100 Essential kubectl Commands for Kubernetes Diagnostics

Overview

This article provides a concise reference of 100 kubectl commands useful for diagnosing Kubernetes clusters, covering cluster information, pod inspection, service checks, deployment status, StatefulSet details, ConfigMap and Secret inspection, and namespace queries.

Cluster Information

Show Kubernetes version: kubectl version Show cluster info: kubectl cluster-info List all nodes: kubectl get nodes Describe a specific node: kubectl describe node <node-name> List all namespaces: kubectl get namespaces List all pods in all namespaces:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces

Pod Diagnostics

List pods in a namespace: kubectl get pods -n <namespace> Describe a pod: kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace> View pod logs: kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace> Tail pod logs: kubectl logs -f <pod-name> -n <namespace> Execute a command in a pod:

kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -n <namespace> -- <command>

Pod Health Checks

Check pod readiness:

kubectl get pods <pod-name> -n <namespace> -o jsonpath='{.status.conditions[?(@.type=="Ready")].status}'

Check pod events:

kubectl get events -n <namespace> --field-selector involvedObject.name=<pod-name>

Service Diagnostics

List services in a namespace: kubectl get svc -n <namespace> Describe a service:

kubectl describe svc <service-name> -n <namespace>

Deployment Diagnostics

List deployments in a namespace: kubectl get deployments -n <namespace> Describe a deployment:

kubectl describe deployment <deployment-name> -n <namespace>

Check rollout status:

kubectl rollout status deployment/<deployment-name> -n <namespace>

View rollout history:

kubectl rollout history deployment/<deployment-name> -n <namespace>

StatefulSet Diagnostics

List StatefulSets: kubectl get statefulsets -n <namespace> Describe a StatefulSet:

kubectl describe statefulset <statefulset-name> -n <namespace>

ConfigMap and Secret Diagnostics

List ConfigMaps: kubectl get configmaps -n <namespace> Describe a ConfigMap:

kubectl describe configmap <configmap-name> -n <namespace>

List Secrets: kubectl get secrets -n <namespace> Describe a Secret:

kubectl describe secret <secret-name> -n <namespace>

Namespace Diagnostics

Describe a namespace:

kubectl describe namespace <namespace-name>