The Kubernetes Fundamentals domain in my KCNA study notes covers the architecture and core resources at a conceptual level - this series goes one layer deeper, into the actual objects and kubectl commands behind those concepts.

This series is the companion to Docker Fundamentals, one level up the stack - it assumes that Docker layer (containers, images, the container runtime) and builds the Kubernetes object model on top of it. A throwaway cluster (minikube, kind, or a Killercoda sandbox) is the only prerequisite; none of this needs a managed cloud Kubernetes service to follow along.

The series

Chapter 1 - Kubernetes Architecture

The control plane and node components - kube-apiserver, etcd, kubelet, the controller manager, and the scheduler - and what each is actually responsible for.

Chapter 2 - kubectl and Pods

Installing kubectl, the imperative vs declarative split, and Pod commands - the building block every other object sits on top of.

Chapter 3 - Workload Controllers

ReplicationController, ReplicaSet, and Deployment - why each superseded the last, and rollout/rollback in practice.

Chapter 4 - Namespaces and Resource Quotas

Isolating workloads with namespaces, cross-namespace service discovery, and capping CPU/memory per namespace with ResourceQuota.

Chapter 5 - Scheduling

How the scheduler actually places Pods, and the four mechanisms for influencing it - taints and tolerations, node selectors, node affinity, and resource limits - plus DaemonSets and static Pods.

Chapter 6 - Security

Authentication mechanisms, and how the cluster’s own TLS certificate chain (CA, admin, scheduler, controller-manager, kube-proxy, etcd, API server) is built by hand.

Chapter 7 - Services

Exposing a Deployment beyond the cluster - all five Service types, ClusterIP through Headless, each with real verification steps.

Each chapter’s declarative YAML reference uses the same nginx-based myapp Pod in a dev namespace, so that part drops into the next chapter without translation. Hands-on walkthroughs use plainer standalone examples instead, where a simpler name makes the steps easier to follow. Imperative and declarative forms are shown side by side throughout; kubectl apply is explained once, in Chapter 2, and referenced rather than re-explained in later chapters.

Notes

  1. For the exam-level view of why these pieces exist, the KCNA study notes’s Kubernetes Fundamentals and Container Orchestration domains cover both.
  2. Docker Fundamentals is the prerequisite if containers and images themselves are still unfamiliar - this series starts from “you can already run a container” and builds up.
  3. Next: Chapter 1 - Kubernetes Architecture.