Run Kubernetes in Docker on Ubuntu for Local Development

Prerequisites on Ubuntu

You need Docker Engine and kubectl. If you don't have Docker yet:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y docker.io
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER && newgrp docker   # run docker without sudo

Install kind (single static binary)

curl -fsSLo ./kind https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/dl/latest/kind-linux-amd64
chmod +x ./kind && sudo mv ./kind /usr/local/bin/kind
kind version

A one-command cluster

kind create cluster --name dev
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-dev
docker ps   # you'll see a dev-control-plane container - that's your node

kind wrote a kubeconfig context for you. Tear the whole thing down just as fast:

kind delete cluster --name dev

A realistic multi-node cluster

Most bugs only show up with more than one node (scheduling, affinity, PodDisruptionBudgets). Define it in a config file:

# kind-cluster.yaml
kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
- role: control-plane
  kubeadmConfigPatches:
  - |
    kind: InitConfiguration
    nodeRegistration:
      kubeletExtraArgs:
        node-labels: "ingress-ready=true"
  extraPortMappings:
  - containerPort: 80
    hostPort: 8080
    protocol: TCP
- role: worker
- role: worker

Then create the cluster:

kind create cluster --name dev --config kind-cluster.yaml
kubectl get nodes

The extraPortMappings bit is the trick people miss: it forwards a port from your Ubuntu host into the control-plane container, so an ingress controller inside the cluster is reachable at http://localhost:8080.

Loading a locally-built image (no registry needed)

This is kind's best feature for the Docker workflow. Build with Docker, push straight into the cluster's nodes - no registry round-trip:

docker build -t myapp:dev .
kind load docker-image myapp:dev --name dev
kubectl create deployment myapp --image=myapp:dev
kubectl set image deployment/myapp myapp=myapp:dev   # after a rebuild + reload

Set imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent (or Never) in your manifest for locally-loaded images, or the kubelet will try to pull myapp:dev from a registry and fail with ImagePullBackOff.

Ubuntu-specific gotchas

• cgroup / inotify limits. Big clusters on kind can exhaust inotify watches. If pods crashloop with "too many open files," raise them:

  sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
  sudo sysctl fs.inotify.max_user_instances=512
  

• Rootless Docker works but needs cgroup v2 delegation configured; if kind create hangs, test with rootful Docker first.

• It's ephemeral by design. A kind node is a container - restart Docker and the cluster state is gone unless you use extraMounts for persistence. That's a feature for testing, a footgun if you treated it like a server.

When a kind pod won't start, it's the same Kubernetes failures as anywhere - ImagePullBackOff from the pull-policy trap above, or CrashLoopBackOff from the app itself. Fixes here: ImagePullBackOff and CrashLoopBackOff.

Next

minikube with the Docker driver - a heavier but more full-featured local option.