Lab 2.3: Setting Up Your Environment

Objectives

Verify all required tools are installed
Set up complete development environment
Create and verify kind cluster
Test the complete setup

Prerequisites

Completion of Module 1 setup
Basic understanding of the tools needed

Exercise 1: Verify Prerequisites

Task 1.1: Check Go Installation

# Check Go version (need 1.21+)
go version

# Verify Go is working
go env

# Check GOPATH and GOROOT
echo $GOPATH
echo $GOROOT

Expected: Go 1.21 or higher

Task 1.2: Check kubectl

# Check kubectl version
kubectl version --client

# Verify kubectl is working
kubectl cluster-info

Note: If no cluster is configured, that’s okay - we’ll create one.

Task 1.3: Check Docker/Podman

# Check Docker
docker --version
docker info

# OR check Podman
podman --version
podman info

Expected: Docker or Podman running

Exercise 2: Install Missing Tools

Task 2.1: Use Setup Script

# Run the setup script
./scripts/setup-dev-environment.sh

Observe:

Which tools are already installed?
Which tools need installation?
What gets installed automatically?

Task 2.2: Manual Verification

After running the script, verify each tool:

# Go
go version

# kubectl
kubectl version --client

# kubebuilder
kubebuilder version

# kind
kind version

# Docker/Podman
docker --version  # or podman --version

Exercise 3: Set Up Kind Cluster

Task 3.1: Use Setup Script

# Run kind cluster setup
./scripts/setup-kind-cluster.sh

Observe:

Cluster creation process
What gets installed?
How long does it take?

Task 3.2: Verify Cluster

# Check cluster info
kubectl cluster-info

# List nodes
kubectl get nodes

# Check cluster context
kubectl config current-context

# Should show: kind-k8s-operators-course

Task 3.3: Test Cluster

# Create a test pod
kubectl run test-pod --image=nginx:latest

# Wait for it to be ready
kubectl wait --for=condition=ready pod/test-pod --timeout=60s

# Verify it's running
kubectl get pods

# Clean up
kubectl delete pod test-pod

Exercise 4: Verify kubebuilder

Task 4.1: Check Installation

# Check kubebuilder version
kubebuilder version

# Verify it's in PATH
which kubebuilder

# Test kubebuilder commands
kubebuilder --help

Task 4.2: Test kubebuilder Init

# Create a test directory
mkdir -p /tmp/env-test
cd /tmp/env-test

# Test kubebuilder init
kubebuilder init --domain test.com --repo github.com/test/env-test

# Verify project was created
ls -la

# Check main.go exists
test -f main.go && echo "✅ main.go exists" || echo "❌ main.go missing"

# Clean up
cd ~
rm -rf /tmp/env-test

Exercise 5: Complete Environment Checklist

Task 5.1: Run Verification Checklist

Check each item:

# Go 1.21+
go version | grep -q "go1.2[1-9]\|go1.[3-9]" && echo "✅ Go version OK" || echo "❌ Go version too old"

# kubectl
kubectl version --client > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ kubectl OK" || echo "❌ kubectl missing"

# kubebuilder
kubebuilder version > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ kubebuilder OK" || echo "❌ kubebuilder missing"

# kind
kind version > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ kind OK" || echo "❌ kind missing"

# Docker/Podman
(docker info > /dev/null 2>&1 || podman info > /dev/null 2>&1) && echo "✅ Container runtime OK" || echo "❌ Container runtime missing"

# Kind cluster
kubectl cluster-info --context kind-k8s-operators-course > /dev/null 2>&1 && echo "✅ Kind cluster OK" || echo "❌ Kind cluster missing"

Task 5.2: Fix Any Issues

If any checks fail:

Review error messages
Re-run setup scripts
Check documentation
Ask for help if needed

Exercise 6: Test Development Workflow

Task 6.1: Create Test Project

# Create test project
mkdir -p /tmp/workflow-test
cd /tmp/workflow-test

# Initialize project
kubebuilder init --domain test.com --repo github.com/test/workflow-test

Task 6.2: Generate and Install

# Generate code
make generate

# Generate manifests
make manifests

# Install CRD (this will fail if no cluster, that's OK for testing)
make install || echo "No cluster, skipping install"

Task 6.3: Verify Workflow

# Check generated files
ls -la config/crd/bases/
ls -la config/rbac/

# Check Makefile targets
make help

Task 6.4: Cleanup

cd ~
rm -rf /tmp/workflow-test

Exercise 7: IDE Setup (Optional)

Task 7.1: VS Code Setup

If using VS Code:

# Install Go extension
code --install-extension golang.go

# Install Kubernetes extension
code --install-extension ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools

Task 7.2: GoLand Setup

If using GoLand:

GoLand has built-in Go and Kubernetes support
No additional setup needed

Environment Verification Summary

Your environment should have:

✅ Go 1.21+
✅ kubectl
✅ kubebuilder
✅ kind
✅ Docker or Podman
✅ Kind cluster running
✅ kubectl context set to kind cluster

Troubleshooting

Issue: kubebuilder not found

# Add to PATH
export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
# Or reinstall

Issue: kind cluster not accessible

# Recreate cluster
kind delete cluster --name k8s-operators-course
./scripts/setup-kind-cluster.sh

Issue: Go module errors

# Enable Go modules
export GO111MODULE=on

Lab Summary

In this lab, you:

Verified all required tools
Set up complete development environment
Created and verified kind cluster
Tested the development workflow
Verified everything works together

Key Learnings

Complete environment includes: Go, kubebuilder, kubectl, kind, Docker/Podman
Setup scripts automate installation
Kind cluster provides local Kubernetes
All tools must work together
Verification is important before starting development

Next Steps

Your environment is ready! Now let’s build your first operator.

Navigation: ← Previous Lab: Kubebuilder Fundamentals

Related Lesson

Next Lab: First Operator →