Set Up a Local Kubernetes Cluster With Kind

To practice Kubernetes you need a cluster you can break. This episode builds one on your laptop with kind: three nodes, each a Docker container, rebuilt in under a minute. Then we switch a worker off and watch exactly what Kubernetes does, and how long it takes. Episode 2 of Kubernetes Unlocked, a free hands-on Kubernetes course. New here? Start with Episode 1:    • What Is Kubernetes? The Problem It Actuall...   Code and labs for this episode: https://github.com/sanjeevkkansal/kub... Full series playlist:    • Kubernetes Tutorial for Beginners: Kuberne...   Chapters 0:00 Cold open 0:23 What you will be able to do 0:49 Where this fits 1:02 Picking a local cluster 1:46 Check your tools 2:32 The smallest cluster 3:37 The series cluster 4:06 Build it 5:34 Picking your own columns 5:58 Run something 6:54 Break it on purpose 7:28 Fifty seconds later 8:11 Five minutes later 9:35 Where the pods ended up 10:37 Check your work 11:00 Commands in this episode 11:36 Recap 12:20 Try this yourself Prerequisites Docker, kind 0.33+ and kubectl 1.36 to 1.38. Install links are in the repo README. About 4 GB of free memory. Windows: use WSL2. Commands used docker version --format '{{.Server.Version}}' kind version kubectl version --client kind create cluster --config kind/single-node.yaml kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready nodes --all --timeout=120s ../../cluster/up.sh kubectl config current-context kubectl get pods -l app=hello -o custom-columns=POD:.metadata.name,PHASE:.status.phase,NODE:.spec.nodeName docker stop unlocked-worker2 docker start unlocked-worker2 kubectl rollout restart deployment/hello Recorded against Kubernetes v1.37.0 and kind 0.33.0, October 2026. Previous: Episode 1, What Is Kubernetes?    • What Is Kubernetes? The Problem It Actuall...   Next: Episode 3, Kubernetes Architecture Explained With a Real Cluster    • Kubernetes Architecture Explained With a R...   #kubernetes #k8s #kind #docker #devops #kubectl