Access and tools

This guide explains how to access a Hikube Kubernetes cluster once it is created, and gathers useful commands for operating it. The cluster lifecycle (creation, modification, deletion) is managed in the console; everything else is done in the cluster with your usual tools.

Download the kubeconfig

1. In the console, open Infrastructure > Kubernetes and click the cluster.
2. Wait until the cluster has the Ready status.
3. In the Actions section of the detail page, click Kubeconfig.

The browser downloads the kubeconfig-<cluster-name>.yaml file. It grants administrator access to the cluster.

The download is reserved for project administrators. For other members, the Kubeconfig button is disabled with the note "Reserved for project administrators."

warning

Keep this file in a safe place (secrets manager, vault) and never commit it to version control. To give access to other people, create dedicated permissions for them with RBAC rather than sharing this file.

Use the kubeconfig

# For the current session
export KUBECONFIG=~/Downloads/kubeconfig-<cluster-name>.yaml

# Or for a single command
kubectl --kubeconfig ~/Downloads/kubeconfig-<cluster-name>.yaml get nodes

# Check the connection
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes

The same file works with helm, k9s, flux or any Kubernetes client.

Configure RBAC

Create dedicated roles and accounts for your teams and pipelines, for example read-only access to a namespace:

rbac-readonly.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Namespace
metadata:
  name: production
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: viewer
  namespace: production
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: viewer-view
  namespace: production
subjects:
  - kind: ServiceAccount
    name: viewer
    namespace: production
roleRef:
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: view
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

kubectl apply -f rbac-readonly.yaml

---

Monitoring and observability

In the console

The cluster detail page shows the status, the version, the control plane, the Node Pools (number of active nodes per group) and the enabled extensions.

In the cluster

# Cluster nodes
kubectl get nodes -o wide

# Resource consumption
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods -A

# Recent events
kubectl get events -A --sort-by=.metadata.creationTimestamp

---

Lifecycle management

These operations are done in the console:

Operation	Where
Upgrade the version	Edit > Kubernetes Version (guide)
Add, modify or delete a node group	Edit > Node groups (guide)
Adjust scaling	Edit > Minimum nodes / Maximum nodes (guide)
Enable or configure an addon	Edit > Extensions & Addons
Delete the cluster	Delete, then confirm the name (quick start, step 7)

---

Diagnostics

# Nodes not ready
kubectl describe node <node-name>

# Pods in error
kubectl get pods -A --field-selector=status.phase!=Running
kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>
kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace> --previous

# Addon components (Cilium, CoreDNS, Ingress NGINX, etc.)
kubectl get pods -A | grep -E "cilium|coredns|ingress-nginx|cert-manager"

If a cluster stays Creating or changes to Error, if an addon does not deploy or if a node never joins the cluster, contact support, specifying the cluster name and the project.