Kubernetes Fundamentals
Control Plane Foundations
Install, back up, and reason about apiserver, etcd, and scheduler behavior without guesswork.
Program narrative
This bootcamp opens with a production-shaped lab where you provision a small HA-style control plane, capture manifests, and rehearse certificate rotation paths. You learn how admission hooks shape requests, how to read controller-manager logs when sync drifts, and how to document operational runbooks your teammates can reuse. The week closes with a tabletop incident where one control plane node misbehaves and you isolate the fault using only kubectl, journal units, and etcd metrics.
Inclusions
- apiserver flags, secure ports, and aggregation layers
- etcd member health, defragmentation planning, and backup drills
- Scheduler predicates, priorities, and debugging pending pods
- Cloud controller touchpoints without vendor lock-in storytelling
- Quality standards checklists for change windows
- Handoffs to platform teams with crisp evidence bundles
Outcomes you can evidence
- Produce a stamped runbook for a control plane change
- Restore etcd from snapshot into an isolated namespace rehearsal
- Explain scheduler decisions with events and metrics in plain language
Common questions
No. Labs run on shared cloud capacity we operate. You receive credentials and teardown rules; bring your own editor and SSH client only.
From our cohorts
“The admission control lab finally made mutating webhooks feel predictable. I still reuse the worksheet from day two when onboarding interns.”
“Dense mornings, but the etcd backup drill was the first time I trusted my own restore notes.”