Gosh and Darn it - Kubernetes, kubectl, macOS and IBM Bluemix

So I'm continuing my Voyage O' Discovery with IBM Containers, Bluemix, Kubernetes etc. on my Mac, following tutorials such as this: -

Setting up the CLI and API to deploy and manage clusters in IBM Bluemix Container Service

and have got to the part where one sets up kubectl using an environment variable $KUBECONFIG.

Whilst I can "see" my Kubernetes cluster: -

bx cs clusters

OK
Name                ID                                 State    Created                    Workers   Datacenter   
DaveHayK8SCluster   fff102198c534d0096bacd575488c9dd   normal   2017-08-21T09:59:53+0000   1         par01   

the Kubernetes kubectl tool was barfing: -

kubectl version  —short

Client Version: v1.6.4
The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?

I checked the environment variable: -

echo $KUBECONFIG

/Users/davidhay/.bluemix/plugins/container-service/clusters/DaveHayK8SCluster/kube-config-prod-dal10-DaveHayK8SCluster.yml

and then checked the file-system to which it was relating: -

ls /Users/davidhay/.bluemix/plugins/container-service/clusters/

DaveHay

ls /Users/davidhay/.bluemix/plugins/container-service/clusters/DaveHay

ca-prod-dal10-DaveHay.pem kube-config-prod-dal10-DaveHay.yml

so that kinda explains why things weren't a-workin' 

Obviously I had mis-read the instructions which have you do this: -

bx cs cluster-config DaveHayK8SCluster

OK
The configuration for DaveHayK8SCluster was downloaded successfully. Export environment variables to start using Kubernetes.

export KUBECONFIG=/Users/davidhay/.bluemix/plugins/container-service/clusters/DaveHayK8SCluster/kube-config-par01-DaveHayK8SCluster.yml

Following that advice, I did this: -

export KUBECONFIG=/Users/davidhay/.bluemix/plugins/container-service/clusters/DaveHayK8SCluster/kube-config-par01-DaveHayK8SCluster.yml

and, quelle surprise, things started working: -

kubectl version  —short

Client Version: v1.6.4
Server Version: v1.5.6-4+abe34653415733

kubectl cluster-info

Kubernetes master is running at https://158.175.65.170:25305
Heapster is running at https://158.175.65.170:25305/api/v1/proxy/namespaces/kube-system/services/heapster
KubeDNS is running at https://158.175.65.170:25305/api/v1/proxy/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns
kubernetes-dashboard is running at https://158.175.65.170:25305/api/v1/proxy/namespaces/kube-system/services/kubernetes-dashboard

To further debug and diagnose cluster problems, use 'kubectl cluster-info dump'.

Can you say "Doofus" ? I betcha can !