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Before you dive into provisioning and operating Amazon EKS clusters, equip yourself with these essential command-line tools. While our workshop may not invoke every utility directly, you’ll rely on them for automated deployments, secure authentication, and ongoing cluster maintenance.
ToolPurposeDocumentation
eksctlOfficial EKS CLI for cluster lifecycle managementeksctl on GitHub
eksdemoDemo workloads and add-on deployment using eksctleksdemo on GitHub
AWS IAM Authenticator for Kuberneteskubectl plugin for AWS IAM–based authenticationAWS IAM Authenticator

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eksctl: The Official EKS CLI

eksctl streamlines cluster creation, updates, and deletion by generating CloudFormation stacks under the hood. Use it to manage control plane versions, node groups, and scaling policies—all via simple commands or declarative config files.

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Installation

# macOS via Homebrew
brew tap weaveworks/tap && brew install weaveworks/tap/eksctl

# Linux via curl
curl --silent --location "https://github.com/weaveworks/eksctl/releases/latest/download/eksctl_$(uname -s)_amd64.tar.gz" \
  | tar xz -C /usr/local/bin
Ensure your eksctl version matches your EKS control plane version. Check compatibility in the eksctl release notes.

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Quick Start

# Create a new EKS cluster with default settings
eksctl create cluster
You can refine your cluster by:
  • Command-line flags
    Specify region, node type, AMI, or cluster name directly.
  • YAML config file
    Define multiple node groups, custom VPC settings, CIDR blocks, tags, and more.
# example-cluster-config.yaml
apiVersion: eksctl.io/v1alpha5
kind: ClusterConfig
metadata:
  name: my-eks-cluster
  region: us-west-2
nodeGroups:
  - name: ng-small
    instanceType: t3.medium
    desiredCapacity: 2

eksctl create cluster -f example-cluster-config.yaml

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eksdemo: Automate Post-Creation Workloads

eksdemo builds on eksctl to not only manage your EKS cluster but also deploy sample applications, Helm charts, and recommended add-ons with a single command.
  • Deploys demos like NGINX, MySQL, or observability stacks
  • Installs add-ons: Karpenter, Metrics Server, Cluster Autoscaler
  • Applies best-practice labels and annotations
# List available demos
eksdemo list

# Deploy the Metrics Server demo
eksdemo install metrics-server
Leverage eksdemo to validate your cluster setup and speed up learning with preconfigured demos and add-ons.

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AWS IAM Authenticator for Kubernetes

To securely interact with your EKS cluster’s Kubernetes API, install the AWS IAM Authenticator plugin for kubectl. It transparently signs API requests using your IAM user or role credentials.

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Installation

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install aws-iam-authenticator

# Linux via curl
curl -o aws-iam-authenticator https://amazon-eks.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/latest/2023-03-11/bin/linux/amd64/aws-iam-authenticator
chmod +x aws-iam-authenticator
mv aws-iam-authenticator /usr/local/bin/

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How It Works

  1. You run a kubectl command against your EKS cluster.
  2. The authenticator plugin signs the request with AWS IAM and STS.
  3. The EKS API server validates your IAM identity and applies RBAC controls.
kubectl get nodes
Without the IAM Authenticator plugin, kubectl cannot authenticate to your managed EKS cluster.
Now that you have the key tools installed, you’re ready to explore Amazon EKS architecture: Node Groups, auto scaling, VPC networking, and more.

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References

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