30 Days Plan To Master Kubernetes

Day 1: Kubernetes Architecture

Understand the fundamental components of Kubernetes architecture including control plane and worker nodes.

Learn about API Server, etcd, Scheduler, and Controller Manager
Understand kubelet, kube-proxy, and container runtime
Study the communication flow between components
Get familiar with the Kubernetes object model
Set up a local development environment

Day 2: Core Principles

Learn key Kubernetes concepts like declarative configuration and desired state management.

Understand the declarative vs imperative approaches
Study the reconciliation loop and how controllers work
Learn about resource definitions and YAML structure
Practice declaring resources with kubectl apply
Explore namespace organization and resource scoping

Day 3: Kubectl Command Basics

Master essential kubectl commands to interact with your Kubernetes cluster.

Get comfortable with create, get, describe, and delete commands
Learn to read and interpret logs with kubectl logs
Practice troubleshooting with kubectl describe
Understand context switching between clusters
Set up kubectl aliases and autocompletion

Day 4: Pods

Create and manage Pods, the smallest deployable units in Kubernetes.

Understand Pod lifecycle and restart policies
Configure resource requests and limits
Learn about multi-container Pod patterns
Implement health checks (liveness and readiness probes)
Practice debugging Pod issues

Day 5: ReplicaSets

Implement ReplicaSets to maintain a stable set of Pod replicas running at any given time.

Learn how ReplicaSets ensure high availability
Configure selector and template sections
Practice scaling ReplicaSets up and down
Understand Pod template updates limitations
Implement ReplicaSet cleanup policies

Day 6: Deployments

Use Deployments for application lifecycle management and higher-level abstractions.

Configure rolling updates and rollback strategies
Implement zero-downtime deployments
Practice Deployment scaling and pausing
Learn about Deployment history and revision management
Create blue-green and canary deployment patterns

Day 7: Services

Configure networking with Services to expose applications and enable discovery.

Understand ClusterIP, NodePort, and LoadBalancer types
Implement service discovery and DNS resolution
Configure headless Services for direct Pod access
Practice setting up external access to applications
Troubleshoot common Service connectivity issues

Day 8: Ingress Basics

Set up external access to Services with Ingress resources and controllers.

Install and configure an Ingress controller
Implement host-based and path-based routing
Configure TLS termination and HTTPS access
Set up name-based virtual hosting
Practice debugging Ingress configurations

Day 9: ConfigMaps

Implement application configuration using ConfigMaps to decouple config from images.

Create ConfigMaps from files, directories, and literals
Mount ConfigMaps as volumes in Pods
Use ConfigMaps as environment variables
Understand ConfigMap update behavior
Implement application reloading upon config changes

Day 10: Secrets

Securely manage sensitive information like passwords with Kubernetes Secrets.

Create different Secret types (generic, TLS, docker-registry)
Mount Secrets as files or environment variables
Understand Secret encoding and encryption
Implement Secret rotation practices
Configure external Secret management solutions

Day 11: PersistentVolumes

Understand persistent storage concepts with PersistentVolumes for data that survives Pod lifecycles.

Configure storage classes and provisioners
Implement static and dynamic provisioning
Understand access modes and reclaim policies
Practice creating PersistentVolumes with different backends
Learn about storage security considerations

Day 12: PersistentVolumeClaims

Learn to request storage by creating PersistentVolumeClaims.

Understand PVC binding and allocation
Configure storage requests and class selection
Implement volume expansion
Practice Pod access to claimed storage
Troubleshoot PVC binding issues

Day 13: StatefulSets

Deploy and manage stateful applications using StatefulSets with stable network identities.

Understand ordered Pod creation and deletion
Configure persistent storage for StatefulSets
Implement headless Services for direct Pod addressing
Practice StatefulSet scaling and updates
Deploy a simple stateful application

Day 14: Running Databases in Kubernetes

Apply StatefulSets concepts to deploy database workloads for deeper persistence.

Understand database requirements in containerized environments
Configure high-availability database clusters
Implement backup and restore procedures
Practice database performance tuning in Kubernetes
Learn about operators for database management

Day 15: DaemonSets

Deploy system daemons and background services on all or specific nodes.

Understand DaemonSet use cases and patterns
Configure node affinity and tolerations
Implement rolling updates for DaemonSets
Practice deploying monitoring agents
Learn about DaemonSet limitations and alternatives

Day 16: Jobs

Schedule one-time tasks in your cluster with the Jobs controller.

Configure parallelism and completions
Implement job timeouts and retries
Create batch processing workflows
Practice job cleanup and history management
Understand job dependencies and orchestration

Day 17: CronJobs

Implement recurring scheduled tasks using CronJobs with cron-like syntax.

Master cron schedule expressions
Configure concurrency policies
Implement history limits and cleanup
Practice CronJob monitoring and logging
Understand timezone considerations

Day 18: Health Checks

Implement comprehensive application health monitoring with probes.

Configure liveness, readiness, and startup probes
Understand HTTP, TCP, and command-based probes
Implement proper timing and thresholds
Practice graceful termination handling
Create holistic health check strategies

Day 19: Resource Management

Master resource requests and limits to ensure optimal scheduling and utilization.

Configure CPU and memory limits
Implement namespace resource quotas
Understand Quality of Service (QoS) classes
Practice monitoring resource usage
Implement limits and requests best practices

Day 20: Labels and Annotations

Organize cluster resources with metadata using Labels and Annotations.

Create consistent labeling strategies
Implement label selectors for resource grouping
Use annotations for non-identifying information
Practice querying resources by labels
Learn about recommended label schemas

Day 21: Namespaces

Create virtual clusters within a physical cluster using Namespaces.

Implement resource isolation with namespaces
Configure resource quotas per namespace
Understand cross-namespace communication
Practice multi-tenant cluster management
Set up namespace defaults and limits

Day 22: RBAC

Implement Role-Based Access Control for securing your Kubernetes cluster.

Create Roles and ClusterRoles with appropriate permissions
Bind roles to users and groups with RoleBindings
Configure ServiceAccounts for Pod identity
Implement the principle of least privilege
Practice auditing and reviewing RBAC policies

Day 23: Network Policies

Secure Pod communication with Network Policies for fine-grained access control.

Configure ingress and egress rules
Implement namespace isolation
Create policies based on labels and CIDR blocks
Test and validate network restrictions
Practice troubleshooting connectivity issues

Day 24: Security Context

Configure Pod and container security settings to enhance your security posture.

Set user and group IDs for containers
Implement privilege and capability restrictions
Configure read-only root filesystems
Implement seccomp and AppArmor profiles
Practice security context inheritance and overrides

Day 25: Cluster Monitoring

Set up comprehensive monitoring with Prometheus and other tools.

Deploy the Prometheus stack
Configure metrics collection for cluster components
Create custom metrics for applications
Set up dashboards with Grafana
Implement alerting and notification systems

Day 26: Logging Architecture

Implement centralized logging solutions for your Kubernetes cluster.

Set up the EFK/ELK stack (Elasticsearch, Fluentd/Fluent Bit, Kibana)
Configure log collection from applications
Implement log rotation and retention policies
Create useful log queries and visualizations
Practice troubleshooting using logs

Day 27: Helm

Package and deploy applications using Helm charts.

Understand Chart structure and templating
Create custom Helm charts
Manage releases and upgrades
Implement hooks and tests
Practice chart repository management

Day 28: Custom Resources

Extend Kubernetes API with Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs).

Create custom resources and controllers
Implement validation schemas
Understand the Operator pattern
Deploy an existing operator
Practice building a simple custom controller

Day 29: Horizontal Pod Autoscaling

Implement dynamic scaling based on metrics.

Configure CPU and memory-based autoscaling
Set up custom metrics for advanced scaling
Understand scaling behavior and algorithms
Practice testing autoscaling under load
Implement vertical pod autoscaling

Day 30: Cluster Maintenance

Perform safe node maintenance and prepare for cluster upgrades.

Practice node draining and cordoning
Implement backup and restore procedures for etcd
Plan and execute cluster upgrades
Troubleshoot common cluster issues
Create a disaster recovery plan