Part 1: Get to know Kubernetes architecture
Kubernetes has gained popularity in recent years, but why has it become so prevalent?
Kubernetes excels at providing a platform for your applications to scale on. Everything is built from the ground up to give you and your apps the flexibility to scale up or down. Kubernetes provides abstractions to let you do this whether you're running Kubernetes on your local machine, or if you're running it in Azure with hundreds of nodes.
Kubernetes is built with scale in mind. If you aren't planning on running multiple copies of your application, it's probably not worth creating a new Kubernetes cluster just to host it. That being said, running your application in Kubernetes (and containers in general) forces you to think about how to keep your operating system (OS) state consistent, and dissuades you from fixing issues in nonreplicable ways. This tends to lead you to a more stable, replicable system.
If you've never tried Kubernetes, we recommend jumping in and trying it for yourself. There are multiple free, easy-to-use ways to run Kubernetes on your local machine, which will help you get a feel for its use. The following projects are all excellent ways to start with Kubernetes:
The first part of this white paper will help you understand everything you need to know about Kubernetes, whether you've never tried it before, or you want to extend your knowledge. It will cover:
- Understanding the Kubernetes basics
- Managing your configurations
- Managing day-2 operations
- Maintaining observability