eksctl (Amazon EKS CLI)

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

eksctl is available for a variety of operating systems and Linux distributions. It runs on both Arm Linux distributions and Windows on Arm. The following steps show how you can install eksctl and verify the installation by creating a simple Amazon EKS cluster.

Before you begin

Before installing eksctl, follow these steps:

Confirm you have an Arm machine

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

    

        
        
uname -m

    

The output should be:

    

        
        aarch64

        
    

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

For Windows, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Start and choose Windows Settings.​​​​​​
2. When the settings appear, select System on the left side and then select About.
3. Under Device specifications, look for System type. You should see ARM-based processor listed for your computer.

If you see a different result, you are not using an Arm computer running Windows.

Install kubectl

Install the Kubernetes command-line tool kubectl by following the steps in the Kubectl install guide .

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’ll 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 Configuring settings for the AWS CLI for more details.

Download and install eksctl

The steps for downloading and installing eksctl depend on your operating system.

Arm Linux

To download and install eksctl on Arm Linux, follow these steps:

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:

    

        
        
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 is similar to:

    

        
        0.160.0

        
    

Windows on Arm

To download and install eksctl on Windows, follow these steps:

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 is similar to:

    

        
        0.160.0

        
    

Verify eksctl installation by creating a simple EKS cluster

With your AWS account configured, run eksctl to create a cluster with two 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 the 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:

    

        
        NAME                             STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION                INTERNAL-IP      EXTERNAL-IP      OS-IMAGE         KERNEL-VERSION                   CONTAINER-RUNTIME
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
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

        
    

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.