Amazon EKS — Verify Tools

Verify Tools

Before creating your first cluster, let’s verify that all tools are installed correctly and your AWS credentials are working.

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Verification Checklist

Run each command and compare with the expected output:

1. AWS CLI

$ aws --version
aws-cli/2.15.30 Python/3.11.8 Darwin/23.4.0 exe/x86_64 prompt/off

✅ Should show version 2.x.x

2. AWS Identity

$ aws sts get-caller-identity
{
    "UserId": "AIDAEXAMPLEUSERID",
    "Account": "123456789012",
    "Arn": "arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/eks-admin"
}

✅ Should show your account ID and user/role ARN

3. eksctl

$ eksctl version
0.175.0

✅ Should show a version number

4. kubectl

$ kubectl version --client
Client Version: v1.29.3
Kustomize Version: v5.0.4-0.20230601165947-6ce0bf390ce3

✅ Should show version 1.28+

5. Helm

$ helm version
version.BuildInfo{Version:"v3.14.3", ...}

✅ Should show version 3.x.x

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All-in-One Verification Script

Run this script to check everything at once:

#!/bin/bash
echo "=== Tool Verification ==="

echo -n "AWS CLI:  "
aws --version 2>/dev/null | cut -d' ' -f1 || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

echo -n "AWS Auth: "
aws sts get-caller-identity --query 'Arn' --output text 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT CONFIGURED"

echo -n "eksctl:   "
eksctl version 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

echo -n "kubectl:  "
kubectl version --client --short 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

echo -n "Helm:     "
helm version --short 2>/dev/null || echo "NOT INSTALLED"

echo "========================="

Expected output:

=== Tool Verification ===
AWS CLI:  aws-cli/2.15.30
AWS Auth: arn:aws:iam::123456789012:user/eks-admin
eksctl:   0.175.0
kubectl:  Client Version: v1.29.3
Helm:     v3.14.3+g3a31588
=========================

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Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
aws: command not found	Reinstall AWS CLI v2 and check your $PATH
Unable to locate credentials	Run aws configure and enter your access key
eksctl: command not found	Reinstall and ensure /usr/local/bin is in $PATH
kubectl: command not found	Reinstall and check $PATH
Wrong AWS account	Check AWS_PROFILE environment variable

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Quick Reference

# Quick verification
$ aws --version && aws sts get-caller-identity && eksctl version && kubectl version --client && helm version

# Check which AWS profile is active
$ echo $AWS_PROFILE

# List available profiles
$ aws configure list-profiles

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What’s Next?

All tools are verified! Try the Prerequisites Exercises and then head to Chapter 3 — Creating Your First Cluster.