Deploying Nginx on Kubernetes with Minikube: My Hands-On Journey

Recently, I revisited Kubernetes to strengthen my DevOps skills and document the process. Here’s my step-by-step journey deploying Nginx locally with Minikube.

1. Setting Up the Cluster with Minikube

Kubernetes requires a cluster to run workloads. For local development, I used Minikube to simulate a real cluster:

minikube start

This command spun up:

• A control plane
• A single worker node
• All necessary Kubernetes components

Verify the cluster:

kubectl get nodes

2. Creating and Deploying Nginx

I defined the deployment in nginx-deployment.yml:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: nginx-deployment
spec:
  replicas: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: nginx
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: nginx
    spec:
      containers:
        - name: nginx
          image: nginx:latest
          ports:
            - containerPort: 80

Applied it with:

kubectl apply -f nginx-deployment.yml

3. Exposing the Nginx Service

Pods are only accessible within the cluster by default. To expose Nginx, I created a NodePort service (nginx-service.yaml):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: nginx-service
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: nginx
  ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 80
      targetPort: 80

Deployed it with:

kubectl apply -f nginx-service.yaml

4. Accessing Nginx

1. Get the Minikube IP:shCopyDownloadminikube ip # Example output: 192.168.49.2
2. Find the NodePort:shCopyDownloadkubectl get svc nginx-serviceExample output:CopyDownloadNAME TYPE PORT(S) nginx-service NodePort 80:30080/TCP
3. Access Nginx at:CopyDownloadhttp://<minikube-ip>:<nodePort> # Example: http://192.168.49.2:30080

5. Git Management

• Tracked all YAML files in Git
• Pushed changes to GitHub
• Learned to clean up remote branches

Key Learnings

✅ Kubernetes architecture: clusters → nodes → pods → containers
✅ Service types: ClusterIP vs. NodePort vs. LoadBalancer
✅ Declarative infrastructure with YAML + kubectl
✅ DevOps workflow best practices

Next Steps

• Scaling deployments (kubectl scale)
• Rolling updates
• ConfigMaps & Secrets
• Helm charts

Project Files: GitHub Repo Link