How to set Default Kubernetes Namespace
Learn how to set a default namespace using the kubectl command instead of having to specify it in commonly used spaces.
In this tutorial, you will learn how to set a default namespace context for kubectl.
Kubernetes organizes all of its resources into namespaces. As an organizational unit, namespaces provide a means to apply separation of concern for resources used by different projects or teams, for example.
By default all resources are created in the default namespace, unless a namespace is specified. This is also true for all commands against your cluster. When a namespace is not specified in a kubectl command with the -n flag, Kubernetes will return results from resources in the default namespace.
Setting Default Namespace
Namespace defaults are set in your cluster’s context configuration. We change the default you will need to use the kubectl set-config command and specify the name of the namespace want to be used as default.
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=NAMESPACE
For example, to set the namespace team-a as your default, you would run the following command:
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=team-a
Using Alias
Setting a default namespace helps cut down your command when working in a common space. Alternatively, if you find yourself working a number of namespaces you could create a bash alias instead. an alias could be created for each namespace you work with.
The alias command syntax is as follows. You simply give the alias a name and set the command to be executed. An example of a kubectl alias is shwon below.
alias <ALIAS>='kubectl -n <NAMESPACE>'
For example, to create an alias for a namespace named team-a you would use the following command.
alias team-a=`kubectl -n team-a`
With the alias set, to perform kubectl actions against a your cluster and desired namespace you would execute a command using the alias, in addtion to which ever commands or flags you want passed to kubectl.
To use an alias to output a list of pods for the aliased namespace team-a, you would execute the following commmand.
team-a get pods
Follow Us