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Synopsis

This command manages bootstrap tokens. It is optional and needed only for advanced use cases.

In short, bootstrap tokens are used for establishing bidirectional trust between a client and a server. A bootstrap token can be used when a client (for example a node that is about to join the cluster) needs to trust the server it is talking to. Then a bootstrap token with the "signing" usage can be used. bootstrap tokens can also function as a way to allow short-lived authentication to the API Server (the token serves as a way for the API Server to trust the client), for example for doing the TLS Bootstrap.

What is a bootstrap token more exactly?

  • It is a Secret in the kube-system namespace of type "bootstrap.kubernetes.io/token".
  • A bootstrap token must be of the form "[a-z0-9]{6}.[a-z0-9]{16}". The former part is the public token ID, while the latter is the Token Secret and it must be kept private at all circumstances!
  • The name of the Secret must be named "bootstrap-token-(token-id)".

You can read more about bootstrap tokens here: https://kubernetes.io/docs/admin/bootstrap-tokens/

kubeadm token [flags]

Options

--dry-run
Whether to enable dry-run mode or not
-h, --help
help for token
--kubeconfig string     Default: "/etc/kubernetes/admin.conf"
The kubeconfig file to use when talking to the cluster. If the flag is not set, a set of standard locations can be searched for an existing kubeconfig file.

Options inherited from parent commands

--rootfs string
[EXPERIMENTAL] The path to the 'real' host root filesystem.