Complete Kubernetes Lab Environment Setup Guide on Windows 11 using Ubuntu Virtual Machines
- Overview
- Prerequisites for Kubernetes Lab Environment
- 1. Infrastructure Setup
- 2. Basic System Configuration
- 3. Kubernetes Installation
- 4. Initialize Kubernetes Cluster
- 5. Join Worker Node to Cluster
- 6. Verify Cluster Setup
- 7. Install Monitoring Stack (Prometheus and Grafana)
- 9. Accessing Kubernetes Cluster from Windows Host Machine
======================================
This guide will help you create a production-like Kubernetes cluster with 2 nodes (1 master, 1 worker) running on Ubuntu VMs. Instead of clicking through VM windows, you'll learn to manage everything like a pro:
- Control your VMs through SSH directly from your Windows terminal 🚀
- Execute commands remotely without accessing the VM console đź’»
- Run kubectl commands from your Windows machine 🎮
- Set up everything from scratch for deep understanding 🔧
Unlike simpler alternatives like Minikube or Kind, this setup mirrors a real production environment with multiple nodes, true networking, and SSH-based management. You'll gain hands-on experience with the complete installation process, network configuration, and infrastructure management.
Think of it as your personal production environment - all the real-world practices, none of the complexity of cloud costs! Perfect for learning, testing, and experimenting with Kubernetes.
- Hardware Requirements
Host Computer Specifications:
CPU: Intel/AMD processor with virtualization support (VT-x/AMD-V) RAM: Minimum 8GB (16GB recommended) Storage: At least 40GB free space Operating System: Windows 11
- Software Requierments
2.1 VMware Workstation Pro 17 (Free for personal useage) Note: The VMware Workstation 17 installation process might be more complicated currently due to the recent Broadcom acquisition of VMware.
- Create an account on https://broadcom.com
- go to https://support.broadcom.com/
- Choose Cloud Foundation from the upper right menu
- Now the installation file of VMware Workstation can be found in the My Downlaod section
2.2 Ubuntu Server ISO
Downloadable from the offical website: https://ubuntu.com/download/alternative-downloads
Direct link: webtorrent: https://releases.ubuntu.com/22.04/ubuntu-22.04.5-live-server-amd64.iso.torrent
-
Choose "Typical" installation when creating new VM
-
Select "I will install the operating system later" option
-
On the disk settings page:
- Select "Store virtual disk as a single file"
- Do NOT split disk into multiple files
-
During Ubuntu Server installation:
- In the storage configuration step, disable LVM (Logical Volume Management)
- Choose "Use entire disk" without LVM
- This makes the disk configuration simpler and more straightforward for a lab environment
use typical installation disable lg groups use one file for storage
- OS: Ubuntu Server 22.04.5 LTS
- CPU: 2 cores (minimum), 4 cores (recommended)
- RAM: 4GB (minimum), 8GB (recommended)
- Storage: 50GB (recommended)
- OS: Ubuntu Server 22.04.5 LTS
- CPU: 2 cores (minimum)
- RAM: 2GB (minimum)
- Storage: 20GB (minimum)
For both master and worker nodes in the the VMware Workstation VM settings:
- Set primary network adapter (Network Adapter 1) to NAT
- Add a second network adapter (Network Adapter 2) set to Host-only
Run these steps on both master and worker nodes:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl openssh-server net-tools nano
sudo swapoff -a
sudo sed -i '/ swap / s/^\(.*\)$/#\1/g' /etc/fstab
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/modules-load.d/k8s.conf
overlay
br_netfilter
EOF
sudo modprobe overlay
sudo modprobe br_netfilter
cat << EOF | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/k8s.conf
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-iptables = 1
net.bridge.bridge-nf-call-ip6tables = 1
net.ipv4.ip_forward = 1
EOF
sudo sysctl --system
Get IP address information:
ip addr show
Note the following:
- The lo interface (127.0.0.1) is the loopback interface, which we don't use for networking between VMs.
- The ens33 interface (192.x.x.x) is likely your NAT interface. This is the IP address you can use for SSH access from your host machine.
Use one of these options to ease the copy pasting process and enhance the experince:
Either open 2 sessions with the software Putty, as follows:
- Enter the IP address of one of the VMs
- Set the port to 22 (default for SSH)
- Give the session a name (e.g., *"k8s-master" or "k8s-worker")
- Click "Save" to save this session
- Repeat for the other VM
OR
use ssh directly from powershell or windows terminal (better experince):
ssh username@master-node-ip
Remember, when you're initializing the Kubernetes cluster on the master node, you'll use the Host-only IP address of the master node for the --apiserver-advertise-address parameter.
- The ens37 interface is your Host-only adapter, but it's currently in a DOWN state and doesn't have an IP address assigned. The ens37 host-only interface is needed to allow your VMs (k8s nodes) to communicate with each other and with your host computer in an isolated network, without needing access to the external internet
Bring up the ens37 interface:
sudo ip link set ens37 up
Assign an IP address to this interface:
sudo ip addr add 192.168.56.20/24 dev ens37
Edit the Netplan configuration:
sudo nano /etc/netplan/00-installer-config.yaml
Add configuration for ens37:
network:
ethernets:
ens33:
dhcp4: true
ens37:
dhcp4: no
addresses: [192.168.56.20/24] # Remember to use 192.168.56.21/24 for worker node
version: 2
Apply the configuration:
sudo netplan apply
Verify with:
ip addr show
Perform these steps on both master and worker nodes:
Installling the container runtime enviroment
sudo apt install -y containerd
sudo mkdir -p /etc/containerd
containerd config default | sudo tee /etc/containerd/config.toml
sudo sed -i 's/SystemdCgroup = false/SystemdCgroup = true/' /etc/containerd/config.toml
sudo systemctl restart containerd
installing kubernetes components and holding them from automatic updates
curl -fsSL https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.29/deb/Release.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/kubernetes-apt-keyring.gpg] https://pkgs.k8s.io/core:/stable:/v1.29/deb/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/kubernetes.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y kubelet kubeadm kubectl
sudo apt-mark hold kubelet kubeadm kubectl
Perform these steps on the master node:
sudo kubeadm init --pod-network-cidr=172.16.0.0/12 --apiserver-advertise-address=192.168.56.20
mkdir -p $HOME/.kube
sudo cp -i /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/.kube/config
sudo chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/.kube/config
kubectl create -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/projectcalico/calico/v3.27.3/manifests/tigera-operator.yaml
Apply Calico configuration:
cat << EOF | kubectl apply -f -
apiVersion: operator.tigera.io/v1
kind: Installation
metadata:
name: default
spec:
calicoNetwork:
ipPools:
- blockSize: 26
cidr: 172.16.0.0/12
encapsulation: VXLANCrossSubnet
natOutgoing: Enabled
nodeSelector: all()
---
apiVersion: operator.tigera.io/v1
kind: APIServer
metadata:
name: default
spec: {}
EOF
On the master node, generate a join command:
kubeadm token create --print-join-command
On the worker node, run the generated command with sudo -E:
sudo -E <join-command>
On the master node:
kubectl get nodes
On the master node:
curl https://baltocdn.com/helm/signing.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/helm.gpg] https://baltocdn.com/helm/stable/debian/ all main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/helm-stable-debian.list
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install helm
# Create dedicated namespace for monitoring
kubectl create namespace monitoring
# Add Prometheus helm repository
helm repo add prometheus-community https://prometheus-community.github.io/helm-charts
helm repo update
# Install Prometheus and Grafana stack in monitoring namespace
helm install monitoring prometheus-community/kube-prometheus-stack \
--namespace monitoring \
--create-namespace \
--set grafana.adminPassword="prom-operator"
To access Grafana, use port-forwarding with SSH Tunneling:
-
On your host machine (not the VM), open a new terminal and run:
ssh -L 3000:localhost:3000 username@master-node-ip -
Once connected, run the port-forward command in the SSH session:
kubectl port-forward deployment/monitoring-grafana 3000
Access Grafana at http://localhost:3000 in your browser.
Default credentials:
- Username: admin
- Password: prom-operator
Alternativ to SSH Tunneling you can use the kubernetes service type NodePort, BUT KEEP IN MIND this is less secure without additional measuerments
Write the following content into a monitoring-nodeports.yaml file then apply it with kubectl:
kubectl apply -f monitoring-nodeports.yaml
reverse with: kubectl delete -f monitoring-nodeports.yaml
monitoring-nodeports.yaml content:
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: prometheus-nodeport
namespace: monitoring
labels:
app: prometheus
spec:
type: NodePort
ports:
- port: 9090
targetPort: 9090
nodePort: 30909 # You can choose a port between 30000-32767
protocol: TCP
name: http
selector:
app.kubernetes.io/name: prometheus
prometheus: monitoring-kube-prometheus-prometheus
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: grafana-nodeport
namespace: monitoring
labels:
app: grafana
spec:
type: NodePort
ports:
- port: 3000
targetPort: 3000
nodePort: 30300 # You can choose a port between 30000-32767
protocol: TCP
name: http
selector:
app.kubernetes.io/name: grafana
From your Windows machine, try accessing in the browser:
- http://192.168.56.20:30909 for Prometheus
- http://192.168.56.20:30300 for Grafana
- Troubleshooting and Verification
kubectl get nodes
kubectl describe nodes
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl get services --all-namespaces
Since you're using Windows and already have SSH access to your VMs, here's how to set up kubectl access from your Windows machine: First, ensure kubectl is installed on your Windows machine: You can install it using winget: winget install Kubernetes.kubectl Or download it directly from kubernetes.io
-
Create the kubectl config directory (if it doesn't exist) and the config file using powershell:
mkdir "$env:USERPROFILE\.kube" New-Item -Path "$env:USERPROFILE\.kube\config" -Type File -Force -
Copy the content of kubeconfig from the master node using your existing SSH connection
-
Paste this data into the %USERPROFILE%\.kube\config file on your windows machine using Notepad or your preferred text editor then run this in powershell to set the enviroment variable:
$env:KUBECONFIG = "C:\Users\yourUserName\.kube\config" -
Edit the config file using Notepad or your preferred text editor: Open %USERPROFILE%.kube\config
-
try pinging the
master node's IP: https://192.168.56.20:6443, if not successfull you have to make sure the Network adapter is set correctly by VMware on your windows machine, for that do the following:-
type ncpa.cpl in the Run dialog or search bar
-
Right-click on "VMware Network Adapter VMnet1" and choose Properties
-
Select "Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)" and click Properties
-
Make sure that the IP address in the section "Use the following IP address" is the right one, then apply the changes.
-
Now you can use kubectl commands from your host machine to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.
``