Learn Kubernetes from scratch: architecture, Pods, Deployments, Services, ConfigMaps, Secrets, storage, namespaces, resource management, Helm, and monitoring — with hands-on kubectl examples and quizzes.
40 lessons in this tutorial
Learn what Kubernetes is, why it exists, and how it solves container orchestration at scale with real-world examples.
Understand the control plane, worker nodes, and the end-to-end request flow that turns a kubectl command into a running pod.
Compare local and managed Kubernetes options so you can choose the right environment for learning, testing, or production.
Set up Minikube on macOS, Linux, or Windows and learn the core commands for starting, inspecting, and stopping your local cluster.
Use kind to spin up single-node and multi-node Kubernetes clusters inside Docker for fast testing and learning.
Install kubectl on macOS, Linux, or Windows, verify it works, and understand how kubeconfig connects the CLI to a cluster.
Learn how kubectl fits into Kubernetes workflows and when to use imperative commands versus declarative manifests.
Inspect pods, nodes, deployments, and services with kubectl get and use describe output to understand object behavior and events.
Create, update, compare, and remove Kubernetes resources using both declarative manifests and imperative helper commands.
Debug running containers, stream logs, inspect previous crashes, and forward local ports into the cluster.
Understand kubeconfig structure, switch safely between clusters, and scope kubectl commands with namespaces.
Understand what a Pod is, why Kubernetes schedules pods instead of raw containers, and how containers share networking and storage inside a pod.
Learn the anatomy of Pod YAML and understand the purpose of apiVersion, kind, metadata, labels, annotations, and the spec section.
Understand pod phases, container states, restart policies, and what Kubernetes does when pods or nodes fail.
Learn when multiple containers should share a pod, including sidecar, ambassador, adapter, and init container patterns.
Use liveness, readiness, and startup probes to help Kubernetes know when your containers are healthy and ready for traffic.
Learn why Deployments are the standard way to run stateless applications and how they manage ReplicaSets and pods.
Write a Deployment manifest, apply it, inspect rollout status, scale replicas, and understand selector mechanics.
Learn how Deployments replace old pods gradually, what maxSurge and maxUnavailable do, and how old ReplicaSets support safe transitions.
Inspect Deployment revision history, undo rollouts, annotate change causes, and pause or resume updates safely.
Understand why Services exist, how selectors connect them to pods, and how stable networking hides pod churn.
Learn the default internal Service type, when to use it, and how DNS and endpoints make in-cluster communication reliable.
Expose a Service on a fixed port across every node and understand how traffic flows from outside the cluster to pods.
Learn how LoadBalancer Services provision cloud load balancers, what EXTERNAL-IP means, and when they are a better fit than NodePort.
Route HTTP and HTTPS traffic into your cluster with Ingress rules, controllers, TLS termination, and host or path based routing.
Learn why configuration should live outside images and how ConfigMaps and Secrets help separate code from runtime settings.
Create ConfigMaps from literals, files, or YAML and use them as environment variables or mounted configuration files.
Store passwords, tokens, image pull credentials, and TLS material with Kubernetes Secrets while understanding their security limits.
Compare ephemeral and persistent storage options and understand how Kubernetes separates application pods from durable data.
Understand the PV and PVC model, access modes, reclaim policies, and how a pod mounts durable storage through a claim.
Use StorageClasses for dynamic provisioning and learn how provisioners, reclaim policies, and volume binding modes affect storage behavior.
Organize cluster resources with namespaces, understand built-in namespaces, and apply quotas and limits for multi-team environments.
Learn why CPU and memory requests and limits matter before diving into quotas, QoS classes, and autoscaling.
Set CPU and memory requests and limits, understand throttling and OOM kills, and learn how QoS classes affect pod behavior.
Scale Deployments automatically based on CPU or memory metrics and understand how HPA works with metrics-server.
Understand Helm charts, releases, and repositories so you can package and install Kubernetes applications more efficiently.
Install Helm on macOS, Linux, or Windows and learn the basic commands for repositories, releases, and uninstalling charts.
Explore chart structure, template syntax, built-in objects, and commands that help you render and lint Helm templates.
Override chart values, understand values precedence, and manage release upgrades and rollbacks safely with Helm.
Build a mental model for observing cluster health with metrics-server, Prometheus, Grafana, logging stacks, and alerting components.