21 Hands-on Practical Activities to master Kubernetes (Concepts and practical skills)

Foundational Concepts

1. Kubernetes Architecture Deep-Dive:

• Manually install a small Kubernetes cluster (Minikube or Kind are good options).
• Dissect the components: kube-apiserver, kube-scheduler, kube-controller-manager, etcd, kubelet, kube-proxy.
• Explore how they interact during pod creation, scheduling, etc.

2. YAML Manifests Mastery:

• Create pods, deployments, services, and other core resources entirely by writing YAML manifests. Avoid using kubectl create initially.
• Configure resource requests and limits.
• Understand different service types (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer).

3. Networking Exploration:

• Set up pod-to-pod communication within the cluster.
• Practice exposing pods to the external world using services.
• Explore Ingress objects for more complex traffic routing.

Imperative Commands & Troubleshooting

4. kubectl Proficiency:

• Practice imperative commands: kubectl get, describe, create, apply, delete, explain (for in-depth object descriptions).
• Master log retrieval: kubectl logs
• Learn to view live events: kubectl get events

5. Debugging Scenarios:

• Intentionally introduce errors in manifests and practice troubleshooting.
• Simulate pod failures, node unavailability, network issues.
• Learn to use kubectl exec to enter containers for live debugging.

Cluster Configuration & Maintenance

6. RBAC Practice:

• Set up users, roles, and role bindings.
• Experiment with fine-grained access control.

7. Namespaces for Organization:

• Create multiple namespaces and practice resource isolation.
• Allocate resource quotas to namespaces for fair usage.

8. ConfigMaps and Secrets:

• Inject environment variables and configuration files using ConfigMaps.
• Properly handle sensitive data using Secrets.

9. Storage Management:

• Practice using Persistent Volumes (PVs) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVCs).
• Explore different storage classes (especially on cloud platforms).

10. Upgrades and Updates:

• Simulate control plane upgrades (on tools like Minikube or Kind).
• Practice rolling updates of deployments to maintain service availability.

Advanced Topics

11. Helm Exploration:

• Install and use Helm charts to deploy complex applications.
• Learn to customize Helm charts.

12. StatefulSets:

• Deploy applications requiring persistent storage and stable ordering (e.g., databases).
• Understand the differences between StatefulSets and Deployments.

13. Jobs and CronJobs:

• Schedule one-off tasks with Jobs.
• Create recurring tasks using CronJobs.

14. Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs):

• Understand the principle of extending Kubernetes with CRDs.
• Explore Operators (built on CRDs) for managing complex applications.

CKA Specific Practice

1. Cluster Creation:

• Set up a multi-node cluster using kubeadm or other provisioning tools (consider cloud-based setups like GKE, EKS, or AKS for broader experience).

2. Networking:

• Understand different service types (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer).
• Practice configuring Ingress controllers to expose applications externally.

3. Storage:

• Create Persistent Volumes (PV), Persistent Volume Claims (PVC), and use them in your deployments.
• Experiment with dynamic volume provisioning if your cluster provider supports it.

4. Security:

• Implement pod security policies and practice setting resource limits and requests.
• Explore Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to manage user permissions.

5. Scheduling Workloads:

• Utilize node selectors, labels, taints, tolerations, and affinities/anti-affinities to influence how pods are scheduled.

6. Backing up and Restoring:

• Learn to use tools like etcdctl for taking backups of your cluster's state
• Practice restoring a cluster from a backup.

7. Upgrading:

• Experiment with control plane and worker node upgrades while adhering to version skew policies.
  
  
  

Important Tips:

• Practice Environment: Use a hands-on environment like Minikube, Kind, or a cloud provider's Kubernetes service (EKS, AKS, GKE).
• Documentation is your friend: Get comfortable using the Kubernetes documentation (https://kubernetes.io/docs/).
• Practice, Practice, Practice: The exam is heavily hands-on, so consistent practice is essential.

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