Installing `kubectl`

Kubernetes uses a command-line utility called kubectl for communicating with the cluster API server. The kubectl binary is available in many operating system package managers, and this option is often much easier than a manual download and install process. You can follow the instructions for your specific operating system or package manager in the Kubernetes documentation to install.

This topic helps you to download and install the Amazon EKS-vended kubectl binaries for MacOS, Linux, and Windows operating systems.

Topics

MacOS

This section helps you to install kubectl for MacOS clients.

To install kubectl on MacOS

Download the Amazon EKS-vended kubectl binary from Amazon S3:

curl -o kubectl https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl

(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the SHA-256 sum for your binary.
1. Download the SHA-256 sum for MacOS:
```
curl -o kubectl.sha256 https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/darwin/amd64/kubectl.sha256
```
2. Check the SHA-256 sum for your downloaded binary.
```
openssl sha -sha256 kubectl
```
3. Compare the generated SHA-256 sum in the command output against your downloaded SHA-256 file. The two should match.
Apply execute permissions to the binary.
```
chmod +x ./kubectl
```
Copy the binary to a folder in your PATH. If you have already installed a version of kubectl, then we recommend creating a $HOME/bin/kubectl and ensuring that$HOME/bin comes first in your $PATH.
```
mkdir $HOME/bin && cp ./kubectl $HOME/bin/kubectl && export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
```
(Optional) Add the $HOME/bin path to your shell initialization file so that it is configured when you open a shell.
```
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bash_profile
```
After you install kubectl, you can verify its version with the following command:
```
kubectl version --short --client
```

Linux

This section helps you to install kubectl for Linux clients.

To install kubectl on Linux

Download the Amazon EKS-vended kubectl binary from Amazon S3:

curl -o kubectl https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the SHA-256 sum for your binary.
1. Download the SHA-256 sum for Linux:
```
curl -o kubectl.sha256 https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl.sha256
```
2. Check the SHA-256 sum for your downloaded binary.
```
openssl sha -sha256 kubectl
```
3. Compare the generated SHA-256 sum in the command output against your downloaded SHA-256 file. The two should match.
Apply execute permissions to the binary.
```
chmod +x ./kubectl
```
Copy the binary to a folder in your PATH. If you have already installed a version of kubectl, then we recommend creating a $HOME/bin/kubectl and ensuring that$HOME/bin comes first in your $PATH.
```
mkdir $HOME/bin && cp ./kubectl $HOME/bin/kubectl && export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH
```
(Optional) Add the $HOME/bin path to your shell initialization file so that it is configured when you open a shell.

Note

This step assumes you are using the Bash shell; if you are using another shell, change the command to use your specific shell initialization file.
```
echo 'export PATH=$HOME/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
```
After you install kubectl, you can verify its version with the following command:
```
kubectl version --short --client
```

Windows

This section helps you to install kubectl for Windows clients with PowerShell.

To install kubectl on Windows

Open a PowerShell terminal.

Download the Amazon EKS-vended kubectl binary from Amazon S3:

curl -o kubectl.exe https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe

(Optional) Verify the downloaded binary with the SHA-256 sum for your binary.
1. Download the SHA-256 sum for Windows:
```
curl -o kubectl.exe.sha256 https://amazon-eks.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1.11.5/2018-12-06/bin/windows/amd64/kubectl.exe.sha256
```
2. Check the SHA-256 sum for your downloaded binary.
```
Get-FileHash kubectl.exe
```
3. Compare the generated SHA-256 sum in the command output against your downloaded SHA-256 file. The two should match, although the PowerShell output will be uppercase.
Copy the binary to a folder in your PATH. If you have an existing directory in your PATH that you use for command-line utilities, copy the binary to that directory. Otherwise, complete the following steps.
1. Create a new directory for your command-line binaries, such as C:\bin.
2. Copy the kubectl.exe binary to your new directory.
3. Edit your user or system PATH environment variable to add the new directory to your PATH.
4. Close your PowerShell terminal and open a new one to pick up the new PATH variable.
After you install kubectl, you can verify its version with the following command:
```
kubectl version --short --client
```

refer: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/install-kubectl.html