🚀 Kubernetes Series – Day 6: Multi-Node Cluster Setup

"With a multi-node Kubernetes cluster, you're not just running containers, you’re simulating production at scale, right from your local machine."

If you're exploring Kubernetes and want to simulate a real-world, multi-node cluster locally, then kind (Kubernetes IN Docker) is a perfect fit. It's lightweight, fast, and doesn’t require a cloud provider or a virtual machine setup. Today, we’ll go step-by-step to set up a multi-node cluster using kind.

🧱 What is kind?

kind lets you run Kubernetes clusters inside Docker containers. Originally designed for testing Kubernetes itself, it's now widely used for local development and CI environments. You can spin up clusters in seconds and destroy them just as quickly, perfect for learning and experimentation.

📘 Official Docs: https://kind.sigs.k8s.io/

Step 1: Create a Single Node Cluster

Once kind and kubectl are installed, run the following command:

kind create cluster --name cluster-1

This command creates a basic single-node Kubernetes cluster. You can verify the cluster is up and running using:

kubectl cluster-info --context kind-cluster-1

However, this is just a single-node setup. If you're aiming to simulate a production-like environment, we need multiple nodes, especially worker nodes.

Step 2: Delete the Existing Single Node Cluster

Before moving to a multi-node setup, let’s delete the current one:

kind delete cluster --name cluster-1

This will clean up all resources associated with the cluster-1 cluster.

Step 3: Create a Multi-Node Cluster Configuration

To define a multi-node setup, we create a configuration YAML file. Open a new file:

vim cluster-config.yml

Paste the following content:

kind: Cluster
apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
nodes:
  - role: control-plane
  - role: worker
  - role: worker

This YAML file instructs kind to create a cluster with one control-plane node and two worker nodes.

Save and exit the file.

Now, use the following command to spin up the cluster:

kind create cluster --config cluster-config.yml

This process might take a minute or two as Docker pulls the required images and sets up containers.

Step 4: View Your Clusters and Contexts

To list the available clusters (contexts), use:

kubectl config get-contexts

By default, if no name is set in the config, kind names the cluster as kind-kind. You’ll see it listed here.

To interact with a specific cluster (if you have more than one), you can switch contexts:

kubectl config use-context kind-kind

Step 5: Verify the Multi-Node Setup

You can confirm the number of nodes with:

kubectl get nodes

Expected output:

NAME                 STATUS   ROLES           AGE     VERSION
kind-control-plane   Ready    control-plane   2m      v1.29.0
kind-worker          Ready    <none>          2m      v1.29.0
kind-worker2         Ready    <none>          2m      v1.29.0

This confirms you now have a 3-node Kubernetes cluster running locally with kind.

🧩 Why Multi-Node Matters

A single-node cluster is great for basic operations, but for realistic development or testing scenarios—like testing deployments, simulating node failures, or practicing scaling, multi-node clusters are essential.

Using kind with a config file makes this easy without the need for cloud resources.