Kubernetes Quickstart

Create Clusters

To create a Kubernetes cluster:

1. From the Create menu in the control panel, click Clusters.
2. Select a Kubernetes version. The latest version is selected by default and is the best choice if you have no specific need for an earlier version.
3. Choose a datacenter region.
4. Customize the default node pool, choose the node pool names, and add additional node pools.
5. Name the cluster and, optionally, add a tag. You cannot change the name of your cluster after you create it. Any tags you choose will be applied to the cluster and its worker nodes.
6. Click Create Cluster. Provisioning the cluster takes several minutes.
7. Download the cluster configuration file by clicking Actions and Download Config from the cluster home page.

Once the cluster is created, use kubectl to manage it.

Edit Nodes and Node Pools for an Existing Cluster

You can create additional node pools and add and remove nodes from a node pool at any time.

To edit the size of an existing node pool:

1. Open the cluster’s More menu and select View Nodes.
2. Next to the node which you’d like to resize, click the … button, then click Resize.
3. Use the + and - controls to adjust the size of the pool, then click the Update Node Count to confirm.

To add additional node pools:

1. Open the cluster’s More menu and select View Nodes.
2. Click Add Node Pool.
3. Select the name, type, size, and number of Droplets in the pool. Click Add Node Pool to add additional node pools. You cannot rename node pools after you create them.
4. Click Save to save your changes and provision your new nodes.

Recycle Nodes

If a worker node isn’t functioning properly, you can destroy and replace it with a new node of the same type with the Recycle option.

1. Open the cluster’s More menu and select View Nodes.
2. Click the name of the node pool with the problem node.
3. Open the … menu next to the problem node and click Recycle, then confirm the action.

Destroy Clusters

To delete an entire cluster:

1. Open the cluster’s More menu and select Destroy.
2. Click Destroy.
3. Enter the name of the cluster, then click Destroy to confirm.

Destroying a cluster will not delete DigitalOcean Load Balancers or block storage volumes associated with the cluster.