🐣 Crawl: Deploying Kubernetes on DigitalOcean

Apr 15, 2025 2 min read

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 👣

Cristian Cordero
Cristian Cordero