Skip to main content

Cluster Access

The kubeconfig file stored at /etc/rancher/rke2/rke2.yaml is used to configure access to the Kubernetes cluster.

Note that some tools, such as kubectl, are installed by default into /var/lib/rancher/rke2/bin.

Leverage the KUBECONFIG environment variable:

export KUBECONFIG=/etc/rancher/rke2/rke2.yaml
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
helm ls --all-namespaces

Or specify the location of the kubeconfig file in the command:

kubectl --kubeconfig /etc/rancher/rke2/rke2.yaml get pods --all-namespaces
helm --kubeconfig /etc/rancher/rke2/rke2.yaml ls --all-namespaces

Accessing the Cluster from Outside with kubectl​

Copy /etc/rancher/rke2/rke2.yaml on your machine located outside the cluster as ~/.kube/config. Then replace 127.0.0.1 with the IP or hostname of your RKE2 server. kubectl can now manage your RKE2 cluster.