MicroK8s Setup Guide: Run Kubernetes Locally in Minutes

Setting up a local Kubernetes cluster is essential for development and learning. MicroK8s is one of the easiest ways to get started - it’s lightweight, fast, and provides a production-grade Kubernetes experience on your local machine.

What is MicroK8s?

MicroK8s is a lightweight, pure-upstream Kubernetes distribution developed by Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu). Unlike other local Kubernetes options, MicroK8s:

• Installs in seconds with a single command
• Uses minimal resources - runs on as little as 540MB RAM
• Stays up-to-date with the latest Kubernetes releases
• Includes optional addons for common functionality
• Works offline once installed

MicroK8s vs Other Local Kubernetes Options

Feature	MicroK8s	Minikube	kind	k3s
Installation	Snap/installer	Binary + VM	Binary + Docker	Binary
Resource usage	Low	Medium	Low	Very low
Startup time	Fast	Slow	Fast	Fast
Addons	Built-in	Limited	None	Helm
Multi-node	Yes	Limited	Yes	Yes

Prerequisites

Before installing MicroK8s, ensure you have:

• Linux: Ubuntu 18.04+ or any snap-enabled distro
• macOS: macOS 10.13+ with Homebrew
• Windows: Windows 10+ with Hyper-V or VirtualBox
• At least 4GB RAM (8GB recommended)
• 20GB free disk space

Installing MicroK8s

Linux Installation (Ubuntu/Debian)

The fastest installation is via snap:

sudo snap install microk8s --classic

Add your user to the microk8s group to avoid using sudo:

sudo usermod -a -G microk8s $USER
sudo chown -R $USER ~/.kube
newgrp microk8s

macOS Installation

Install using Homebrew:

brew install ubuntu/microk8s/microk8s
microk8s install

Or download the installer from the MicroK8s website.

Windows Installation

1. Enable Hyper-V in Windows Features
2. Download the installer from microk8s.io
3. Run the installer and follow the prompts

Or use Chocolatey:

choco install microk8s

Verifying Your Installation

Check that MicroK8s is running:

microk8s status --wait-ready

You should see output like:

microk8s is running
high-availability: no
  datastore master nodes: 127.0.0.1:19001
  datastore standby nodes: none

Check the Kubernetes version:

microk8s kubectl version

Configuring Essential Addons

MicroK8s comes with optional addons that extend functionality. Enable the essential ones:

DNS (Required for Most Workloads)

microk8s enable dns

DNS allows pods to discover services by name - almost every application needs this.

Storage

microk8s enable hostpath-storage

Enables persistent volume claims for stateful applications.

Dashboard

microk8s enable dashboard

Provides a web UI for cluster management.

Container Registry

microk8s enable registry

Local Docker registry for pushing and pulling images.

Enable Multiple Addons at Once

microk8s enable dns storage dashboard registry

View All Available Addons

microk8s status

Popular addons include:

• ingress - NGINX ingress controller
• cert-manager - TLS certificate management
• prometheus - Monitoring and metrics
• istio - Service mesh
• gpu - NVIDIA GPU support

Using kubectl with MicroK8s

MicroK8s includes its own kubectl. Use it with the microk8s prefix:

microk8s kubectl get nodes
microk8s kubectl get pods -A

Creating a kubectl Alias

For convenience, create an alias:

# Add to ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc
alias kubectl='microk8s kubectl'

Or export the kubeconfig:

microk8s config > ~/.kube/config

Now you can use standard kubectl commands:

kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods -A

Deploying Your First Application

Let’s deploy a simple nginx pod to verify everything works. If you’re new to pods, check our Kubernetes Pods beginner guide for detailed explanations.

Create a Pod

microk8s kubectl run my-nginx --image=nginx:latest --port=80

Verify the Pod is Running

microk8s kubectl get pods

Expected output:

NAME       READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
my-nginx   1/1     Running   0          30s

Expose the Pod as a Service

microk8s kubectl expose pod my-nginx --type=NodePort --port=80

Access Your Application

microk8s kubectl get services my-nginx

Note the NodePort (e.g., 30123) and access the app at http://localhost:30123.

Accessing the Kubernetes Dashboard

After enabling the dashboard addon:

# Get the access token
microk8s kubectl describe secret -n kube-system microk8s-dashboard-token

Start the dashboard proxy:

microk8s dashboard-proxy

Open the URL shown (usually https://127.0.0.1:10443) and paste the token to log in.

Managing Your MicroK8s Cluster

Start and Stop

# Stop the cluster (saves resources)
microk8s stop

# Start the cluster
microk8s start

Check Cluster Status

microk8s status
microk8s inspect

View Logs

# Kubernetes API server logs
microk8s kubectl logs -n kube-system -l k8s-app=kube-apiserver

Reset the Cluster

Start fresh by removing all workloads:

microk8s reset

Configuring MicroK8s for Development

Increase Resource Limits

Edit the MicroK8s configuration:

sudo nano /var/snap/microk8s/current/args/kubelet

Add resource configurations as needed.

Configure Private Registry Access

To pull images from private registries:

# Create registry credentials
microk8s kubectl create secret docker-registry my-registry \
  --docker-server=registry.example.com \
  --docker-username=user \
  --docker-password=password

Local Development Workflow

1. Build your Docker image locally
2. Push to the MicroK8s registry:

docker build -t localhost:32000/myapp:latest .
docker push localhost:32000/myapp:latest

3. Deploy to MicroK8s:

microk8s kubectl create deployment myapp --image=localhost:32000/myapp:latest

Multi-Node Clusters

MicroK8s supports multi-node clusters for testing distributed scenarios:

On the Primary Node

microk8s add-node

This outputs a join command.

On Worker Nodes

Run the join command from the primary node:

microk8s join 192.168.1.100:25000/abc123...

Verify Nodes

microk8s kubectl get nodes

Troubleshooting Common Issues

MicroK8s Won’t Start

# Check system status
microk8s inspect

# View detailed logs
sudo journalctl -u snap.microk8s.daemon-kubelite

DNS Not Working

# Restart CoreDNS
microk8s kubectl rollout restart deployment/coredns -n kube-system

Pods Stuck in Pending

# Check events
microk8s kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

# Verify storage addon
microk8s enable hostpath-storage

Permission Denied Errors

# Ensure user is in microk8s group
sudo usermod -a -G microk8s $USER
newgrp microk8s

MicroK8s Command Reference

Command	Description
microk8s status	Show cluster status and addons
microk8s start	Start the cluster
microk8s stop	Stop the cluster
microk8s enable <addon>	Enable an addon
microk8s disable <addon>	Disable an addon
microk8s kubectl	Run kubectl commands
microk8s config	Output kubeconfig
microk8s reset	Reset cluster to clean state
microk8s inspect	Diagnose cluster issues
microk8s add-node	Generate join token

Next Steps

With your local MicroK8s cluster running, you’re ready to explore Kubernetes further:

1. Deploy applications - Start with our Kubernetes Pods guide to learn pod basics
2. Secure your cluster - Learn about Network Policies to control pod communication
3. Add monitoring - Enable the Prometheus addon for metrics
4. Practice for certification - MicroK8s is perfect for CKA/CKAD exam preparation

Conclusion

MicroK8s provides the fastest path to a fully functional Kubernetes cluster on your local machine. With its simple installation, built-in addons, and minimal resource requirements, it’s ideal for development, learning, and CI/CD environments.

At Fraway, we help teams adopt Kubernetes for development and production workloads. Our certified engineers can assist with cluster setup, development workflows, and best practices. Contact us to accelerate your Kubernetes adoption.