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kubeadm Cheat Sheet

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Bootstrap, join, cert, kubeconfig, reset, phase, image, and upgrade commands for kubeadm-managed clusters.

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## Cluster Bootstrap
Show kubeadm version
↗#
kubeadm version

# Print kubeadm version information.

Initialize control plane
↗#
kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=10.244.0.0/16

# Bootstrap a new control plane.

Initialize with cert upload
↗#
kubeadm init --control-plane-endpoint=k8s.example.com --upload-certs

# Initialize HA control plane and upload certs for additional control-plane joins.

Create join token
↗#
kubeadm token create

# Create a bootstrap token for joining nodes.

Create token and print join command
↗#
kubeadm token create --print-join-command

# Generate a ready-to-run join command.

List bootstrap tokens
↗#
kubeadm token list

# Show active kubeadm bootstrap tokens.

Delete bootstrap token
↗#
kubeadm token delete abcdef.0123456789abcdef

# Invalidate a bootstrap token.

Join worker node
↗#
kubeadm join k8s.example.com:6443 --token abcdef.0123456789abcdef --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:<hash>

# Join a worker node to the cluster.

Join control-plane node
↗#
kubeadm join k8s.example.com:6443 --token abcdef.0123456789abcdef --discovery-token-ca-cert-hash sha256:<hash> --control-plane --certificate-key <key>

# Join an additional control-plane node.

## Certificates and kubeconfig
Check certificate expiration
↗#
kubeadm certs check-expiration

# See kubeadm-managed certificate expiry dates.

Renew all certificates
↗#
kubeadm certs renew all

# Renew all kubeadm-managed control-plane certificates.

Renew apiserver cert
↗#
kubeadm certs renew apiserver

# Renew the API server certificate only.

Generate certificate key
↗#
kubeadm certs certificate-key

# Generate a certificate key for control-plane join.

Generate kubeconfig for user
↗#
kubeadm kubeconfig user --client-name=platform-admin

# Generate a kubeconfig file for a user credential.

Upload certs phase
↗#
kubeadm init phase upload-certs --upload-certs

# Run only the cert upload phase.

## Phases, Reset, and Upgrade
Run init preflight phase
↗#
kubeadm init phase preflight

# Run kubeadm preflight checks.

Run control-plane phase
↗#
kubeadm init phase control-plane all

# Run control-plane static pod generation phases.

Reset node
↗#
kubeadm reset

# Remove kubeadm state from a node.

Force reset node
↗#
kubeadm reset -f

# Reset a node non-interactively.

Show upgrade plan
↗#
kubeadm upgrade plan

# Check available and recommended upgrade targets.

Apply control-plane upgrade
↗#
kubeadm upgrade apply v1.35.2

# Upgrade the control plane to a target version.

Upgrade node components
↗#
kubeadm upgrade node

# Run node-side upgrade steps after packages are updated.

Print default init config
↗#
kubeadm config print init-defaults

# Generate a baseline kubeadm init configuration.

List required images
↗#
kubeadm config images list

# Show control-plane images for the chosen version.

Pre-pull required images
↗#
kubeadm config images pull

# Pre-pull images before cluster bootstrap or upgrade.

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