For those working with Kubernetes, the following application may be of interest, as many often use the k3d container because it's lightweight for running k3s (Rancher Lab's minimal Kubernetes distribution). k3d makes it easy to create single- or multi-node k3s clusters in Docker, for example, for local Kubernetes development.
And in this case, k3x is an excellent option for managing k3d through a graphical user interface, making it trivial to have your own local Kubernetes clusters.
The project website describes k3x as perfect for:
- Have a new Kubernetes cluster in a couple of seconds.
- Test new implementations before going into production.
- Learn about Kubernetes.
Furthermore, it mentions that the objectives of k3x are:
- To easily create, change, and / or delete Kubernetes clusters.
- To boost the most important operations with global keyboard shortcuts.
- To reduce the learning curve of using Kubernetes.
How to install k3x on Linux?
For those interested in installing k3x on their system, they can do so using Flatpak packages , so they must have support for this type of package added to their system.
With the support added, you just need to add the Flathub repository (if you don't already have it) or if you already have it you can skip this step.
To add the repository, simply open a terminal on your system and type the following command:
flatpak remote-add --user --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
To install k3x on your system , you can install the package directly from Flathub by typing the following command in the terminal:
flatpak install flathub com.github.inercia.k3x
Alternatively, you can download the package using this command:
wget https://github.com/flathub/com.github.inercia.k3x
Then proceed to install the package by navigating to the folder where you downloaded it (if you haven't moved it by running the previous command) and typing the following command:
flatpak install --user com.github.inercia.k3x.flatpak
And in case you encounter the following error : “ The application com.github.inercia.k3x/x86_64/master requires the runtime org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.3 which was not found”.
They can force the installation of dependencies with:
flatpak install --user org.gnome.Platform/x86_64/3.34
Once the installation is complete , you can ensure that k3x is installed on your system by checking that a launcher is available in your applications menu.
Or, if you cannot find it or it is not there, you can launch k3x directly from your terminal by running the following command:
flatpak run --user com.github.inercia.k3x
Once k3x is running, you will see a new icon in the system tray that will open a menu when clicked.
This menu displays the various actions you can perform directly, and also enables keyboard shortcuts for those actions. (You can find these under Keyboard Shortcuts.)
In addition, creating new clusters allows you to assign a cluster name, the number of workers in the cluster, and k3d will start with a master node that will also be used to run the workload, but additional workers can be added.
Cluster control is also allowed to the local registry where the local registry details are configured in the Preferences pane.
It should be noted that the local registry is shared among all the clusters created. Log creation will be triggered when you create the first cluster that needs it, and will be removed when it is no longer in use by clusters.
How to uninstall k3x Kubernetes Manager on Linux?
For those who wish to uninstall k3x Kubernetes Manager from their system, it can be done quite easily : simply open a terminal and type one of the following commands to permanently remove the application from your system.
flatpak --user uninstall com.github.inercia.k3x
O
flatpak uninstall com.github.inercia.k3x