KinD Cluster Setup (Mac)

Overview

KinD (Kubernetes in Docker) runs Kubernetes clusters using Docker containers as nodes. It’s perfect for local development, testing, and CI/CD pipelines.

Prerequisites

macOS with Homebrew installed
Docker Desktop running

Installation

Install KinD using Homebrew
Terminal window
```
brew install kind
```
Verify installation
Terminal window
```
kind version
```

Create Cluster

Basic Cluster

Create a single-node cluster with default settings:

kind create cluster

Custom Named Cluster

Create a cluster with a specific name:

kind create cluster --name my-cluster

Multi-Node Cluster

Create a cluster with multiple worker nodes using a config file:

kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
- role: worker
- role: worker

kind create cluster --config kind-config.yaml --name multi-node

Cluster Management

List Clusters

kind get clusters

Get Cluster Info

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-my-cluster

Delete Cluster

# Delete default cluster
kind delete cluster

# Delete named cluster
kind delete cluster --name my-cluster

Accessing the Cluster

KinD automatically configures kubectl to use the new cluster:

# View current context
kubectl config current-context

# List all nodes
kubectl get nodes

# Deploy a test application
kubectl create deployment nginx --image=nginx
kubectl expose deployment nginx --port=80 --type=NodePort

Troubleshooting

Docker Not Running

If you see “Cannot connect to the Docker daemon”, ensure Docker Desktop is running:

docker ps

Cluster Creation Fails

Delete any existing cluster and try again:

kind delete cluster
kind create cluster