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Kubernetes Curriculum
Kubernetes Overview
Introduction
Core Concepts
Networking
Configuration
Storage
Workloads
Security
Scheduling and Scaling
Observability
Package Management
Upgrades and Maintenance
Advanced Storage
Network Policies
TLS and Certificate Management
Ingress Controllers
Service Mesh
Admission Controllers
Hardening and CIS Benchmarks
Secrets Management
GitOps and Advanced Ops
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What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes (K8s) is the industry standard open-source system for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. Originally designed by Google and maintained by the CNCF, Kubernetes treats a pool of compute nodes as a single unified cluster.

Kubernetes Cluster Architecture

A production Kubernetes cluster consists of a Control Plane (managing state and decisions) and Worker Nodes (running container workloads):

Diagram

Key Benefits

  • Self-Healing: Automatically restarts containers that fail, replaces pods when nodes die, and kills non-responsive containers.
  • Horizontal Auto-Scaling: Scales applications up and down based on CPU, memory, or custom Prometheus metrics.
  • Declarative GitOps Management: Define desired cluster state in YAML manifests managed via Git repositories.

Complete Curriculum Roadmap

This comprehensive handbook covers the entire Kubernetes engineering lifecycle across 20 structured modules:

Module 1: Introduction

  • What is Kubernetes: What Is Kubernetes, Kubernetes Vs Docker Swarm, Kubernetes In Devops, Kubernetes Use Cases
  • Kubernetes Architecture: Cluster Architecture, Control Plane Components, Worker Node Components, Etcd Overview, Api Server

→ Explore Introduction

Module 2: Core Concepts

  • Pods: What Is A Pod, Pod Lifecycle, Multi Container Pods, Pod Yaml Structure, Init Containers
  • Namespaces: What Are Namespaces, Creating Namespaces, Resource Isolation, Namespace Best Practices
  • Labels and Selectors: What Are Labels, Label Selectors, Annotations, Labels Best Practices

→ Explore Core Concepts

Module 3: Networking

  • Kubernetes Networking Basics: Networking Overview, Pod To Pod Communication, Cluster Networking Model, Cni Plugins
  • Services: What Is A Service, Clusterip, Nodeport, Loadbalancer, Externalname, Headless Services
  • DNS in Kubernetes: Kube Dns Overview, Service Discovery, Dns For Pods, Custom Dns

→ Explore Networking

Module 4: Configuration

  • ConfigMaps: What Are Configmaps, Creating Configmaps, Using Configmaps In Pods, Configmap As Volume
  • Secrets: What Are Secrets, Creating Secrets, Using Secrets In Pods, Secrets Best Practices, External Secrets Operator
  • Resource Management: Resource Requests, Resource Limits, Limit Ranges, Resource Quotas

→ Explore Configuration

Module 5: Storage

  • Storage Basics: Storage Overview, Volumes In Kubernetes, Volume Types, Emptydir Volume, Hostpath Volume
  • Persistent Storage: Persistent Volumes, Persistent Volume Claims, Storage Classes, Dynamic Provisioning, Access Modes
  • StatefulSets and Storage: Statefulset Storage, Volumeclaimtemplates, Stateful App Patterns

→ Explore Storage

Module 6: Workloads

  • Deployments: What Is A Deployment, Creating Deployments, Rolling Updates, Rollback Strategies, Deployment Strategies
  • ReplicaSets: What Is A Replicaset, Replicaset Vs Deployment, Scaling Replicasets
  • StatefulSets: What Is A Statefulset, Statefulset Vs Deployment, Ordered Deployment, Statefulset Use Cases
  • DaemonSets: What Is A Daemonset, Daemonset Use Cases, Daemonset Rolling Updates
  • Jobs and CronJobs: What Is A Job, Job Patterns, What Is A Cronjob, Cronjob Best Practices, Cronjob Troubleshooting

→ Explore Workloads

Module 7: Security

  • Kubernetes Security Basics: Security Overview, Kubernetes Attack Surface, Security Best Practices
  • RBAC: What Is Rbac, Roles And Clusterroles, Rolebindings, Service Accounts, Rbac Best Practices
  • Pod Security: Security Context, Pod Security Standards, Pod Security Admission, Non Root Containers, Read Only Filesystem
  • Network Policies: What Are Network Policies, Ingress Rules, Egress Rules, Default Deny Policy, Network Policy Examples

→ Explore Security

Module 8: Scheduling and Scaling

  • Scheduling: Kubernetes Scheduler, Node Selector, Node Affinity, Pod Affinity Antiaffinity, Taints And Tolerations
  • Horizontal Pod Autoscaler: What Is Hpa, Configuring Hpa, Hpa With Custom Metrics, Hpa Best Practices
  • Vertical Pod Autoscaler: What Is Vpa, Configuring Vpa, Vpa Vs Hpa
  • Cluster Autoscaler: What Is Cluster Autoscaler, Configuring Cluster Autoscaler, Cluster Autoscaler On Aws, Autoscaler Best Practices

→ Explore Scheduling and Scaling

Module 9: Observability

  • Logging: Logging Architecture, Node Level Logging, Cluster Level Logging, Fluentd Setup, Elk Stack Integration
  • Monitoring: Monitoring Overview, Metrics Server, Prometheus Setup, Grafana Dashboards, Alertmanager
  • Tracing: Distributed Tracing Overview, Jaeger Setup, Opentelemetry

→ Explore Observability

Module 10: Package Management

  • Helm Basics: What Is Helm, Helm Architecture, Installing Helm, Helm Commands
  • Helm Charts: What Is A Chart, Chart Structure, Values Yaml, Chart Templates, Template Functions
  • Helm in Practice: Installing Charts, Upgrading Releases, Rollback With Helm, Creating Custom Charts, Helm Repositories

→ Explore Package Management

Module 11: Upgrades and Maintenance

  • Cluster Upgrades: Kubernetes Version Updates, Control Plane Upgrade, Worker Node Upgrade, Cluster Upgrade On Eks, Upgrade Testing And Rollback
  • Node Maintenance: Node Drain And Cordon, Pod Disruption Budgets, Graceful Shutdown, Node Maintenance Workflow
  • etcd Management: Etcd Basics, Etcd Backup, Etcd Restore, Etcd Troubleshooting

→ Explore Upgrades and Maintenance

Module 12: Advanced Storage

  • Storage Classes in Depth: Storage Class Parameters, Reclaim Policies, Custom Storage Classes
  • CSI Drivers: What Is Csi, Aws Ebs Csi Driver, Aws Efs Csi Driver, Csi Driver Installation
  • Volume Snapshots: Volume Snapshot Overview, Creating Snapshots, Restoring From Snapshot

→ Explore Advanced Storage

Module 13: Network Policies

  • Advanced Network Policies: Calico Network Policies, Cilium Network Policies, Namespace Isolation, Micro Segmentation
  • Service Mesh Basics: What Is A Service Mesh, Istio Overview, Linkerd Overview, Service Mesh Use Cases

→ Explore Network Policies

Module 14: TLS and Certificate Management

  • TLS in Kubernetes: Tls Overview, Kubernetes Certificates, Creating Tls Secrets
  • Cert Manager: What Is Cert Manager, Installing Cert Manager, Lets Encrypt Integration, Certificate Issuers, Automatic Certificate Renewal

→ Explore TLS and Certificate Management

Module 15: Ingress Controllers

  • Ingress Basics: What Is Ingress, Ingress Vs Service, Ingress Rules, Ingress Annotations
  • Nginx Ingress Controller: Installing Nginx Ingress, Nginx Configuration, Tls With Nginx Ingress, Rate Limiting
  • AWS ALB Ingress Controller: What Is Aws Load Balancer Controller, Installing Alb Controller, Alb Ingress Configuration, Target Group Binding

→ Explore Ingress Controllers

Module 16: Service Mesh

  • Istio: Istio Architecture, Installing Istio, Virtual Services, Destination Rules, Traffic Management
  • Istio Security: Mutual Tls, Authorization Policies, Peer Authentication
  • Istio Observability: Istio Metrics, Kiali Dashboard, Distributed Tracing With Istio

→ Explore Service Mesh

Module 17: Admission Controllers

  • Admission Controllers Basics: What Are Admission Controllers, Validating Webhooks, Mutating Webhooks, Built In Admission Controllers
  • OPA and Gatekeeper: What Is Opa, Installing Gatekeeper, Constraint Templates, Writing Policies, Policy Examples
  • Kyverno: What Is Kyverno, Installing Kyverno, Kyverno Policies, Kyverno Vs Opa

→ Explore Admission Controllers

Module 18: Hardening and CIS Benchmarks

  • Kubernetes Hardening: Hardening Overview, Api Server Hardening, Etcd Hardening, Kubelet Hardening
  • CIS Benchmarks: Cis Kubernetes Benchmark, Kube Bench, Remediating Failures
  • Runtime Security: Falco Overview, Installing Falco, Falco Rules

→ Explore Hardening and CIS Benchmarks

Module 19: Secrets Management

  • Kubernetes Secrets in Depth: Secrets Encryption At Rest, Sealed Secrets, Secrets Store Csi Driver
  • Vault Integration: Vault Overview, Vault Agent Injector, Vault Csi Provider, Dynamic Secrets With Vault
  • AWS Secrets in Kubernetes: Aws Secrets Manager Integration, Aws Ssm Parameter Store, Irsa For Secrets

→ Explore Secrets Management

Module 20: GitOps and Advanced Ops

  • GitOps Basics: Gitops Principles, Push Vs Pull Deployment, Gitops Tools Overview
  • ArgoCD: What Is Argocd, Installing Argocd, Argocd Applications, Argocd Sync Policies, Argocd Rbac, App Of Apps Pattern
  • FluxCD: What Is Fluxcd, Installing Flux, Flux Kustomization, Flux Helm Releases, Flux Vs Argocd
  • Advanced Operations: Multi Cluster Management, Disaster Recovery, Kubernetes Backup With Velero, Cost Optimization, Kubernetes Troubleshooting

→ Explore GitOps and Advanced Ops

Next Module→Introduction