Getting started with kubectl for Azure AKS on Windows

In this post you will learn how you can launch the Kubernetes Web UI Dashboard from you Windows Bash connected to the new Azure AKS service.

Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux

Before we get started with kubectl, we need to install the „Windows Subsystem for Linux“. This will enable us to run a bash shell and connect us to the Azure AKS environment.

To enable the „Windows Subsystem for Linux“ feature run the following command in an elevated PowerShell and restart your computer if prompted.

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux

For details on how to enable the Bash on Windows, follow the Microsoft Installation Guide.

Install Azure CLI for Bash on Windows

1. Open the Bash shell.
2. Modify your sources list.

   echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/azure-cli/ wheezy main" | \
        sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/azure-cli.list
   

3. Run the following sudo commands:

   sudo apt-key adv --keyserver packages.microsoft.com --recv-keys 52E16F86FEE04B979B07E28DB02C46DF417A0893
   sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https
   sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install azure-cli
   

4. Run the CLI from the command prompt with the az command.

Install Kubernetes CLI kubectl

Open Bash for Windows and run the following sudo command.

sudo az aks install-cli

After kubectl is installed you need to login into your Azure account and connect  to the correct subscription.

az login

List all your Azure subscriptions and connect  to the one holding your AKS cluster.

az account list -o=table
az account set --subscription="SubName"

Start the Web UI Admin Dashboard and browse it on http://localhost:8001/

az aks browse -g MyResourceGroupName -n MyClusterName

Browse the Web UI Dashboard on http://localhost:8001/.

Happy orchestrating your AKS Kubernetes cluster 🙂

This post was cross published on MIRENOBA.