AWS EKS CLI (eksctl)

The Amazon EKS CLI, eksctl, is a command line tool to create and manage Kubernetes clusters in Amazon Kubernetes Service (EKS). It simplifies cluster creation and saves time compared to using the AWS console. For additional information refer to the EKS CLI official documentation .

The EKS CLI is available for a variety of operating systems and Linux distributions and there are multiple ways to install it. It runs on both Arm Linux distributions and Windows on Arm.

What should I do before installing eksctl on Arm Linux and Windows on Arm?

This install guide provides a quick solution to install eksctl on Arm Linux and Windows on Arm.

1. Confirm you have an Arm machine

For Linux, confirm you are using an Arm machine by running:

uname -m

The output should be:

__output__aarch64

If you see a different result, you are not using an Arm computer running 64-bit Linux.

For Windows, confirm the Arm architecture by typing “Settings” in the Windows search box.

When the settings appear, click System on the left side and then About at the bottom.

In the Device specifications section look for “ARM-based processor” in the System type area.

2. Install kubectl

Install the Kubernetes command-line tool, kubectl, using the Kubectl install guide .

How do I download and install eksctl on Arm Linux?

1. Download the eksctl package using curl:

curl -sLO "https://github.com/eksctl-io/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_Linux_arm64.tar.gz"

2. Install eksctl with:

tar -xzf eksctl_Linux_arm64.tar.gz -C /tmp && rm eksctl_Linux_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv /tmp/eksctl /usr/local/bin

3. Confirm eksctl is installed:

eksctl version

The output will be similar to:

__output__0.160.0

How do I download and install eksctl on Windows?

1. Use a browser to download the EKS CLI latest release .

2. Unzip the downloaded file.

3. Confirm eksctl.exe is installed:

eksctl.exe version

The output will be similar to:

__output__0.160.0

How do I configure the AWS CLI?

eksctl relies on the AWS CLI being installed and configured. Use the AWS CLI install guide to install the AWS CLI. The CLI provides the aws command.

You will also need to configure the AWS CLI using the aws configure or the aws configure sso command. There are multiple ways to configure the CLI, including environment variables, command-line options, and credentials files. Refer to the Configure the AWS CLI for more details.

How do I use eksctl to create a simple EKS cluster?

With your AWS account configured, run eksctl to create a cluster with 2 nodes with AWS Graviton processors:

eksctl create cluster  \
--name cluster-1  \
--region us-east-1 \
--node-type t4g.small \
--nodes 2 \
--nodegroup-name node-group-1

Use the AWS console to look at the resources associated with the cluster and monitor progress of cluster creation.

When the cluster is created, use kubectl to get the status of the nodes in the cluster.

kubectl get nodes -o wide

The output is similar to:

__output__NAME                             STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION                INTERNAL-IP      EXTERNAL-IP      OS-IMAGE         KERNEL-VERSION                   CONTAINER-RUNTIME
__output__ip-192-168-38-144.ec2.internal   Ready    <none>   2m31s   v1.25.13-eks-43840fb   192.168.38.144   35.153.206.210   Amazon Linux 2   5.10.192-183.736.amzn2.aarch64   containerd://1.6.19
__output__ip-192-168-4-142.ec2.internal    Ready    <none>   2m31s   v1.25.13-eks-43840fb   192.168.4.142    54.175.254.219   Amazon Linux 2   5.10.192-183.736.amzn2.aarch64   containerd://1.6.19

How do I use eksctl to delete the cluster?

To delete the resources associated with the cluster, run:

eksctl delete cluster --region=us-east-1 --name=cluster-1

You can now use eksctl to create, manage, and delete more complex infrastructures.