Kubernetes: From Containers to Clusters
Master Kubernetes from core concepts to production-grade cluster management across all skill levels. You will deploy a multi-service application with autoscaling, persistent storage, and ingress routing by the end of this course.
Course Content
6 modules · 30 lessonsContainers and the Kubernetes Foundation
Students can explain why Kubernetes exists and run their first containerized workload locally.
Why Kubernetes exists: the problem with containers at scale
container sprawl, manual container management pain, orchestration definition, Kubernetes origin, control plane concept, declarative vs imperative management
Kubernetes architecture: control plane and worker nodes explained
control plane components, API server, etcd, scheduler, controller manager, worker node components, kubelet, kube-proxy, container runtime interface
How to install kubectl and set up a local Kubernetes cluster with kind
kubectl installation, kubeconfig file, kind tool, local cluster creation, context switching, cluster verification, kubectl get nodes
Kubernetes namespaces: what they are and when to use them
namespace definition, default namespace, kube-system namespace, resource isolation, namespace-scoped vs cluster-scoped resources, creating namespaces, kubectl -n flag
Kubernetes labels and selectors: how resources find each other
label definition, label selectors, equality-based selectors, set-based selectors, annotations vs labels, practical labeling strategy, kubectl label command
Core Workload Resources: Pods, Deployments, and ReplicaSets
Students can deploy, scale, and update stateless applications using Deployments and understand the Pod lifecycle.
What is a Kubernetes Pod and why you rarely create one directly
Pod definition, shared network namespace, shared storage volumes, multi-container pods, sidecar pattern, Pod lifecycle phases, why Pods are ephemeral, naked pods anti-pattern
Kubernetes Deployment: how to deploy and manage stateless applications
Deployment resource, ReplicaSet relationship, desired state reconciliation, creating deployments, scaling deployments, rollout status, deployment strategy types, kubectl rollout commands
Kubernetes rolling updates and rollbacks: how to deploy without downtime
RollingUpdate strategy, maxUnavailable, maxSurge, update trigger conditions, kubectl set image, rollback with kubectl rollout undo, revision history, Recreate strategy
Kubernetes resource requests and limits: how to prevent noisy neighbors
resource requests definition, resource limits definition, CPU units millicores, memory units mebibytes, Quality of Service classes, OOMKilled, CPU throttling, LimitRange, ResourceQuota
Kubernetes liveness and readiness probes: how to handle unhealthy pods
liveness probe definition, readiness probe definition, startup probe, HTTP probe, TCP probe, exec probe, probe parameters, initialDelaySeconds, periodSeconds, failureThreshold, probe failure behavior
Networking: Services, DNS, and Ingress
Students can expose applications inside and outside a cluster using Services and Ingress controllers.
Kubernetes Services explained: ClusterIP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer
Service definition, virtual IP, kube-proxy iptables rules, ClusterIP type, NodePort type, LoadBalancer type, service selector, targetPort vs port, endpoint object
Kubernetes DNS: how Pods discover each other by name
CoreDNS, service DNS format, FQDN structure, cross-namespace DNS, Pod DNS, ndots configuration, headless services, DNS for StatefulSets
Kubernetes Ingress: how to route HTTP traffic to multiple services
Ingress resource, Ingress controller, path-based routing, host-based routing, TLS termination, nginx ingress controller, IngressClass, backend service reference
Kubernetes NetworkPolicy: how to lock down pod-to-pod communication
NetworkPolicy resource, default-deny pattern, ingress rules, egress rules, podSelector, namespaceSelector, ipBlock, CNI plugin requirement, policy evaluation model
Kubernetes ExternalName and headless services: advanced service patterns
ExternalName Service type, CNAME DNS aliasing, external database abstraction, headless service review, StatefulSet DNS, service without selector, manual Endpoints object
Configuration and Storage
Students can externalize application configuration and attach persistent storage to pods using ConfigMaps, Secrets, and PersistentVolumes.
Kubernetes ConfigMaps: how to inject configuration into pods
ConfigMap definition, key-value data, multi-line config files, mounting as volume, injecting as env vars, envFrom, immutable ConfigMaps, config change propagation
Kubernetes Secrets: storing sensitive data securely in a cluster
Secret types, base64 encoding vs encryption, Secret vs ConfigMap, Opaque secret, TLS secret, creating secrets from literals, secret injection methods, encryption at rest, RBAC for secrets
Kubernetes PersistentVolumes: how pods get durable storage
ephemeral storage problem, PersistentVolume resource, PersistentVolumeClaim, StorageClass, dynamic provisioning, static provisioning, access modes, reclaim policies, volume lifecycle
Kubernetes StatefulSets: deploying databases and stateful applications
StatefulSet vs Deployment, stable network identity, ordered pod startup, volumeClaimTemplates, persistent pod names, StatefulSet update strategy, headless service requirement
Kubernetes emptyDir, hostPath, and ConfigMap volumes compared
emptyDir volume type, hostPath risks, ConfigMap as volume, Secret as volume, projected volumes, downwardAPI volume, tmpfs emptyDir, sharing data between sidecar containers
Scaling, Scheduling, and Resource Management
Students can autoscale workloads horizontally and vertically and control Pod placement using node selectors and affinity rules.
Horizontal Pod Autoscaler: scaling Kubernetes workloads by CPU and memory
HPA resource, metrics-server requirement, targetCPUUtilizationPercentage, min and max replicas, scaling algorithm, scale-up vs scale-down behavior, custom metrics with KEDA, HPA v2 API
Kubernetes node selectors and node affinity: placing pods on specific nodes
nodeSelector field, node labels, node affinity types, requiredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution, preferredDuringSchedulingIgnoredDuringExecution, operator types, affinity vs nodeSelector comparison, inter-pod affinity introduction
Kubernetes taints and tolerations: reserving nodes for specific workloads
taint definition, taint effects (NoSchedule, PreferNoSchedule, NoExecute), toleration syntax, use cases for taints, taint-based eviction, control-plane taint, kubectl taint command
Kubernetes DaemonSets: running one pod per node for monitoring and logging
DaemonSet definition, automatic scheduling on new nodes, typical use cases, DaemonSet vs Deployment, tolerations in DaemonSets, DaemonSet update strategy, nodeSelector in DaemonSets
Kubernetes Jobs and CronJobs: running batch and scheduled workloads
Job resource, completions, parallelism, restartPolicy OnFailure vs Never, Job cleanup, CronJob resource, cron schedule syntax, concurrencyPolicy, successfulJobsHistoryLimit, failedJobsHistoryLimit
Security, RBAC, and Production Readiness
Students can implement RBAC policies, secure pods with security contexts, and prepare a Kubernetes application for production deployment.
Kubernetes RBAC: how to control who can do what in your cluster
RBAC resources, Role vs ClusterRole, RoleBinding vs ClusterRoleBinding, subjects (User, Group, ServiceAccount), verbs and resources, principle of least privilege, default ClusterRoles
Kubernetes ServiceAccounts: how pods authenticate to the API server
ServiceAccount definition, default ServiceAccount, automountServiceAccountToken, projected service account token, RBAC binding to ServiceAccount, service account use in pods, token expiry and rotation
Kubernetes security contexts: running pods with least privilege
Pod security context, container security context, runAsNonRoot, runAsUser, readOnlyRootFilesystem, allowPrivilegeEscalation, capabilities drop, privileged containers, seccompProfile
Kubernetes Pod Disruption Budgets: zero-downtime operations during cluster maintenance
PodDisruptionBudget resource, minAvailable, maxUnavailable, voluntary vs involuntary disruptions, node drain, eviction API, PDB and rolling updates interaction, unhealthy pod eviction policy
Kubernetes resource quotas and LimitRanges: enforcing multi-tenant cluster policies
ResourceQuota definition, compute quotas, object count quotas, LimitRange defaults, default requests and limits, namespace-level enforcement, quota scope, exceeding quota behavior