Minikube

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Prerequisites

Before installing Minikube, the system must meet the following minimum requirements:

  • CPU: 4 cores or more (8 recommended for HA setups)
  • RAM: 8 GB minimum
  • Disk: 20 GB of free space
  • Internet: A stable connection
  • A non‑root user with sudo

Update Debian and base tools

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y curl wget ca-certificates gnupg lsb-release apt-transport-https

Install Docker Engine on Debian 13

1) Add Docker’s GPG key

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

2) Add Docker APT repo (Trixie is Debian 13)

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
  https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

3) Install Docker components

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
Validate
sudo systemctl status docker
sudo docker run hello-world
Make docker available without sudo access
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker
docker ps
Validate
systemctl is-active docker

Install Minikube

cd /tmp
curl -LO https://github.com/kubernetes/minikube/releases/latest/download/minikube-linux-amd64
sudo install minikube-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/minikube
rm minikube-linux-amd64
Check version:

minikube version

Install kubectl

You can use upstream Kubernetes binaries so your kubectl matches the latest stable server version.

cd /tmp
KVER=$(curl -L -s https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)
curl -LO "https://dl.k8s.io/release/${KVER}/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl"
chmod +x kubectl
sudo mv kubectl /usr/local/bin/
kubectl version --client

Note: Minikube also bundles a kubectl that can be used as minikube kubectl --get pods if you prefer not to install it separately.

Start Minikube on Debian (Docker driver)

Basic start (non‑root user):

minikube start --driver=docker

minikube start \
  --driver=docker \
  --cpus=3 \
  --memory=8192 \
  --disk-size=30g
Check status:
minikube status
kubectl get nodes
kubectl cluster-info

If minikube start fails, common fixes:

  • Ensure Docker is running: systemctl status docker.
  • Verify you are in the docker group and re‑login or use newgrp docker.
  • Add --force-systemd=true if cgroup driver issues appear with certain Docker setups.

Quick sanity test: Hello Minikube

Run the classic “hello‑minikube” app:
kubectl create deployment hello-minikube --image=kicbase/echo-server:1.0
kubectl expose deployment hello-minikube --type=NodePort --port=8080
kubectl get services hello-minikube

Open it via Minikube’s helper:

minikube service hello-minikube

This should print a URL you can curl to see the echo server response.

kubectl port-forward svc/hello-minikube --address=0.0.0.0 8080:8080

Useful addons and dashboard

List available addons:

minikube addons list

Typical ones to enable:
minikube addons enable dashboard
minikube addons enable ingress
minikube addons enable metrics-server
Launch dashboard:

minikube dashboard

Daily operations on Debian

Common lifecycle commands:
minikube pause
minikube unpause

minikube stop

minikube delete --all

minikube config set memory 8192
minikube config set cpus 4
Multi‑node local cluster example:
minikube start --driver=docker --nodes=3 --cpus=2 --memory=4096
kubectl get nodes
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