more information.)
  • If the image is lightly parameterized, capture the parameters in a checked-in script, or at least use --record, to annotate the created objects with the command line.
  • If the image is heavily parameterized, definitely check in the script.
  • If features are needed that are not expressible via kubectl run flags, switch to configuration files checked into source control.
  • Pin to a specific generator version, such as kubectl run --generator=deployment/v1beta1

Generators

kubectl run allows you to generate the following resources (using --generator flag):

  • Pod - use run-pod/v1.
  • Replication controller - use run/v1.
  • Deployment, using extensions/v1beta1 endpoint - use deployment/v1beta1 (default).
  • Deployment, using apps/v1beta1 endpoint - use deployment/apps.v1beta1 (recommended).
  • Job - use job/v1.
  • CronJob - use cronjob/v2alpha1.

Additionally, if you didn't specify a generator flag, other flags will suggest using a specific generator. Below table shows which flags force using specific generators, depending on your cluster version:

Generated Resource Cluster v1.4 and later Cluster v1.3 Cluster v1.2 Cluster v1.1 and eariler
Pod --restart=Never --restart=Never --generator=run-pod/v1 --restart=OnFailure OR --restart=Never
Replication Controller --generator=run/v1 --generator=run/v1 --generator=run/v1 --restart=Always
Deployment --restart=Always --restart=Always --restart=Always N/A
Job --restart=OnFailure --restart=OnFailure --restart=OnFailure OR --restart=Never N/A
Cron Job --schedule=<cron> N/A N/A N/A

Note that these flags will use a default generator only when you have not specified any flag. This also means that combining --generator with other flags won't change the generator you specified. For example, in a 1.4 cluster, if you specify --restart=Always, a Deployment will be created; if you specify --restart=Always and --generator=run/v1, a Replication Controller will be created instead. This becomes handy if you want to pin to a specific behavior with the generator, even when the defaulted generator is changed in the future.

Finally, the order in which flags set the generator is: schedule flag has the highest priority, then restart policy and finally the generator itself.

If in doubt about the final resource being created, you can always use --dry-run flag, which will provide the object to be submitted to the cluster.

kubectl apply

  • To use kubectl apply to update resources, always create resources initially with kubectl apply or with --save-config. See managing resources with kubectl apply for the reason behind it.