Debugging with kubectl debug in Kubernetes - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Debugging with kubectl debug

📖 Scenario: You are a DevOps engineer responsible for maintaining a Kubernetes cluster. One of the pods running a web application is not responding correctly. You need to debug the pod to find out what is wrong without stopping the application.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to use kubectl debug to create a debugging container inside a running pod and inspect its environment.

📋 What You'll Learn

Use kubectl debug to create a debug container

Attach to the debug container's shell

Run commands inside the debug container to inspect the pod

Exit the debug session cleanly

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Debugging live applications running in Kubernetes without stopping them helps keep services available and reduces downtime.

💼 Career

Knowing how to use <code>kubectl debug</code> is essential for DevOps engineers and site reliability engineers to troubleshoot issues quickly in production environments.

1

Identify the pod to debug

Use kubectl get pods to list all pods in the default namespace and find the pod named webapp-12345.

Kubernetes

# Run the command to list pods and find 'webapp-12345'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use kubectl get pods to see all pods and their status.

2

Start a debug container inside the pod

Use kubectl debug with the --image=busybox option to start a debug container named debugger inside the pod webapp-12345.

Kubernetes

kubectl get pods
# Start a debug container named 'debugger' inside 'webapp-12345' using the 'busybox' image
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use kubectl debug webapp-12345 -it --image=busybox --share-processes --container=debugger to start an interactive debug container named 'debugger'.

3

Run commands inside the debug container

Inside the debug container shell, run ps to list running processes and cat /etc/hosts to check the hosts file.

Kubernetes

kubectl get pods
kubectl debug webapp-12345 -it --image=busybox --share-processes --container=debugger
# Inside the debug container, run 'ps' and 'cat /etc/hosts'
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Use ps to see processes and cat /etc/hosts to view the hosts file inside the debug container.

4

Exit the debug container

Type exit to leave the debug container shell and return to your local terminal.

Kubernetes

kubectl get pods
kubectl debug webapp-12345 -it --image=busybox --share-processes --container=debugger
ps
cat /etc/hosts
# Type 'exit' to leave the debug container
# Your code here

Need a hint?

Simply type exit to end the debug session.