Version Control System

Samuel Oshobugie — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 22:25:19 +0000

version control system

Installing Kubernetes using Minikube

Samuel Oshobugie — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 12:08:54 +0000

Kubernetes is an open source system to deploy, scale and manage containerized applications anywhere.

You can choose to install it locally on your host machine or use it via a cloud provider such as GCP and AWS.

Using Kubernetes via a cloud provider is usually the best option, but you can also choose to run it locally.

Installing it on your local machine is not a hassle at all but could be tricky at times. We would be digging deep and exploring all our options.

INSTALLING ON A MAC

To install kubernetes on a mac you should install a lightweight virtual machine first called hyperkit. Preferably use brew for your installation

brew install hyperkit
brew install minikube

If you have an older version of minikube with a virtual machine it is best to uninstall that first with

minikube delete

then reinstall afresh

brew install hyperkit
brew install minikube

to start the minikube cluster you need to point minikube to the vm - hyperkit

minikube start --vm-driver=hyperkit

Please note that during installation minikube installed kubectl as a dependency.

when all is done, you can check their versions for confirmation

kubectl version
minikube version
minikube status

kubectl get nodes

INSTALLING ON A LINUX MACHINE

Installing kubernetes on a linux machine you first need to update the machine with

sudo apt update

then install a virtual machine that kubernetes will run on preferably a lightweight vm

sudo apt update
sudo apt install virtualbox

or if you prefer qemu-kvm virtual machine

sudo apt update
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-clients libvirt-daemon-system

When installation is complete, the next step is to install kubectl

sudo apt update
sudo apt install kubectl

snap install kubectl --classic

Then finally you install minikube by installing its binary

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

When installation is complete, to start the cluster you should point minikube to the virtual machine installed

For VirtualBox

minikube start --driver=virtualbox

For KVM/QEMU

minikube start --driver=kvm2
minikube status

kubectl get nodes

INSTALLING ON A LINUX MACHINE RUNNING ON A VIRTUAL MACHINE

Most times this is usually the trickiest part, running a linux machine on a VM and you need yet another vm to run kubernetes, thats the analogy right? but yes and no.

You see actually you need nested virtualization for this, thats a vm on another vm but one thing to note here is that docker can integrate so well with kubernetes so instead of using a vm on another vm we can use docker to serve as the driver hence no need for that vm. So how do we do this

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io
docker version
systemctl start docker
systemctl status docker

ctrl + c to return

snap install kubectl --classic

Next step install minikube

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

minikube version

Now point minikube to docker like this

minikube start --driver=docker

This would raise an alarm, so add your user to the docker group to give it permission. Add it like this

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker

Run the command to start the minikube cluster

minikube start --driver=docker

Note: ensure docker has space enough space and is not cluttered, to prune docker run

docker system prune -f

Confirm install

kubectl version
minikube version
minikube status

Start

kubectl get nodes

Voila kubernetes is now up running !!!

DEV Community: Samuel Oshobugie

Version Control System

Installing Kubernetes using Minikube