Introduction to Kubernetes (K8s)
Kubernetes (often abbreviated as K8s) is an open-source container orchestration platform originally developed by Google and maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF).
Why K8s? While Docker allows you to run containers on a single host, Kubernetes manages hundreds or thousands of containerized microservices across a cluster of servers with automated scaling, self-healing, and zero-downtime rollouts.
Key Features of Kubernetes
Self-Healing
Automatically restarts failed containers, replaces unhealthy nodes, and reschedules pods when a node dies.
Horizontal Auto-Scaling
Scales container replicas up or down automatically based on CPU, RAM, or custom traffic metrics.
Automated Rollouts & Rollbacks
Deploys new application versions incrementally with zero downtime. Automatically rolls back if health checks fail.
Service Discovery & Load Balancing
Exposes containers via internal DNS names and distributes network traffic evenly across healthy pods.
Ready to Dive Deeper?
Explore Kubernetes Architecture: Control Plane (API Server, etcd, Scheduler) and Worker Nodes (Kubelet, Kube-proxy).
Next Lesson: Architecture & Control Plane →
