talosctl-commands.md

useful talosctl commands for talos kubernetes management

This cheat sheet provides common talosctl commands for managing, debugging, and troubleshooting Talos-based Kubernetes clusters. Each command includes a comment explaining its purpose and when you would use it.

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Initial Installation & Upgrade Notes

• Initial Installation (non-disk image boot): Add this installer image to your machine configuration: factory.talos.dev/metal-installer-secureboot/60139abf2cf501c2d9ecdfcabb2952d0aee9245a6ef0eeac0a0df3f035fb18c4:v1.10.5
• Upgrading Talos Linux: Use the same image for upgrades: factory.talos.dev/metal-installer-secureboot/60139abf2cf501c2d9ecdfcabb2952d0aee9245a6ef0eeac0a0df3f035fb18c4:v1.10.5

Windows Setup & Environment

• Get version: Download talosctl (https://github.com/siderolabs/talos/releases/) Install https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools/install-kubectl-windows/

• Add talosctl to PATH (Windows Devices only):
  • talosctl-windows-amd64.exe`
• Talosctl config file location (Windows Devices only):
  • C:\Users\User1\.talos\config
• Kubectl config file location (Windows Devices only):
  • C:\Users\User1\.kube\config

Node IPs

• Worker Node 1: 192.168.100.25
• Worker Node 2: 192.168.100.24 #Modified
• Control Plane (Kubernetes Endpoint): https://192.168.100.26:6443
• MetalLB IP: 192.168.100.27

Common Cluster Operations

• Generate Machine Config:

  talosctl gen config Jerry-Homelab-Cluster-v1-PC https://192.168.100.26:6443

• Apply machine configuration (during initial setup, use --insecure after config flag):

  talosctl apply-config --nodes 192.168.100.26 --file controlplane.yaml
  talosctl apply-config --nodes 192.168.100.25 --file worker.yaml
  talosctl apply-config --nodes 192.168.100.22 --file worker.yaml

• Print Version of Talos running:

  talosctl --talosconfig=./talosconfig --nodes 192.168.100.26 -e 192.168.100.26 version

• Bootstrap Kubernetes cluster:

  talosctl bootstrap --nodes 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• Get Kubernetes client config:

  talosctl kubeconfig --nodes 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• get health and dashboard info of talos:

  talosctl --nodes 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 health --talosconfig=./talosconfig
  talosctl --nodes 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 dashboard --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• Maintenance mode: Hold shift during boot to enter maintenance mode and re-configure config file.

Talosctl Config Usage

• Get info from config file:

  talosctl config info

• Set endpoints/worker nodes on talos config file:

  talosctl config endpoint 192.168.100.26 --talosconfig=./talosconfig
  talosctl config node 192.168.100.25,192.168.100.22 --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• Only use --talosconfig if config file is not in default location.

Disk & Resource Queries

• Get disk info from node:

  talosctl -n 192.168.100.25 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 get disks --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• Get resource definitions:

  talosctl -n 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 get resourcedefinitions --talosconfig=./talosconfig

• Get namespaces on talos:

  talosctl -n 192.168.100.26 --endpoints 192.168.100.26 get namespaces

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Cluster & Node Management

talosctl config endpoint <ip> # Set the Talos API endpoint (use to target a specific node)
talosctl config nodes <ip1> <ip2> ... # Set the list of Talos nodes (use to target multiple nodes)
talosctl get nodes # List all Talos nodes and their status (use to check node health)
talosctl describe node <node-name> # Detailed info about a node (use to debug node issues)

System & Service Status

talosctl get machines # List all machines managed by Talos (use to check machine status)
talosctl get services # List all Talos services (use to check service health)
talosctl service status kubelet # Check status of kubelet service (use to debug pod scheduling)
talosctl logs kubelet # View logs for the kubelet service (use to debug pod issues)

Configuration & Upgrades

talosctl edit machineconfig <node-name> # Edit the machine configuration (use to change settings)
talosctl upgrade --image <image> # Upgrade Talos OS on all nodes (use to update Talos version)

Troubleshooting & Recovery

talosctl reset --reboot # Reset a node and reboot (use to recover from major issues)
talosctl containers # List containers running on a node (use to debug container issues)
talosctl events # Show recent Talos events (use to debug system or cluster events)

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Replace <ip>, <node-name>, <image>, etc. with your actual values. For more, see the Talos documentation.