kubernetes – kubectl get node is returning connection refused

As per this doc

kubectl get nodes The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused – did you specify the right host or port?
When you run the kubectl or a similar command, this is a common problem. Kubernetes lacks the proper credentials to access the cluster most of the time.

Resolution steps

1.Check if the kubeconfig environment variable is exported if not exported

export KUBECONFIG=/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf or $HOME/.kube/config

2.Check the home directory file or your.kube configuration. You need to move that to the home directory if you didn’t find it. using the command that follows

cp /etc/kubernetes/admin.conf $HOME/
chown $(id -u):$(id -g) $HOME/admin.conf
export KUBECONFIG=$HOME/admin.conf

Whenever you are starting Master Node you may require to set the environment variable. Hence it’s a repetitive task for you. It can be set permanently using the following command.

echo 'export KUBECONFIG=$HOME/admin.conf' >> $HOME/.bashrc

A Kubernetes form discussion thread can also be found here.