Minikube from scratch

Client is on the same network and accesses Minikube via port-forward on :8080.

A practical, end-to-end setup guide for a lightweight Kubernetes lab built on a constrained Ubuntu VM.

Lab baseline

• Hostname: minikube.mouradcloud.local
• IP: 192.168.251.146
• OS: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS
• CPU: 1 vCPU
• RAM: 1.9 GB
• Swap: 2 GB
• Docker: 29.5.3
• kubectl: v1.36.1
• Minikube: v1.38.1

1. Install Docker CE

sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin
sudo usermod -aG docker demouser
sudo systemctl enable --now docker

2. Install kubectl

curl -fsSL "https://dl.k8s.io/release/$(curl -fsSL https://dl.k8s.io/release/stable.txt)/bin/linux/amd64/kubectl" -o /tmp/kubectl
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 /tmp/kubectl /usr/local/bin/kubectl
kubectl version --client

3. Install Minikube

curl -fsSL https://storage.googleapis.com/minikube/releases/latest/minikube-linux-amd64 -o /tmp/minikube
sudo install -o root -g root -m 0755 /tmp/minikube /usr/local/bin/minikube
minikube version

4. Start the cluster (low-resource profile)

minikube start --driver=docker --cpus=1 --memory=1500mb --force

Reasoning:

• --driver=docker: simple and fast on this VM
• --cpus=1 --memory=1500mb: fits hardware limits
• --force: bypasses minikube default sizing checks

5. Enable ingress

minikube addons enable ingress
kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx
kubectl get svc -n ingress-nginx

Current ingress exposure:

• HTTP NodePort: 30848
• HTTPS NodePort: 31167
• Forwarded ports: 8080 -> 80 and 8443 -> 443

6. Verify deployed apps

curl http://minikube.mouradcloud.local:8080/helloworld
curl http://minikube.mouradcloud.local:8080/helloworld2

7. Add a new app quickly

kubectl create deployment myapp --image=hashicorp/http-echo -- /http-echo -text='My App' -listen=':5680'
kubectl expose deployment myapp --name=myapp-svc --port=80 --target-port=5680 --type=ClusterIP

Then add /myapp to your Ingress rules and apply the manifest.

8. Troubleshooting checklist

minikube status
kubectl get all
kubectl get ingress
kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx
kubectl logs -n ingress-nginx -l app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx

Source notes

• /mnt/SHARES/MINIKUBE/MINIKUBE_SETUP.md
• /mnt/SHARES/MINIKUBE/QUICK_START.md

9. Add a new application end-to-end

Use this sequence when you want to add a third application behind the same ingress controller.

9.1 Create Deployment

kubectl create deployment myapp --image=hashicorp/http-echo -- \
  /http-echo -text='My App from Minikube' -listen=':5680'

Verify:

kubectl get deploy myapp
kubectl get pods -l app=myapp -o wide

9.2 Expose Service

kubectl expose deployment myapp \
  --name=myapp-svc \
  --port=80 \
  --target-port=5680 \
  --type=ClusterIP

Verify:

kubectl get svc myapp-svc
kubectl get endpoints myapp-svc

9.3 Add route in Ingress

kubectl apply -f - <<'EOF_ING'
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: hello-ingress
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  rules:
  - http:
      paths:
      - path: /helloworld
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: hello-svc
            port:
              number: 80
      - path: /helloworld2
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: hello-v2-svc
            port:
              number: 80
      - path: /myapp
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: myapp-svc
            port:
              number: 80
EOF_ING

Verify ingress:

kubectl get ingress hello-ingress -o yaml

9.4 Test from client on same network

curl http://minikube.mouradcloud.local:8080/myapp

Expected output includes:

My App from Minikube

9.5 Troubleshooting path

kubectl describe ingress hello-ingress
kubectl get endpoints myapp-svc
kubectl logs deploy/myapp
kubectl get pods -n ingress-nginx
kubectl logs -n ingress-nginx -l app.kubernetes.io/name=ingress-nginx

If port-forward is not running, restart it:

kubectl port-forward -n ingress-nginx svc/ingress-nginx-controller 8080:80 8443:443 --address=0.0.0.0 &