---
title: "Working with Kubernetes clusters and xNIC DS"
slug: "working-with-kubernetes-clusters-and-xnic-ds"
updated: 2025-12-19T20:10:57Z
published: 2025-12-19T20:10:57Z
canonical: "docs.swxtch.io/working-with-kubernetes-clusters-and-xnic-ds"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.swxtch.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Working with Kubernetes clusters and xNIC DS

> [!NOTE]
> **WHAT TO EXPECT**
> 
> **In this article**, users will learn how to interact with the xNIC Daemonset on any of the supported clouds (AKS, EKS, OCI, or GKE).

### Restarting xNIC DaemonSet

To restart the xNIC DaemonSet for K8s, run the following command:

```shell
 kubectl rollout restart ds/swx-xnic -n kube-system
```

### Getting a shell to an xNIC DaemonSet pod

At times, it is useful to be able to get into the pod and run commands such as swx-tcpdump. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

1. Connect to a machine that has access to the Kubernetes cluster using **Cloud Shell** or any other means.
2. Enter the following command to get the pod name:

```shell
kubectl get pods -l app=swx-xnic -n kube-system
```

Example:

```shell
$ kubectl get pods -l app=swx-xnic -n kube-system
NAME                READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
swx-xnic-fc58t   1/1     Running   0          11d
swx-xnic-kn9hg   1/1     Running   0          11d
```
3. Enter the following command, replacing swx-xnic-<name> with the pod name:

```shell
kubectl exec -it pod/swx-xnic-<name> -n kube-system -- bash
```

Example:

```shell
$ kubectl exec -it pod/swx-xnic-kn9hg -n kube-system -- bash
root@aks-nodepool1-23164585-vmss00000A:/
```

Users can now enter commands similar to any VM, such as `ip a` or `sudo swx-tcpdump -i eth0`. Note that the pods created in this example do not have tools such as the standard tcpdump. However, **swx-tcpdump** will work. For testing, see swxtch-perf under [Testing cloudSwXtch](/v2/docs/testing).

> **Switching Contexts**
> 
> If users have more than one AKS Kubernetes cluster, then they may need to change the context to work on the desired instance.

### Accessing xNIC Logs

Users can get xNIC logs once signed in to the pod. See [How to View xNIC Logs](/v2/docs/how-to-find-xnic-logs) page.

### Using xNIC config

Getting to the xNIC config is available once the user has signed into the Pod. To get to the xNIC config, use the command below:

```shell
 cat /var/opt/swxtch/swxtch-xnic.conf
```

### Exiting the Pod

To exit the pod, enter the following command:

```shell
exit
```