🚀 Beginner’s Guide to Installing Kubernetes (K8s) – Step by Step

Series: 30 Days DevOps Interview Preparation
Author: Tathagat Gaikwad

Kubernetes has become the de facto standard for container orchestration. Whether you’re preparing for DevOps interviews or setting up your own production-ready environment, you’ll need to know how to install Kubernetes correctly.

In this blog, we’ll cover:
✅ What Kubernetes is (quick recap)
✅ Prerequisites for installation
✅ Kubernetes installation options (Minikube, Kind, AWS EKS)
✅ Step-by-step setup (local & AWS)
✅ Useful kubectl commands for beginners

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🔹 What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (a.k.a. K8s) is an open-source platform designed to automate deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications.

Think of Kubernetes as:
👉 Docker = Container runtime (how we package/run apps)
👉 Kubernetes = Container manager (how we schedule, scale, and heal apps across clusters).

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🔹 Prerequisites for Kubernetes Installation

Before installing Kubernetes, make sure you have:

✅ System Requirements

• OS: Linux (Ubuntu/Debian), macOS, or Windows 10+

• CPU: Minimum 2 cores (4 recommended)

• RAM: Minimum 4GB (8GB recommended for EKS)

• Disk: 20GB free space

✅ Tools to Install

1. Docker – Container runtime

2. kubectl – Kubernetes command-line tool

3. Minikube / Kind – For local clusters

4. AWS CLI + eksctl – For AWS EKS setup

5. Helm (optional) – Kubernetes package manager

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🔹 Kubernetes Installation Methods

There are 3 common ways to install Kubernetes:

1. Minikube → Best for beginners (local single-node cluster).

2. Kind (Kubernetes-in-Docker) → Lightweight local cluster.

3. AWS EKS (Elastic Kubernetes Service) → Cloud-managed Kubernetes (production-ready).

We’ll cover Minikube (local) and EKS (cloud).

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🛠️ Installing Kubernetes with Minikube (Local Setup)

Step 1: Install Docker

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker.io
sudo systemctl start docker
sudo systemctl enable docker

Step 2: Install kubectl

curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
chmod +x kubectl
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/
kubectl version --client

Step 3: Install Minikube

curl -LO https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube

Step 4: Start Minikube Cluster

minikube start --driver=docker

Step 5: Verify Installation

kubectl get nodes

👉 Output should show 1 node ready. 🎉

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🛠️ Installing Kubernetes on AWS EKS (Cloud Setup)

Step 1: Install Prerequisites

# AWS CLI
sudo apt-get install -y awscli

# eksctl
curl --location "https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_$(uname -s)_amd64.tar.gz" | tar xz
sudo mv eksctl /usr/local/bin

# kubectl
curl -o kubectl https://amazon-eks.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/latest/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
chmod +x ./kubectl
sudo mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin

Step 2: Create an EKS Cluster

eksctl create cluster \
--name demo-cluster \
--region ap-south-1 \
--nodes 2 \
--node-type t3.medium \
--managed

Step 3: Verify Cluster

kubectl get nodes
kubectl cluster-info

Step 4: Deploy a Test App

kubectl create deployment hello-app --image=nginx
kubectl expose deployment hello-app --type=LoadBalancer --port=80
kubectl get svc hello-app

👉 Copy the external LoadBalancer URL → paste in browser → Your app is live on AWS EKS! 🎉

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🔹 Useful kubectl Commands

# Get nodes and pods
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods

# Create a pod
kubectl run test-pod --image=nginx

# Scale deployment
kubectl scale deployment hello-app --replicas=3

# Rolling update
kubectl set image deployment/hello-app nginx=nginx:1.21

# Rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/hello-app

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🎯 Interview Questions (with Answers)

Q1: Why do we need Minikube if we can use Docker directly?
👉 Docker runs containers on a single machine. Minikube simulates a Kubernetes cluster so you can practice orchestration.

Q2: What’s the difference between Minikube and AWS EKS?
👉 Minikube = local, single-node cluster for learning.
👉 EKS = cloud-managed, production-grade multi-node cluster.

Q3: Can we run Kubernetes without Docker?
👉 Yes. Kubernetes supports other runtimes like containerd and CRI-O.

Q4: What is the role of kubectl?
👉 kubectl is the CLI tool to interact with Kubernetes API server. You use it for creating pods, scaling, updating deployments, etc.

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✅ Key Takeaways

• Kubernetes requires Docker, kubectl, and a cluster setup (Minikube or EKS).

• Minikube is best for beginners, EKS is best for real-world, cloud-native workloads.

• Understanding Pods, Deployments, and Services is essential for DevOps interviews.

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