Usage of oc and kubectl commands
Because OpenShift Container Platform is a certified Kubernetes distribution, you can use the Kubernetes CLI (kubectl) that ships with OpenShift Container Platform to interact with your cluster. You can also gain extended functionality specific to OpenShift Container Platform by using the OpenShift CLI (oc) binary.
The oc binary
The OpenShift CLI (oc) binary offers the same capabilities as the kubectl binary, but it extends to natively support additional OpenShift Container Platform features.
- Full support for OpenShift Container Platform resources
- Resources such as
DeploymentConfig,BuildConfig,Route,ImageStream, andImageStreamTagobjects are specific to OpenShift Container Platform distributions, and build upon standard Kubernetes primitives. - Authentication
- The
ocbinary offers a built-inlogincommand for authentication and lets you work with projects, which map Kubernetes namespaces to authenticated users. Read "Understanding authentication" for more information. - Additional commands
- The additional command
oc new-app, for example, makes it easier to get new applications started using existing source code or pre-built images. Similarly, the additional commandoc new-projectmakes it easier to start a project that you can switch to as your default.
If you installed an earlier version of the oc binary, you cannot use it to complete all of the commands in OpenShift Container Platform 4.22 . If you want the latest features, you must download and install the latest version of the oc binary corresponding to your OpenShift Container Platform server version.
Non-security API changes will involve, at minimum, two minor releases (4.1 to 4.2 to 4.3, for example) to allow older oc binaries to update. Using new capabilities might require newer oc binaries. A 4.3 server might have additional capabilities that a 4.2 oc binary cannot use and a 4.3 oc binary might have additional capabilities that are unsupported by a 4.2 server.
Compatibility matrix
X.Y (oc Client) | X.Y+N 1 (oc Client) | |
| X.Y (Server) |  |  |
| X.Y+N 1 (Server) |  | |
Fully compatible.
oc client might not be able to access server features.
oc client might provide options and features that might not be compatible with the accessed server.
Additional resources
The kubectl binary
The Kubernetes CLI (kubectl) binary is provided as a means to support existing workflows and scripts for new OpenShift Container Platform users coming from a standard Kubernetes environment, or for those who prefer to use the kubectl CLI. Existing users of kubectl can continue to use the binary to interact with Kubernetes primitives, with no changes required to the OpenShift Container Platform cluster.
You can install the supported kubectl binary by following the steps to install the OpenShift CLI. The kubectl binary is included in the archive if you download the binary, or is installed when you install the CLI by using an RPM.
Additional resources