kubectl node-shell
(formerly known as kubectl-enter)
Start a root shell in the node's host OS running. Uses an alpine pod with nsenter for Linux nodes and a HostProcess pod with PowerShell for Windows nodes.
Installation
using krew:
kubectl krew index add kvaps https://github.com/kvaps/krew-index kubectl krew install kvaps/node-shell
or using curl:
curl -LO https://github.com/kvaps/kubectl-node-shell/raw/master/kubectl-node_shell
chmod +x ./kubectl-node_shell
sudo mv ./kubectl-node_shell /usr/local/bin/kubectl-node_shell
Usage
# Get standard bash shell
kubectl node-shell <node>
# Use X-mode (mount /host, and do not enter host namespace)
kubectl node-shell -x <node>
# Execute custom command
kubectl node-shell <node> -- echo 123
# Use stdin
cat /etc/passwd | kubectl node-shell <node> -- sh -c 'cat > /tmp/passwd'
# Run oneliner script
kubectl node-shell <node> -- sh -c 'cat /tmp/passwd; rm -f /tmp/passwd'
X-mode
X-mode can be useful for debugging minimal systems that do not have a built-in shell (eg. Talos).
Here's an example of how you can debug the network for a rootless kube-apiserver container without a filesystem:
kubectl node-shell -x <node>
# Download crictl
wget https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/cri-tools/releases/download/v1.28.0/crictl-v1.28.0-linux-amd64.tar.gz -O- | \
tar -xzf- -C /usr/local/bin/
# Setup CRI endpoint
export CONTAINER_RUNTIME_ENDPOINT=unix:///host/run/containerd/containerd.sock
# Find your container
crictl ps | grep kube-apiserver
#3ff4626a9f10e e7972205b6614 6 hours ago Running kube-apiserver 0 215107b47bd7e kube-apiserver-talos-rzq-nkg
# Find pid of the container
crictl inspect 3ff4626a9f10e | grep pid
# "pid": 2152,
# "pid": 1
# "type": "pid"
# "getpid",
# "getppid",
# "pidfd_open",
# "pidfd_send_signal",
# "waitpid",
# Go to network namespace of the pid, but keep mount namespace of the debug container
nsenter -t 2152 -n
You need to be able to start privileged containers for that.