Install calicoctl

3 MINUTE READ

About installing calicoctl

calicoctl allows you to create, read, update, and delete Calico objects from the command line. Calico objects are stored in one of two datastores, either etcd or Kubernetes. The choice of datastore is determined at the time Calico is installed. Typically for Kubernetes installations the Kubernetes datastore is the default.

You can run calicoctl on any host with network access to the Calico datastore as either a binary or a container. For step-by-step instructions, refer to the section that corresponds to your desired deployment.

Install calicoctl as a binary on a single host

  1. Log into the host, open a terminal prompt, and navigate to the location where you want to install the binary.

    Tip: Consider navigating to a location that’s in your PATH. For example, /usr/local/bin/.

  2. Use the following command to download the calicoctl binary.

    curl -O -L  https://github.com/projectcalico/calicoctl/releases/download/v3.18.1/calicoctl

  3. Set the file to be executable.

    chmod +x calicoctl

    Note: If the location of calicoctl is not already in your PATH, move the file to one that is or add its location to your PATH. This will allow you to invoke it without having to prepend its location.

Next step:

Configure calicoctl to connect to your datastore.

Install calicoctl as a container on a single host

To install calicoctl as a container on a single host, log into the target host and issue the following command.

docker pull calico/ctl:v3.18.1

Next step:

Configure calicoctl to connect to your datastore.

Install calicoctl as a Kubernetes pod

Use the YAML that matches your datastore type to deploy the calicoctl container to your nodes.

  • etcd

    kubectl apply -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/calicoctl-etcd.yaml

    Note: You can also view the YAML in a new tab.

  • Kubernetes API datastore

    kubectl apply -f https://docs.projectcalico.org/manifests/calicoctl.yaml

    Note: You can also view the YAML in a new tab.

You can then run commands using kubectl as shown below.

kubectl exec -ti -n kube-system calicoctl -- /calicoctl get profiles -o wide

An example response follows.

NAME                 TAGS
kns.default          kns.default
kns.kube-system      kns.kube-system

We recommend setting an alias as follows.

alias calicoctl="kubectl exec -i -n kube-system calicoctl -- /calicoctl"

Note: In order to use the calicoctl alias when reading manifests, redirect the file into stdin, for example:

calicoctl create -f - < my_manifest.yaml

Install calicoctl as a kubectl plugin on a single host

  1. Log in to the host, open a terminal prompt, and navigate to the location where you want to install the binary.

    Note: In order to install calicoctl as a kubectl plugin, the binary must be located in your PATH. For example, /usr/local/bin/.

  2. Use the following command to download the calicoctl binary.

    curl -o kubectl-calico -L  https://github.com/projectcalico/calicoctl/releases/download/v3.18.1/calicoctl

  3. Set the file to be executable.

    chmod +x kubectl-calico

    Note: If the location of kubectl-calico is not already in your PATH, move the file to one that is or add its location to your PATH. This is required in order for kubectl to detect the plugin and allow you to use it.

  4. Verify the plugin works.

    kubectl calico -h

You can now run any calicoctl subcommands through kubectl calico.

Note: If you run these commands from your local machine (instead of a host node), some of the node related subcommands will not work (like node status).

Next step:

Configure calicoctl to connect to your datastore.