Deploying a sample Nginx application on your Minikube cluster

Deploying a sample Nginx application on your Minikube cluster and exposing it involves creating a Deployment, creating a Service object, and using port-forwarding to access it directly from your host browser or terminal.

Step 1: Create the Nginx Deployment

A Kubernetes Deployment manages a replicated set of pods. Run the following command to deploy Nginx using the official image:

kubectl create deployment nginx-app --image=nginx:latest

Verify that the pod is running:

kubectl get pods

Step 2: Expose the Deployment as a Service

To make the Nginx application accessible, create a Service that exposes the deployment internally within the cluster on port 80:

kubectl expose deployment nginx-app --type=ClusterIP --port=80

Verify that the service has been created:

kubectl get services

Step 3: Access via Port Forwarding

Port forwarding allows you to forward traffic from your local machine directly to the Nginx pod or service without needing an Ingress controller or NodePort setup:

kubectl port-forward svc/nginx-app 8080:80

Note: Keep this terminal window open. This command binds port 8080 on your local machine to port 80 on the Nginx service.

Step 4: Test the Application

Open a second terminal window or your web browser and navigate to the forwarded port:

curl http://localhost:8080

You should see the default “Welcome to nginx!” HTML response page.

Summary of Useful Management Commands