Kubernetes in Practice Course Syllabus

Overview: This hands-on course guides you through Kubernetes fundamentals to advanced operations using real-world scenarios. Over approximately 8 weeks, you'll spend 6-8 hours per week learning core concepts and completing practical labs. Each module builds on the previous one, culminating in a final project that tests your ability to deploy, secure, and monitor containerized applications in a production-like environment.

Module 1: Kubernetes Fundamentals & Cluster Setup

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Kubernetes architecture: control plane vs. worker nodes
• Understanding etcd, API server, scheduler, and kubelet
• Using kubectl for cluster interaction
• Provisioning a local cluster with Minikube and Kind
• Deploying a basic 'Hello World' Pod

Module 2: Managing Pods & Deployments

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Pod lifecycle and container lifecycle hooks
• ReplicaSets and their role in ensuring availability
• Deployment strategies: Recreate and RollingUpdate
• Performing rolling updates and rollbacks

Module 3: Services & Networking

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Service types: ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer
• DNS resolution inside the cluster
• Ingress resources and routing rules
• Configuring an NGINX Ingress controller

Module 4: Configuration & Secrets Management

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Using ConfigMaps to inject configuration data
• Managing sensitive data with Secrets
• Environment variable vs. volume mounts
• Securing database credentials in Pods

Module 5: Stateful Workloads & Storage

Estimated time: 7 hours

• PersistentVolumes and PersistentVolumeClaims
• StorageClasses for dynamic provisioning
• StatefulSets for stable networking and storage
• Deploying MySQL with StatefulSets

Module 6: Scaling & Auto-Scaling

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Manual scaling of Deployments
• Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) based on CPU and memory
• Cluster Autoscaler basics
• Load-testing and observing auto-scaling behavior

Module 7: Security & Access Control

Estimated time: 7 hours

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) fundamentals
• Creating Roles, RoleBindings, and ServiceAccounts
• Enforcing network policies with NetworkPolicies
• PodSecurityPolicies for security enforcement

Module 8: Observability & Troubleshooting

Estimated time: 8 hours

• Collecting logs using kubectl logs
• Setting up Prometheus for metrics collection
• Visualizing metrics with Grafana dashboards
• Debugging failing Pods using kubectl debug

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with containerization concepts (e.g., Docker)
• Basic understanding of Linux command-line operations
• Experience with YAML configuration files

What You'll Be Able to Do After

• Deploy and manage containerized applications on Kubernetes clusters
• Configure networking and load balancing using Services and Ingress
• Manage configuration and secrets securely across environments
• Implement stateful applications with persistent storage
• Secure clusters using RBAC, NetworkPolicies, and observability tools