Create Your First Cluster

This page creates a disposable kind cluster for the hands-on Kubernetes security exercises.

Before running these commands, make sure your container runtime is running and that kubectl and kind are installed.

Create the Cluster

Set a cluster name:

export K8S_SECURITY_CLUSTER=k8s-security-lab

Create the cluster:

kind create cluster --name "$K8S_SECURITY_CLUSTER"

kind creates a kubeconfig context named kind-k8s-security-lab. Switch to it explicitly:

kubectl config use-context "kind-$K8S_SECURITY_CLUSTER"

Confirm the context before doing anything else:

kubectl config current-context

Expected output:

kind-k8s-security-lab

Check the Nodes

List the nodes:

kubectl get nodes -o wide

A default kind cluster usually has one control-plane node. That is enough for most examples in this foundation.

You can also check the core system pods:

kubectl get pods -n kube-system

Wait until the system pods are Running or Completed before continuing.

Create a Practice Namespace

Use a separate namespace for basic experiments:

kubectl create namespace lab

Set it as the default namespace for the current context:

kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=lab

Confirm it:

kubectl config view --minify --output 'jsonpath={..namespace}'; echo

Expected output:

lab

Deploy a Test Workload

Create a small workload:

kubectl create deployment hello --image=nginx:1.27
kubectl rollout status deployment/hello

List the pod:

kubectl get pods

This gives you a simple target for later exercises around service accounts, network access, pod configuration, and runtime behavior.

Clean Up the Test Workload

Remove the deployment when you are done with the initial test:

kubectl delete deployment hello

Keep the lab namespace. Later pages can reuse it.

Delete the Cluster

When you want to start over:

kind delete cluster --name "$K8S_SECURITY_CLUSTER"

The ability to reset quickly is part of the lab design. You should be comfortable destroying and recreating this cluster throughout the foundation.