Talos Commands¶

Common talosctl commands for managing and debugging the Talos Linux cluster. These commands complement the justfile recipes for lower-level operations.

Default Endpoint

Most commands default to the endpoint configured in ~/.talos/config. Set the default node/endpoint with:

talosctl config endpoint 192.168.0.201
talosctl config node 192.168.0.201

Health Checks¶

Cluster Health¶

Check the overall health of the cluster, including etcd, kubelet, and API server status.

talosctl health

Target a specific node:

talosctl health --nodes 192.168.0.201

Node Dashboard¶

Open an interactive dashboard showing real-time CPU, memory, and service status for a node.

talosctl dashboard

talosctl dashboard --nodes 192.168.0.204

Member List¶

List all cluster members as seen by Talos.

talosctl get members

JSON output (useful for scripting):

talosctl get members -o json | jq '.spec'

Service Management¶

List Services¶

Show the status of all Talos services on a node.

talosctl services --nodes 192.168.0.201

Service Logs¶

View logs for a specific Talos service (e.g., etcd, kubelet, apid, containerd).

# etcd logs
talosctl logs etcd --nodes 192.168.0.201

# kubelet logs
talosctl logs kubelet --nodes 192.168.0.201

# Follow logs in real time
talosctl logs etcd --nodes 192.168.0.201 -f

Service Status¶

Get detailed status for a specific service.

talosctl service etcd --nodes 192.168.0.201

etcd Operations¶

Membership¶

List etcd cluster members and their status.

talosctl etcd members --nodes 192.168.0.201

Etcd Status¶

Check etcd health and leadership.

talosctl etcd status --nodes 192.168.0.201

Remove a Member¶

Remove a failed etcd member (use with caution).

talosctl etcd remove-member <member-id> --nodes 192.168.0.201

Etcd Snapshot¶

Take a snapshot of the etcd database.

talosctl etcd snapshot etcd-backup.snapshot --nodes 192.168.0.201

etcd Quorum

With a 3-node control plane, losing more than 1 etcd member will break quorum. Always verify etcd membership before performing maintenance.

Kubeconfig¶

Refresh Kubeconfig¶

Generate or refresh the kubeconfig file for kubectl access.

talosctl kubeconfig --nodes 192.168.0.200

Write to a specific path:

talosctl kubeconfig ~/.kube/config --nodes 192.168.0.200

VIP Address

Use the VIP address (192.168.0.200) for kubeconfig generation to ensure HA access to the API server.

Configuration Inspection¶

View Running Config¶

Inspect the current machine configuration running on a node.

talosctl get machineconfig --nodes 192.168.0.201 -o yaml

Compare Configs¶

Diff the running config against a file.

talosctl apply-config --nodes 192.168.0.201 --file ./clusterconfig/worker-01.yaml --dry-run

Version Information¶

Check the Talos version on a node.

talosctl version --nodes 192.168.0.201

Resource Inspection¶

Kernel Logs (dmesg)¶

View kernel messages from a node.

talosctl dmesg --nodes 192.168.0.204

Follow kernel messages:

talosctl dmesg --nodes 192.168.0.204 -f

Process List¶

List running processes on a node.

talosctl processes --nodes 192.168.0.201

Disk Usage¶

Check disk usage on a node.

talosctl usage /var --nodes 192.168.0.201

Container Images¶

List all container images on a node.

talosctl image list --nodes 192.168.0.201

Network Interfaces¶

Show network interfaces and addresses.

talosctl get addresses --nodes 192.168.0.201

Routes¶

Show routing table.

talosctl get routes --nodes 192.168.0.201

Node Operations¶

Reboot¶

Reboot a node (with wait for it to come back).

talosctl reboot --nodes 192.168.0.204 --wait

Shutdown¶

Shut down a node.

talosctl shutdown --nodes 192.168.0.204

Reset¶

Reset a node, wiping its state.

talosctl reset \
    --system-labels-to-wipe=EPHEMERAL \
    --system-labels-to-wipe=META \
    --reboot \
    --graceful=false \
    --nodes 192.168.0.204

Upgrade¶

Upgrade Talos on a node to a new version.

talosctl upgrade \
    --image factory.talos.dev/installer/<schematic-id>:v1.12.4 \
    --nodes 192.168.0.201 \
    --preserve \
    --wait

Troubleshooting Commands¶

Check Pod CIDR and Service CIDR¶

talosctl get clusterconfig --nodes 192.168.0.201 -o yaml | grep -A5 clusterNetwork

Check Certificate Validity¶

talosctl get certificate --nodes 192.168.0.201

Read Machine Config Patches¶

talosctl get machineconfig --nodes 192.168.0.201 -o yaml

Check Time Sync¶

talosctl get timestatus --nodes 192.168.0.201

Useful Aliases¶

Consider adding these aliases to your shell configuration:

alias tc='talosctl'
alias tcd='talosctl dashboard'
alias tch='talosctl health'
alias tcl='talosctl logs'
alias tcs='talosctl services'
alias tcm='talosctl get members'