How to run multiple Kubernetes clusters with Minikube
Minikube is one of the easiest options to run a Kubernetes cluster on your laptop.
But, often one Kubernetes cluster is not enough for DevOps engineers.
To test an application in different Kubernetes versions or to test different Kubernetes configurations we need to run multiple Kubernetes clusters.
Minikube can do that. You just need a laptop (Linux, Mac, or Windows) with at least 6GB of memory.
Install Minikube
Install Minikube by following the instructions for your platform.
Start the first cluster
Start the first Kubernetes cluster, which will be named minikube.
minikube start
List the created cluster.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | * |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
A profile in Minikube is equivalent to a Kubernetes cluster.
Start the second cluster
Create a new cluster. Use -p option to create a new profile (cluster).
minikube start -p k8s-10
List the clusters.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-10 | docker | docker | 192.168.49.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | * |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
Now, we have two Kubernetes clusters running.
Selecting clusters
Minikube includes kubectl which you can use as minikube kubectl --.
The commands issued using minikube kubectl -- will be received by the Active cluster indicated by a * in the Active column in the table above.
List the nodes in the cluster.
minikube kubectl -- get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
minikube Ready control-plane 3h48m v1.28.3
This command lists the nodes in the minikube cluster as it is the currently Active cluster.
Select the other cluster.
minikube profile k8s-10
✅ minikube profile was successfully set to k8s-10
List the clusters.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-10 | docker | docker | 192.168.49.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | * |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
Now, the k8s-10 cluster is selected so the commands will be received by the k8s-10 cluster.
List the nodes in k8s-10 cluster.
minikube kubectl -- get nodes
NAME STATUS ROLES AGE VERSION
k8s-10 Ready control-plane 7m14s v1.28.3
Stop a Kubernetes cluster
To stop a cluster, we must select the cluster (profile) first.
Let’s stop the minikube cluster.
minikube profile minikube
✅ minikube profile was successfully set to minikube
minikube stop
✋ Stopping node "minikube" ...
🛑 Powering off "minikube" via SSH ...
🛑 1 node stopped.
List the clusters.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-10 | docker | docker | 192.168.49.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Stopped | 1 | * |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
The cluster minikube is stopped but k8s-10 is still running.
Create more clusters
Minikube is not limited to single-node clusters.
Create a new Kubernetes cluster with two nodes.
minikube start -n=2 -p k8s-20
List the clusters
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-10 | docker | docker | 192.168.49.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 1 | |
| k8s-20 | docker | docker | 192.168.67.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 2 | |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Stopped | 1 | * |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
We have two running clusters - k8s-10 with one node and k8s-20 with two nodes.
Delete clusters
Let’s delete the cluster k8s-10 as we no longer need it.
To delete a cluster, we must first select the profile.
minikube profile k8s-10
Stop the cluster.
minikube stop
Delete the cluster.
minikube delete
List the clusters.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-20 | docker | docker | 192.168.67.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 2 | |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Stopped | 1 | * |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
The cluster k8s-10 is deleted.
Create a cluster with a specific Kubernetes version
By default, Minikube creates the cluster with the latest Kubernetes version. We can create a cluster with a specific version by using --kubernetes-version option in minikube start.
Create a cluster with Kubernetes 1.27.1.
minikube start -p k8s-30 --kubernetes-version='1.27.1'
List the clusters.
minikube profile list
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| Profile | VM Driver | Runtime | IP | Port | Version | Status | Nodes | Active |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
| k8s-30 | docker | docker | 192.168.49.2 | 8443 | v1.27.1 | Running | 1 | |
| k8s20 | docker | docker | 192.168.67.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Running | 2 | * |
| minikube | docker | docker | 192.168.76.2 | 8443 | v1.28.3 | Stopped | 1 | |
|----------|-----------|---------|--------------|------|---------|---------|-------|--------|
Wrapping up
Minikube is easy to get started and is also lenient on computing resource. But, it’s a powerful tool for running Kubernetes in your laptop.
You can easily run 3 single-node clusters in a laptop with 6GB of memory and 4 CPU cores.
With more memory and CPU cores you can create sophisticated Kubernetes test labs right on your laptop.