What methods and tools are used to identify and troubleshoot issues in Kubernetes?

Several methods and tools are used to identify and troubleshoot issues in Kubernetes:

1. kubectl — the primary CLI tool for diagnostics:

   • kubectl get pods — check the status of pods.
   • kubectl describe pod <pod-name> — detailed information about a pod, including events.
   • kubectl logs <pod-name> — view container logs.

2. Events — monitoring cluster events that may indicate errors.

3. Monitoring and logging — integration with Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack for collecting metrics and logs.

4. Kubernetes Dashboard — a visual interface for resource monitoring.

5. Network troubleshooting — checking network policies, services, and ingress.

6. Debugging tools:

   • kubectl exec — run commands inside a container for diagnostics.
   • kubectl port-forward — port forwarding to access services.

7. Configuration validation — validating manifests, checking resources, limits, and quotas.

Example: if a pod does not start, first check the status with kubectl get pods, then kubectl describe pod to see events and errors, followed by checking logs with kubectl logs.