This repository contains ready-to-use setup scripts and detailed instructions for creating powerful multi-node Kubernetes development clusters locally using two popular tools:

1. 🔷 Minikube Lab - A feature-rich multi-node Kubernetes cluster using Minikube
2. 🔶 Kind Lab - A lightweight multi-node Kubernetes cluster using Kind (Kubernetes IN Docker)

• 🔮 All-in-one Management Script - New k8s-lab.sh provides unified management for both types of clusters
• 🧠 Smart Cluster Management - Clusters are preserved and restarted rather than recreated when possible
• 🧩 Advanced Demo Applications - New demonstrations of StatefulSets, HPA, ConfigMaps and Secrets
• 📊 Enhanced Status Checking - Quick overview of all clusters and their state
• 🧹 Cluster Cleanup - Easy deletion and cleanup of clusters

The Minikube lab creates a robust 3-node cluster with all nodes having the same role. It includes:

• 📊 Kubernetes Dashboard for visual management
• 📈 Metrics Server for performance monitoring
• 🌐 Ingress Controller for external access

Minikube provides a more VM-like experience and is optimized for local development with a focus on ease of use and comprehensive tooling.

The Kind lab creates an efficient 3-node cluster with 1 control-plane node and 2 worker nodes. It includes:

• 📈 Metrics Server for resource monitoring
• 🌐 NGINX Ingress Controller with pre-configured ports

Kind is ultra-lightweight, extraordinarily fast to start up, and precisely designed for testing Kubernetes itself. It's particularly excellent for CI environments and testing multi-node configurations with minimal resource usage.

• Use Minikube if:

  • 🏗️ You want an experience closer to a "real" Kubernetes cluster
  • 📊 You need the built-in dashboard for visual management
  • 🧩 You prefer a more guided approach with built-in addons
  • 🔄 You want consistent behavior across different environments

• Use Kind if:

  • ⚡ You want lightning-fast startup and teardown times
  • 🧪 You need to test specialized multi-role configurations
  • 🔄 You're implementing CI/CD testing pipelines
  • 🪶 You want the most lightweight solution possible

Our new unified management script makes it easier than ever to work with both types of clusters:

# Show available commands
./k8s-lab.sh help

# Start a Minikube cluster (with optional profile name)
./k8s-lab.sh start minikube [profile_name]

# Start a Kind cluster (with optional cluster name)
./k8s-lab.sh start kind [cluster_name]

# Check status of all clusters
./k8s-lab.sh status

# Deploy the basic demo app
./k8s-lab.sh deploy-demo minikube [profile_name]

# Open the dashboard (Minikube) or K9s (Kind)
./k8s-lab.sh dashboard minikube [profile_name]

# Clean up a cluster
./k8s-lab.sh cleanup kind [cluster_name]

💡 Smart Cluster Management: When starting a cluster, the script automatically checks if it already exists. If a cluster with the same name is already running, no action is taken. If it exists but is stopped, the script will start it instead of recreating it. This saves time and preserves your workloads.

We now have advanced demos that showcase various Kubernetes features:

# Navigate to the advanced demos directory
cd demo-app/advanced-demos

# Deploy all advanced demos to Minikube
./deploy-advanced-demos.sh minikube [profile_name] all

# Deploy only the StatefulSet demo to Kind
./deploy-advanced-demos.sh kind [cluster_name] stateful

# Deploy only the HPA demo
./deploy-advanced-demos.sh minikube [profile_name] hpa

See the README in the demo-app/advanced-demos directory for more details.

This repository includes comprehensive GitHub Actions workflows that automatically verify the functionality of both lab setups:

• 🔶 Kind Lab Verification - Tests Kind cluster setup, demo deployments, and advanced features
• 🔷 Minikube Lab Verification - Tests Minikube cluster setup, addons, and all demo applications
• 🚀 Daily Verification - Runs both tests daily to ensure labs remain functional

The badges at the top of this README show real-time status:

• Green ✅ - Lab setup is working correctly
• Red ❌ - Issues detected, check the workflow logs
• Yellow 🟡 - Tests are currently running

Each workflow verifies:

• ✅ Cluster creation and node health
• ✅ System component readiness (metrics-server, dashboard, etc.)
• ✅ Demo application deployment and functionality
• ✅ Advanced demos (StatefulSets, HPA, ConfigMaps)
• ✅ Service accessibility and networking
• ✅ Resource cleanup and teardown

You can manually trigger these tests anytime by going to the Actions tab in the GitHub repository.

For development and testing purposes, you can manually trigger the verification workflows:

# Test both setups on current branch
./test-workflows.sh

# Test only Kind setup on current branch
./test-workflows.sh kind

# Test only Minikube setup on current branch
./test-workflows.sh minikube

# Test both setups on a specific branch
./test-workflows.sh both feature/my-branch

# Test Kind setup on main branch
./test-workflows.sh kind main

Note: This requires GitHub CLI (gh) to be installed and authenticated.

Important: Workflows must exist on the specified branch to be triggered. If you're testing on a feature branch, make sure the workflow files are committed to that branch.

You can also navigate to either the minikube-lab or kind-lab directory and follow the instructions in their respective README files. Both labs feature simple setup scripts that handle all the complexity for you.

• 💻 macOS or Linux operating system
• 🐳 Docker installed and running
• 🧰 Terminal access
• 🔧 Basic command-line familiarity

• ✅ Multi-node clusters for realistic testing
• ✅ Cross-platform support (macOS & Linux)
• ✅ Profile/naming support for running multiple clusters
• ✅ Smart cluster management that preserves and restarts existing clusters
• ✅ Pre-configured with essential add-ons
• ✅ Detailed documentation with examples
• ✅ Advanced demos of key Kubernetes features (StatefulSets, HPA, ConfigMaps, etc.)
• ✅ Unified cluster management script
• ✅ Automated daily verification - GitHub Actions workflows test both setups daily
• ✅ Continuous integration - Status badges show real-time lab health
• ✅ Quality assurance - Comprehensive testing of cluster setup and demo deployments

Kubernetes-Lab/
├── README.md                     # This file
├── k8s-lab.sh                    # Unified management script for all clusters
├── test-workflows.sh             # Manual workflow testing script
├── .github/                      # GitHub Actions workflows
│   └── workflows/
│       ├── verify-kind-cluster.yml      # Kind lab verification
│       ├── verify-minikube-cluster.yml  # Minikube lab verification
│       └── daily-verification.yml       # Daily automated testing
├── minikube-lab/                 # Minikube-specific files
│   ├── README.md                 # Minikube setup instructions
│   └── setup-minikube.sh         # Minikube cluster setup script
├── kind-lab/                     # Kind-specific files
│   ├── README.md                 # Kind setup instructions
│   ├── kind-config.yaml          # Kind cluster configuration
│   └── setup-kind.sh             # Kind cluster setup script
└── demo-app/                     # Demo applications
    ├── README.md                 # Demo app instructions
    ├── demo-app.yaml             # Basic demo application manifest
    ├── k8s-dashboard.yaml        # Dashboard configuration
    ├── deploy-demo.sh            # Demo deployment script
    └── advanced-demos/           # Advanced demonstrations
        ├── README.md             # Advanced demos documentation
        ├── stateful-mongodb.yaml # StatefulSet demo
        ├── hpa-demo.yaml         # HPA demo
        ├── configmap-secret-demo.yaml # ConfigMap and Secret demo
        └── deploy-advanced-demos.sh   # Advanced demos deployment script

Feedback and contributions are welcome! Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests to improve these labs.