Overview

Kubefiles provide a powerful way to define and manage podman pods and containers in a single configuration file. One of their key advantages is their compatibility with Kubernetes.

Deploy your compose file

1. Start your containers using podman-compose:

podman-compose up -d

2. Verify deployment:

podman pod ls    # Check pod status
podman ps        # Check container status

Generate the Kubefile

Once your pod is running, generate the Kubefile:

podman kube generate <pod_name> -f kube.yaml

Replace <pod_name> with your actual pod name from podman pod ls.

The generated file includes:

• Pod specifications
• Container configurations
• Volume mappings
• Network settings
• Resource limits

Start the Kubefile

The following command will start the pod using the Kubefile, the already running containers will be replaced by the new ones defined in the Kubefile:

podman kube play --replace --service-container=true --network=podman /path/to/kube.yaml

Parameters explained:
--replace: Replaces existing containers
--service-container=true: Creates service containers
--network=podman: Uses the podman default network

Validate the deployment

podman pod ls    # Check pod status
podman ps        # Check container status