Run k3s-server and local container registry with PowerShell (Working with Podman)

1_readme.md

Run k3s-server with powershell (Workig with podman)

See full details at setup K3S on Docker

Set Alias

Set-Alias docker podman

Start K3s server with network policy fixes - host network

docker run -d --name k3s-server `
  --privileged `
  -p 6443:6443 `
  -v k3s-data:/var/lib/rancher/k3s `
  --network=host `
  --hostname k3s-server `
  -v "$(Get-Location)\k3s-config\registries.yaml:/etc/rancher/k3s/registries.yaml:ro" `
  rancher/k3s server `
  --node-name k3s-server `
  --disable=metrics-server `
  --kubelet-arg=fail-swap-on=false `
  --cluster-cidr=10.42.0.0/16 `
  --service-cidr=10.43.0.0/16 `
  --kube-apiserver-arg=service-node-port-range=30000-32767 `
  --https-listen-port=6443

Get config for Kubctl

$kubeconfig = docker exec k3s-server cat /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml 2>$null
$kubeconfigDir =  ".\"
$kubeconfig = $kubeconfig -replace '127.0.0.1', 'localhost'
$kubeconfigPath = Join-Path $kubeconfigDir "kubeconfig.yaml"
Set-Content -Path $kubeconfigPath -Value $kubeconfig

Write-Host "Kubeconfig saved to $kubeconfigPath" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "To use kubectl with this cluster:" -ForegroundColor Yellow
Write-Host "`$env:KUBECONFIG = `"$(Resolve-Path $kubeconfigPath)`"" -ForegroundColor Gray
Write-Host "kubectl get nodes" -ForegroundColor Gray

Get token

$token = docker exec k3s-server cat /var/lib/rancher/k3s/server/node-token 2>$null

Start local container registry

docker run -d --name local-registry `
  -p 5000:5000 `
  -v registry-data:/var/lib/registry `
  --network host `
  --hostname local-registry `
  --restart unless-stopped `
  registry:2

Start local container registry & K3s with docker-compose.yml

Download docker-compose-yml

podman compose -f .\docker-compose.yml up -d
podman compose -f .\docker-compose.yml down

other information for local container registry

Write-Host "Registry URL: http://localhost:5000" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Registry catalog: http://localhost:5000/v2/_catalog" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Registry re-tag image: podman tag nginx:latest localhost:5000/nginx:latest" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Registry push image: podman push --tls-verify=false localhost:5000/nginx:latest" -ForegroundColor Green
Write-Host "Internal URL (for K3s): http://local-registry:5000" -ForegroundColor Green

Other commands to tag and push to local container registry

 docker pull nginx:alpine
 docker tag nginx:alpine localhost:5000/nginx:alpine
 docker  push --tls-verify=false localhost:5000/nginx:alpine

Create deployment.yaml file

deployment.yaml

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx-alpine
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx-alpine
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx-alpine
        image: localhost:5000/nginx:alpine
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Deploy yaml file

kubectl apply -f .\yaml-samples\deployment.yaml
kubectl get pods

How to access it from your host machine.

Service with NodePort Type

service.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-alpine
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: NodePort

Deploy service

kubectl apply -f service.yaml

Get NodePort

kubectl get svc nginx-alpine-service

Access from host machine

$nodePort = (kubectl get svc nginx-alpine-service -o jsonpath='{.spec.ports[0].nodePort}')
Write-Host "Access the service at http://localhost:$nodePort" -ForegroundColor Green

Service with LoadBalancer Type

service.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-lb
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-alpine
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: LoadBalancer

Deploy service

kubectl apply -f service.yaml

Get LoadBalancer IP

kubectl get svc nginx-alpine-lb

Service with Ingress Type

Create a ClusterIP Service (if not already) service-clusterip.yaml

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-alpine
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: ClusterIP

Define the Ingress Resource ingress.yaml

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-ingress
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
spec:
  rules:
    - host: nginx.local
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: nginx-alpine
                port:
                  number: 80

Update /etc/hosts (for local testing) Add this line to your host machine’s /etc/hosts file: 127.0.0.1 nginx.local

Add-Content -Path "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts" -Value "

After deploying an Ingress Controller (like NGINX Ingress), access:

kubectl apply -f ingress.yaml
Write-Host "Access the service at http://nginx.local" -ForegroundColor Green

All in one file

---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx-alpine
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx-alpine
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: nginx-alpine
        image: localhost:5000/nginx:alpine
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-alpine
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: ClusterIP

---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-lb
spec:
  selector:
    app: nginx-alpine
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80
  type: LoadBalancer

---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: nginx-alpine-ingress
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
spec:
  rules:
    - host: nginx.local
      http:
        paths:
          - path: /
            pathType: Prefix
            backend:
              service:
                name: nginx-alpine
                port:
                  number: 80

🖥️ Kubernetes Dashboard for K3s

Apply the official manifest:

kubectl apply -f https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kubernetes/dashboard/v2.7.0/aio/deploy/recommended.yaml

Create a service account and cluster role binding:

kubectl create serviceaccount admin-user -n kubernetes-dashboard
kubectl create clusterrolebinding admin-user \
  --clusterrole=cluster-admin \
  --serviceaccount=kubernetes-dashboard:admin-user

Get the access token:

kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard describe secret \
  $(kubectl -n kubernetes-dashboard get secret | grep admin-user | awk '{print $1}')

Start the proxy:

kubectl proxy

Access the dashboard:

Open http://localhost:8001/api/v1/namespaces/kubernetes-dashboard/services/https:kubernetes-dashboard:/proxy/ in your browser.

Tip for Podman

• Go to Podman -> settings Resources > Container Engine then Log to see logs or Terminal
• Go to Podman -> settings Resources > Container Engine then Terminal to execute command in VM

docker-compose.yml

version: '3.8'

services:
  k3s-server:
    image: rancher/k3s:latest
    container_name: k3s-server
    hostname: k3s-server
    privileged: true
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: host
    environment:
      - K3S_KUBECONFIG_OUTPUT=/output/kubeconfig.yaml
      - K3S_KUBECONFIG_MODE=666
    ports:
      - "6443:6443"  # Kubernetes API server
      - "80:80"      # HTTP ingress (optional)
      - "443:443"    # HTTPS ingress (optional)
    volumes:
      - k3s-data:/var/lib/rancher/k3s
      - ./k3s-config/registries.yaml:/etc/rancher/k3s/registries.yaml:ro # Optional: for local registry config
      - ./kubeconfig:/output  # Optional: to access kubeconfig from host
    command:
      - server
      - --node-name=k3s-server
      - --disable=metrics-server
      - --kubelet-arg=fail-swap-on=false
      - --cluster-cidr=10.42.0.0/16
      - --service-cidr=10.43.0.0/16
      - --kube-apiserver-arg=service-node-port-range=30000-32767
      - --https-listen-port=6443

  local-registry:
    image: registry:2
    container_name: local-registry
    network_mode: host
    hostname: local-registry
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "5000:5000"
    volumes:
      - registry-data:/var/lib/registry

volumes:
  k3s-data:
    driver: local
  registry-data:
    driver: local