What is Kubernetes ?

Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It’s essentially a platform that orchestrates clusters of virtual machines, scheduling containers to run on them based on resource availability. Kubernetes also automates operational tasks like rolling out changes, scaling up/down, and monitoring applications. 

Here’s a more detailed explanation:

What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is an open-source system that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It’s essentially a platform that orchestrates clusters of virtual machines, scheduling containers to run on them based on resource availability. Kubernetes also automates operational tasks like rolling out changes, scaling up/down, and monitoring applications. 

Components of Kubernetes

Containers: Kubernetes works with containerized applications. Containers package an application and its dependencies into a lightweight, portable environment, making it easier to deploy and manage across different systems.   Orchestration: Kubernetes orchestrates containers by managing their lifecycle, including deployment, scaling, and scaling back down. It also handles tasks like load balancing, automatic restarts, and fault tolerance.   Clusters: Kubernetes clusters consist of a group of computing nodes (or worker machines) that run containerized applications. 

Control Plane: A control plane manages the cluster, including tasks like scheduling containers, maintaining resource allocation, and monitoring the health of the cluster.   Pods: Containers within a Kubernetes cluster are grouped into pods, which are the basic unit of deployment.   Automated Tasks: Kubernetes automates many of the manual tasks involved in managing containerized applications, making it easier to deploy, scale, and manage applications at scale. 

Benefits: Using Kubernetes can lead to more resilient, scalable, and easily manageable applications, especially in complex, distributed environments.

Kubernetes Cluster Architecture

Component of a Cluster

  1. Control Plane:
    • API Server: Central management point
    • etcd: Cluster state database
    • Controller Manager: Maintains desired state
    • Scheduler: Places pods on nodes
  2. Worker Nodes:
    • Kubelet: Node agent
    • Container Runtime: Runs containers
    • Kube Proxy: Networking rules
    • Pods: Groups of containers
  3. External Access:
    • kubectl CLI: Command-line interface
    • Load Balancer: External traffic distribution
    • Ingress: HTTP/HTTPS routing
  4. Storage:
    • Persistent Volumes: Durable storage
  5. Networking:
    • CNI: Pod networking
    • Network Policies: Traffic rules

The arrows show the communication flow between components. For example:

  • All components communicate through the API Server
  • Kubelets on worker nodes report to API Server
  • Pods can access Persistent Volumes
  • Network policies control pod communication