Advanced Kubernetes Study Notes

Cluster Autoscaling

Learn how the Cluster Autoscaler adds and removes worker nodes so Pod-level autoscalers always have capacity to grow into.

Custom Resource Definitions

How CustomResourceDefinitions let you extend the Kubernetes API with your own resource types, including schema validation, versioning, and subresources.

DaemonSets Explained

How DaemonSets guarantee exactly one pod per matching node for node-level infrastructure like log collectors, monitoring agents, and CNI plugins.

Deployments In Depth

How Kubernetes Deployments manage ReplicaSets to deliver declarative rolling updates, rollbacks, and self-healing for stateless workloads.

Dynamic Provisioning

See how Kubernetes automatically creates storage volumes on demand via CSI provisioners instead of requiring admins to pre-create PVs.

etcd Explained

A focused look at etcd, the distributed key-value store that backs Kubernetes cluster state, covering Raft consensus, its data model, and operational best prac…

Helm Charts Explained

Helm is the package manager for Kubernetes, and charts are the templated bundles of manifests it installs, upgrades, and rolls back as a single versioned relea…

Horizontal Pod Autoscaling

Learn how Kubernetes automatically scales the number of Pod replicas in and out based on CPU, memory, and custom metrics.

Ingress Controllers

How Ingress resources describe HTTP routing rules and how Ingress controllers like NGINX, Traefik, and cloud ALB controllers actually fulfill them, including T…

Jobs and CronJobs

How Kubernetes Jobs run pods to completion for batch work, and how CronJobs schedule Jobs to run on a recurring time-based schedule.

Advanced Kubernetes Interview Questions

A study guide of advanced Kubernetes interview topics spanning scheduling internals, networking, RBAC, and operational judgment expected at senior and staff le…

The Kubernetes Control Plane In Depth

A deep dive into the components that make up the Kubernetes control plane—kube-apiserver, etcd, scheduler, and controller manager—and how they work together to…

The Kubernetes Networking Model

How Kubernetes guarantees flat, NAT-free Pod-to-Pod connectivity and how CNI plugins and kube-proxy implement that contract.

Kubernetes Operators Explained

What a Kubernetes Operator is, how it combines a CustomResourceDefinition with a controller to automate operational knowledge, and patterns for building one re…

Kubernetes RBAC

Role-Based Access Control governs who can do what to which Kubernetes resources, using Roles, ClusterRoles, and Bindings to enforce least privilege.

Kubernetes Troubleshooting

A systematic approach to diagnosing failing pods, networking issues, and cluster-level problems using kubectl, events, and logs as your primary evidence.

Network Policies

How Kubernetes NetworkPolicy locks down the default flat, open Pod network using default-deny baselines, selector-based rules, and CNI-dependent enforcement.

Node Affinity and Taints

Learn how node affinity pulls Pods toward specific nodes while taints and tolerations repel or dedicate nodes for specific workloads.

Observability in Kubernetes

Observability in Kubernetes combines metrics, logs, and traces to answer not just whether something is broken, but why, across ephemeral pods and dynamic sched…

Persistent Volumes and Claims

Learn how Kubernetes decouples storage provisioning from storage consumption using PersistentVolume and PersistentVolumeClaim objects.

Pod Disruption Budgets

How PodDisruptionBudgets protect application availability during voluntary disruptions like node drains, upgrades, and cluster autoscaler actions.

Resource Requests and Limits

Understand how Kubernetes uses requests for scheduling and limits for runtime enforcement, and how both determine a Pod's QoS class.

Service Mesh Basics with Istio

How Istio's sidecar-based service mesh delivers mutual TLS, traffic shaping, and observability transparently, covering its control/data plane split and key res…

Services In Depth

How Kubernetes Services provide stable virtual IPs over dynamic Pod sets, covering all four Service types, EndpointSlices, and headless Services.