Kubernetes

Kubernetes manages containers, so you must be comfortable with Docker first.

Understanding cluster components tells you where to look when something breaks.

First practical step: run a cluster on your machine and talk to it with kubectl.

The Pod is the smallest unit; Deployments keep it healthy and update it safely.

Pod IPs change constantly — a Service gives them a stable address to reach.

Ingress routes external HTTP traffic to the right services inside the cluster.

Separate config and sensitive data from the image so one image runs anywhere.

Pods are ephemeral — you must persist database data beyond their lifetime.

Not every workload is a web server — there are batch, background, and one-off jobs.

In production the cluster must grow and shrink with load and place Pods correctly.

A wide-open cluster is a gift to attackers — you must control who can do what.

Instead of repeating dozens of YAML files, Helm packages your app into a reusable chart.

You can't fix what you can't see — monitor the cluster with metrics and logs.

In mature teams, cluster state is declared in Git and synced automatically.

When you need to extend Kubernetes itself, you write custom resources and operational logic.