Nugget: Check Kubernetes Pod Logs Without kubectl

Ever needed to check pod logs but couldn’t use kubectl?

Here’s a quick way using the Kubernetes API directly:

curl -k \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(cat /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount/token)" \
  https://kubernetes.default.svc/api/v1/namespaces/default/pods/<pod-name>/log

Breaking down this command:

1. The name kubernetes.default.svc is the DNS name that points to the API server in the Kubernetes cluster. It is a part of the built-in service discovery system in the cluster.
2. The path /api/v1/namespaces/default/pods/<pod-name>/log follows the RESTful nature of the way the API server is exposed:

• the /api/v1 specifies the API version.
• the /namespaces/<namespace> indicates the namespace we are looking in.
• the /pods/<pod-name>/log requests the logs for the specific Pod.

This method is useful in scenarios where:

• the kubectl binary is not available in the environment.
• you have automation scripts that need to access logs.
• a case where you are troubleshooting kubectl itself.

This essentially expands to how you can access a Kubernetes cluster without having the kubectl tool.