🐣 Crawl: Deploying Kubernetes on DigitalOcean

As a Solutions Architect working with complex network automation platforms, I’ve always loved pushing the edge of what’s possible. But this series isn’t about enterprise polish or vendor demos — it’s about getting my hands dirty, testing real-world concepts, and sharing every step (and misstep) along the way.

In this first post, we’ll start at the “Crawl” stage: launching a managed Kubernetes cluster on DigitalOcean as the foundation for our lab. No custom controllers, no CNI tricks — just raw infrastructure and curiosity.

Let’s build this from the ground up. 🐣

🚀 Why DigitalOcean?

✅ Managed K8s: Control plane is handled for you.
💸 Affordable: Great for labs and hobby projects.
🔗 GitHub Integration: Plays well with CI/CD.
🧠 Simple UX: Clean dashboard, intuitive workflow.

🛠️ Step-by-Step Deployment

1. Create Your Cluster

Log in to your DigitalOcean dashboard
Navigate to Kubernetes > Create Cluster
Choose:
- Latest stable version
- Node pool (3x nodes, e.g., 2 vCPUs + 4GB RAM)
- Region (I used NYC3)
- Enable auto-upgrades (optional but recommended)

2. Install and Configure `doctl`

[!NOTE] Brew is mac native, please refer to DigitalOcean’s doctl installation for other platforms.

brew install doctl

Authenticate your DigitalOcean account

doctl auth init

3. Get Your Kubeconfig

[!NOTE] For kubectl installation, please refer to the official kubernetes docs

To authenticate kubectl with your new cluster, run:

doctl kubernetes cluster kubeconfig save <your-cluster-name>

4. Verify Access to the Cluster

Now test your connection to the cluster:

kubectl get nodes

Here is an example from my lab.

> kubectl get nodes
NAME                   STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION
pool-42jzkx9cx-6s71k   Ready    <none>   3m34s   v1.32.2

[!NOTE] 💡 Pro tip: Use kubectl config get-contexts to see your active cluster.

🧠 What I Learned in the Crawl Phase

Kubeconfig access is step zero for everything that follows.
Managed K8s saves time — don’t overcomplicate the start.
doctl makes cluster management smooth and scriptable.

This is your launchpad — don’t stress about perfection yet.

Next up: Walk — turning this blank canvas into a network topology playground with Containerlab running natively in Kubernetes. Stay tuned 👣