Edit This Page

kubectl Usage Conventions

Using kubectl in Reusable Scripts

For a stable output in a script:

• Request one of the machine-oriented output forms, such as -o name, -o json, -o yaml, -o go-template, or -o jsonpath
• Fully-qualify the version. For example, jobs.v1.batch/myjob. This will ensure that kubectl does not use its default version that can change over time.
• Specify --generator to pin to a specific behavior forever when you use generator-based commands such as kubectl run or kubectl expose
• Don’t rely on context, preferences, or other implicit states.

Best Practices

kubectl run

For kubectl run to satisfy infrastructure as code:

• Tag the 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 (For more information, see Best Practices for Configuration).
• Capture the parameters in a checked-in script, or at least use --record to annotate the created objects with the command line for an image that is lightly parameterized.
• Check in the script for an image that is heavily parameterized.
• Switch to configuration files checked into source control for features that are needed, but not expressible via kubectl run flags.
• Pin to a specific generator version, such as kubectl run --generator=deployment/v1beta1.

Generators

You can generate the following resources in kubectl runusing --generator flag:

• Pod - use run-pod/v1.
• Replication controller - use run/v1.
• Deployment - use extensions/v1beta1 and for an endpoint - use deployment/v1beta1 (default).
• Deployment - use apps/v1beta1 and for an endpoint - use deployment/apps.v1beta1 (recommended).
• Job - use job/v1.
• CronJob - use batch/v1beta1and for an endpoint - use cronjob/v1beta1(default).
• CronJob - usebatch/v2alpha1 and for an endpoint - use cronjob/v2alpha1 (deprecated).

If you do not specify a generator flag, other flags prompt you to use a specific generator. The following table lists the flags that force you to use specific generators, depending on the version of the cluster:

Note: These flags use a default generator only when you have not specified any flag. This means that when you combine --generator with other flags the generator that you specified later does not change. For example, in a cluster v1.4, if you initially specify --restart=Always, a Deployment is created; if you later specify --restart=Always and --generator=run/v1, a Replication Controller is created. This enables you to pin to a specific behavior with the generator, even when the default generator is changed later.

The flags set the generator in the following order: first the schedule flag then restart policy and finally the generator.

To check the final resource that was created, use --dry-run flag, which provides the object to be submitted to the cluster.

kubectl apply

• You can use kubectl apply to create or update resources. However, to update a resource you should have created the resource by using kubectl apply or kubectl create --save-config. For more information about using kubectl apply to update resources, see Managing Resources.