Kubernetes administration
The complete administrator curriculum, arranged as nine sections you work one topic at a time — over sixty focused lessons. It opens with architecture and the core objects, builds through workloads, scheduling, networking, storage, and access control, then closes with observability, day-two operations, and a full troubleshooting method.
01Cluster architectureControl plane vs worker nodes, and the components on each.12 min02kubectl & the object modelThe client, the REST API, and imperative vs declarative.10 min03The API serverThe only front door, and the lifecycle of one request.12 min04etcd — the cluster storeThe single source of truth, and why it is guarded.10 min05Controllers & reconciliationThe loops that turn desired state into running pods.12 min06Kubelet & kube-proxyThe two agents that make a worker node useful.10 min07PodsThe unit of scheduling, and what a pod really is.12 min08ReplicaSetsKeeping N identical pods alive with a selector.10 min09DeploymentsVersioned rollouts and rollback over ReplicaSets.12 min10NamespacesVirtual clusters, and cross-namespace DNS names.8 min
01Rolling updates & rollbacksShipping a new version with no downtime, and undoing it.12 min02Deployment strategiesRollingUpdate vs Recreate, and blue/green in practice.10 min03Jobs & CronJobsRun-to-completion and scheduled batch work.10 min04Commands & argumentsENTRYPOINT and CMD, mapped onto a pod spec.10 min05ConfigMaps & environmentInjecting configuration as env vars and files.10 min06SecretsHow secrets differ from config, and their real limits.10 min07Init containersOrdered setup that must finish before the app starts.8 min08Multi-container patternsSidecar, ambassador, and adapter, and when to use them.12 min09Horizontal Pod AutoscalerScaling replicas on CPU, memory, or custom metrics.10 min
01How the scheduler places podsFilter then score: how a pod is assigned a node.12 min02Labels, selectors & annotationsThe glue behind almost every Kubernetes object.10 min03Manual schedulingnodeName, and what to do when no scheduler runs.8 min04Taints & tolerationsRepelling pods from nodes, and opting back in.12 min05Node affinity & selectorsAttracting pods to the right nodes.12 min06Pod affinity & anti-affinityPlacing pods relative to other pods.10 min07Topology spread & pod priorityEven spreading, and who wins under pressure.10 min08Requests, limits & QoSHow requests drive placement and eviction order.12 min09DaemonSetsOne pod per node, for agents and exporters.10 min10Static podsPods the kubelet runs directly, without the API.10 min11Multiple schedulers & profilesRunning and targeting custom scheduling logic.10 min
01The cluster network modelThe flat-network rules every CNI must honor.10 min02Pod networking & CNIHow a pod gets an IP, and what a CNI plugin does.12 min03ServicesStable identity and load balancing for pods.12 min04Service networking & kube-proxyFrom ClusterIP to an endpoint via iptables/IPVS.12 min05DNS & CoreDNSService and pod names, and how they resolve.10 min06IngressHTTP routing and TLS in front of Services.12 min07Gateway APIThe successor to Ingress, and why it exists.8 min
01Volumes & volume typesemptyDir, hostPath, and why pods need volumes.10 min02PersistentVolumes & claimsDecoupling a storage request from the storage.12 min03StorageClasses & provisioningDynamic provisioning and binding modes.10 min04Access modes & reclaim policyRWO/ROX/RWX, and what happens on delete.8 min05StatefulSets & stable storageStable identity and per-pod persistent volumes.12 min
01AuthenticationProving who a request is: certs, tokens, OIDC.10 min02TLS & certificatesThe PKI every component authenticates with.12 min03KubeConfigClusters, users, and contexts explained.8 min04Authorization & RBACRoles, bindings, and least privilege.12 min05Service accountsPod identity and the token that comes with it.10 min06Admission controllersThe gate that mutates and validates every write.10 min07Security contextsRunning non-root and dropping capabilities.10 min08Pod Security StandardsThe built-in baseline and restricted profiles.10 min09Network policiesDefault-deny and per-consumer allowlists.12 min
01Monitoring cluster componentsmetrics-server, kubectl top, and what to watch.10 min02Application logskubectl logs, streaming, and multi-container pods.8 min03Events & the event streamWhat the cluster is telling you, in order.8 min04Debugging running podsexec, port-forward, and ephemeral debug containers.10 min
01Node managementcordon, drain, and safely removing a node.10 min02OS upgrades & maintenancePatching a node host without dropping workloads.10 min03Releases & version skewWhat a release contains and how far components may drift.8 min04Upgrading a clusterThe kubeadm upgrade sequence, in order.12 min05Backup & restoreetcd snapshots and an offline restore.12 min
01A troubleshooting methodWorking outside-in, and stopping at the first no.8 min02Application failureWorking a broken app from Service down to pod.10 min03Control-plane failureWhen the API server or a controller is down.12 min04Worker-node failureNotReady nodes and the kubelet.10 min05Network troubleshootingDNS, kube-proxy, and CNI checks in order.10 min
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Final exam
Test yourself on everything
130 questions drawn from all 9 sections — every answer explained as you pick.