The Roadmap to Learn Kubernetes
A 30-day actionable plan covering key concepts to focus on
Hey there 👋 - Amrut here!
Happy Sunday to all synced with The Tech Pulse!
Kubernetes, a.k.a. K8s, is one of the hottest skills to know and learn as a DevOps engineer.
Many of us face the challenge of managing complex applications efficiently, often grappling with issues like deployment scalability, operational complexities, and system downtime.
Kubernetes is a powerful solution to these problems, offering streamlined container orchestration and a robust framework for running distributed systems.
With platform engineering practices being adopted by many companies, the demand for professionals with Kubernetes skills will only rise.
In today’s newsletter issue, I will share a 30-day actionable & structured plan for someone beginning to learn Kubernetes.
I will cover the following:
brief description of the concept
key concepts to focus on
why learn the concept
what problem does the concept help you solve
application of the concept
I will also share helpful learning resources for you to get started.
The goal is to maximize your learning while minimizing the time, effort, and energy spent scouring and finding the concepts you need to learn and the resources you need to get there.
I hope you are excited!
Let’s dive in.
30-day Plan to Learn Kubernetes
Here’s a step-by-step plan to navigate you through the core concepts of Kubernetes:
Week 1: Introduction to Kubernetes & Core Concepts
Day 1-2: Introduction to Kubernetes
Description: Understand what Kubernetes is and what its role is in modern software deployment.
Key Concepts: Container Orchestration, Microservices.
Why Learn: To manage complex applications with ease.
Problem It Solves: Simplifies deployment, scaling, and operations of application containers.
Application: Read Kubernetes’ official documentation and familiarize yourself with its architecture.
Day 3-4: Kubernetes Architecture
Description: Learn about the components of Kubernetes.
Key Concepts: Nodes, Pods, Clusters, Control Plane.
Why Learn: It is essential to understand how Kubernetes manages containerized applications.
Problem It Solves: Provides a framework for running distributed systems.
Day 5-7: Pods and Containers
Description: Deep dive into Pods, the smallest deployable units in Kubernetes.
Key Concepts: Containers, Pods, Labels, and Selectors.
Why Learn: To understand the basic building block of Kubernetes applications.
Problem It Solves: Manages and communicates between containers in a cluster.
Application: Create and deploy a simple pod.
Week 2: Kubernetes Workloads & Services
Day 8-10: Deployments and ReplicaSets
Description: Manage stateless applications using Deployments and ReplicaSets.
Key Concepts: Deployments, ReplicaSets, Scaling.
Why Learn: To maintain and scale applications.
Problem It Solves: Ensures the desired number of pod replicas are running.
Application: Deploy an application with multiple replicas.
Day 11-12: Working with Services
Description: Explore Services to connect applications.
Key Concepts: Services, Network Policies.
Why Learn: To enable communication between different parts of an application.
Problem It Solves: Connects various components within and outside Kubernetes.
Application: Create a service to expose an application.
Day 13-14: Storage & Volumes
Description: Understand storage in Kubernetes.
Key Concepts: Volumes, Persistent Volumes (PV), Persistent Volume Claims (PVC).
Why Learn: To manage storage and data persistence.
Problem It Solves: Ensures data persists beyond the lifecycle of individual pods.
Application: Attach a volume to a pod.
Week 3: Advanced Topics in Kubernetes
Day 15-17: ConfigMaps and Secrets
Description: Manage application configurations and sensitive data.
Key Concepts: ConfigMaps, Secrets.
Why Learn: Essential for configuration and security.
Problem It Solves: Provides a way to inject configuration data into pods.
Application: Create and use a ConfigMap and Secret in an application.
Day 18-20: Kubernetes Networking
Description: Deep dive into Kubernetes networking.
Key Concepts: Cluster Networking, Ingress, Network Policies.
Why Learn: To understand how pods communicate.
Problem It Solves: Manages internal and external network traffic.
Application: Set up an Ingress controller and rules.
Day 21-23: Autoscaling
Description: Learn how Kubernetes supports application scaling.
Key Concepts: Horizontal Pod Autoscaler, Cluster Autoscaler.
Why Learn: To manage workload scaling dynamically.
Problem It Solves: Automatically scales applications based on usage.
Application: Implement autoscaling for an application.
Week 4: Maintenance, Monitoring & Best Practices
Day 24-25: Kubernetes Maintenance
Description: Learn about updating and maintaining Kubernetes.
Key Concepts: Rolling updates, Downtime, Canary Deployments.
Why Learn: For keeping applications up to date and reliable.
Problem It Solves: Ensures continuous deployment and availability.
Application: Perform a rolling update of an application.
Day 26-27: Monitoring and Logging
Description: Implement monitoring and logging.
Key Concepts: Prometheus, Grafana, Logging.
Why Learn: To keep track of applications’ health and performance.
Problem It Solves: Identifies issues before they affect the system.
Application: Set up basic monitoring with Prometheus and Grafana.
Day 28-29: Best Practices and Security
Description: Learn Kubernetes best practices and security.
Key Concepts: Security Context, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC).
Why Learn: To secure Kubernetes environments.
Problem It Solves: Protects clusters from vulnerabilities.
Application: Implement basic RBAC for a Kubernetes cluster.
Learning Resources To Get Started
Kubernetes Tutorial For Beginners
Kubernetes Blog
https://kubernetes.io/blog/
Prometheus Monitoring
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLy7NrYWoggjxCF3av5JKwyG7FFF9eLeL4
Grafana Tutorial
2 Tweets of the week
Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:
Are you thinking about getting certified as a Google Cloud Digital Leader? Here’s a link to my Udemy course, which has helped 464+ students prepare and pass the exam. Currently, rated 4.2/5. (link)
I have also published a book to help you prepare and pass the Google Cloud Digital Leader exam. You can check it out on Amazon. (link)
Course Recommendation: AWS Courses by Adrian Cantrill (Certified + Job Ready):
AWS Solutions Architect Associate (link)
AWS Developer Associate: (link)
ALL THE THINGS Bundle: (link)
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