If you still don’t have a development environment to work with Kubernetes, Java, Docker, etc. Then, congrats! You’ve come to the right place. In this tutorial, we’ll teach you how to set up a development environment in a few simple steps. Ready?

What will you need?

To prepare your development environment you will need to install:

• JDK 8 or later
• Maven 3.5.2 or later
• Git
• Docker Desktop
• As an option, for convenience:
  • A Docker management console.
  • A development IDE, for example IntelliJ IDEA

Docker Desktop Set up

Once the installation of Docker Desktop is completed, let’s configure it to allow the use of Kubernetes. By default, this function is disabled. Enabling it is as simple as accessing the configuration options and check the corresponding box in the ‘Kubernetes’ section:

Once the changes are applied, the installation of Kubernetes will automatically begin. In the lower-left part, you’ll see the status of the installation, so you know when it has finished and is therefore available for use.

Once the installation of Kubernetes is finished, you’ll have at your disposal the kubectl command, which you can use from the Command Prompt or Windows PowerShell, in case you are using Windows, or from the Mac terminal.

Kubernetes Ingress

Ingress exposes HTTP and HTTPS routes from outside the cluster to services within the cluster, allowing you to conveniently access them.

In short, these are the steps you must follow:

1. Creation of Ingress initial artifacts:

   kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/nginx-0.30.0/deploy/static/mandatory.yaml

2. Deployment of Ingress:

   kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx/nginx-0.30.0/deploy/static/provider/cloud-generic.yaml

3. Installation verification:

   kubectl get pods --all-namespaces -l app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx --watch

If you have any problems, follow the installation steps in the Ingress installation guide.

Kubernetes Dashboard

To access the Kubernetes Dashboard and get an overview of your deployments, first, you’ll need to install it on your environment. To do so, follow the instructions from its official repository at Github:

1. Deploy the Dashboard by running the command kubectl:

   kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/dashboard/v2.0.0-rc7/aio/deploy/recommended.yaml

2. Once the installation is complete, register the Kubernetes Dashboard at Ingress for convenient access through the virtual host k8s.local. For this you’ll have to create the file kubernetes-dashboard-ingress.yaml with the following content:

   apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
   kind: Ingress
   metadata:
    name: kubernetes-dashboard-ingress
    annotations:
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-passthrough: "true"
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/backend-protocol: "HTTPS"
        nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/proxy-body-size: '0'
   spec:
    rules:
    - host: k8s.local
      http:
        paths:
        - path: /
          backend:
             serviceName: kubernetes-dashboard
             servicePort: 443

   Implement:

   kubectl apply -f kubernetes-dashboard-ingress.yaml -n kubernetes-dashboard

3. You will need to edit the hosts file on your machine and add the alias k8s.local to the local host’s IP:

    127.0.0.1 localhost k8s.local

   • /etc/hosts en linux/mac
   • c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts en windows

4. Open your browser and enter http://k8s.local. The access form will appear:
   

5. To access you’ll need an access token.
   If you want you can allow access without token which is more convenient for local development. If so, you can skip the next steps:

   • (Windows PowerShell)

     kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard describe secret $(kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard get secret | sls admin-user | ForEach-Object { $_ -Split '\s+' } | Select -First 1)

   • (Bash)

     kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard describe secret $(kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard get secret | grep admin-user | awk '{print $1}')

6. If you have allowed access without a token, the Skip button will appear on the login form. Click it to enter the Dashboard. Otherwise, you’ll need the access token obtained in step 5.

Docker Management Console

Once you have completed the installation and configuration of Docker Desktop, you will need to install a Docker Management Console, which makes it easier to manage images and containers graphically. Portainer is among our favorites since, apart from all its features, it is installed as a container in the Docker itself.

Follow the installation steps for your operating system.

Help and troubleshooting

Allow token-free access

For local development, the most convenient way is to activate token-free access to the Kubernetes Dashboard. To do so, you must implement the following steps:

1. Edit the kubernetes-dashboard configuration and enter the --enable-skip-login parameter in the boot arguments:

   kubectl edit deployment/kubernetes-dashboard -n kubernetes-dashboard

   Go down until you reach - args: and enter --enable-skip-login:

   containers:
   - args:
    - --enable-skip-login

   It should look like this:
   

2. Once you’ve edited the configuration, restart kubernetes-dashboard to apply the changes:

   kubectl rollout restart deployment/kubernetes-dashboard -n kubernetes-dashboard

---