Effortlessly Manage Multiple Kubernetes Clusters with kubecm

Background

Kubernetes provides the kubectl command‑line tool to operate clusters, using a kubeconfig file (default location ~/.kube/config) for configuration. To manage multiple clusters with kubectl, you can add several cluster entries to the same kubeconfig by editing the file directly or running a series of kubectl config commands.

After a Kubernetes cluster is installed, a kubeconfig file is generated. To combine these files so that a single kubeconfig can manage many clusters, you can use the kubecm tool, which this article demonstrates.

Install kubecm

First, install kubecm on the machine that will manage multiple clusters. Refer to the official documentation for installation instructions.

Add credentials to kubeconfig with kubecm

Obtain the kubeconfig file for a cluster, rename it to the desired context name, and merge it into ~/.kube/config with the following command:

kubecm add -f <file>

When prompted, choose True to overwrite the default kubeconfig file, then press Enter.

View cluster list

After adding clusters with kubecm, run kubecm ls to display the list of clusters in the kubeconfig. An asterisk marks the currently active cluster.

Switch cluster

To switch to another cluster, use kubecm switch for an interactive selection:

However, using kubectx for switching is still recommended.

Remove cluster

To delete a cluster, run kubecm delete <context>: