What is the kubectl exec?

Question

Accepted Answer

**kubectl exec** — **executing commands** in a Pod.

```bash
# Basic exec
kubectl exec pod_name -- ls -la
kubectl exec pod_name -- cat /etc/config.yaml
kubectl exec pod_name -- ps aux

# Interactive shell
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- sh  # Alpine
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- bash  # Ubuntu/Debian

# Multi-container Pod
kubectl exec -it pod_name -c container_name -- sh

# Namespace
kubectl exec -it pod_name -n production -- sh

# Debugging
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- env
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- cat /etc/resolv.conf
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- nslookup kubernetes.default
kubectl exec -it pod_name -- curl localhost:3000

# Copying files
kubectl cp pod_name:/path/to/file ./local_file
kubectl cp ./local_file pod_name:/path/to/file

# Tunneling
kubectl port-forward pod_name 3000:3000
kubectl port-forward svc/service_name 8080:80
```

**Use cases:**
- Debugging.
- Configuration verification.
- Network verification.
- File copying.

DevOps: What is the kubectl exec?