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Basic Tool & Connect

Install AWS CLI V2

pip3 install awscli --upgrade

Install Docker

Docker is responsible for pushing images to ECR. 

yum install -y docker
systemctl start docker
systemctl enable docker
usermod -a -G docker ec2-user

Install Kubectl

Kubectl is a command line tool for communicating with a Kubernetes cluster's control plane, using the Kubernetes API. 

curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.33.0/2025-05-01/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
chmod +x ./kubectl
mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
kubectl completion bash | tee /etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl > /dev/null

  • 1.32 Version 

    curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.32.3/2025-04-17/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

  • 1.31 Version 

    curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.31.7/2025-04-17/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

  • 1.30 Version 

    curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.30.11/2025-04-17/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

  • 1.29 Version 

    curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.29.15/2025-04-17/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl

Install Helm

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes. 

curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3
chmod 700 get_helm.sh
./get_helm.sh

Install eksctl

eksctl is a simple CLI tool for creating and managing clusters on EKS. 

curl --silent --location "https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_$(uname -s)_amd64.tar.gz" | tar xz -C /tmp
mv /tmp/eksctl /usr/local/bin

Install All (EC2 User Data Script)

Please note that the HOME path must be set to /home/ec2-user. 

#!/bin/bash
yum update -y
yum install -y docker
systemctl start docker
systemctl enable docker
usermod -a -G docker ec2-user
curl -O https://s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/amazon-eks/1.33.0/2025-05-01/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl
chmod +x ./kubectl
mv ./kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
kubectl completion bash | tee /etc/bash_completion.d/kubectl > /dev/null
curl -fsSL -o get_helm.sh https://raw.githubusercontent.com/helm/helm/main/scripts/get-helm-3
chmod 700 get_helm.sh
./get_helm.sh
curl --silent --location "https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_$(uname -s)_amd64.tar.gz" | tar xz -C /tmp
mv /tmp/eksctl /usr/local/bin

Connect to EKS Cluster

Set frequently used environment variables

echo "export CLUSTER_NAME=$(eksctl get clusters -o json | jq -r '.[0].Name')" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=$(aws configure get region)" >> ~/.bashrc
echo "export AWS_ACCOUNT_ID=$(aws sts get-caller-identity --query Account --output text)" >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Update Kubeconfig

aws eks update-kubeconfig --name $CLUSTER_NAME