I have done the below steps.

Created an EKS Cluster
Installed aws-iam-authenticator client binary
Execute "aws eks update-kubeconfig --name <cluster_name>"
Execute "kubectl get svc"

I am able to view the services available in my cluster. When I see ~/.kube/config file it is using an external command called "aws-iam-authenticator".

1. My understanding is that "aws-iam-authenticator" uses my ~/.aws/credentials and retrieves the token from AWS(aws-iam-authenticator token -i cluster-1) and uses that token for "kubectl get svc" command. Is my understanding correct?

2. If my understanding correct, where does heptio comes into picture in this flow? Does Heptio Authenticator be deployed automatically when creating the EKS Cluster?