Kubernetes Architecture

In this lesson, you’ll get a concise overview of Kubernetes architecture and its core concepts. While Kubernetes is a vast ecosystem—entire courses cover every detail—this guide focuses on the essentials you need to understand how Kubernetes runs and scales containerized applications.

Docker vs. Kubernetes

Docker and Kubernetes often appear together, but they serve different purposes:

Docker provides a container runtime for packaging and running individual containers.
Kubernetes is an orchestration system that automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications across a cluster.

Kubernetes supports multiple container runtimes. While Docker is the most common, you can also use CRI-O or containerd via the Container Runtime Interface (CRI).

1. Nodes and Cluster

A node is a physical or virtual machine that runs containerized workloads. You group multiple nodes into a cluster to achieve high availability and fault tolerance. If one node fails, other nodes continue serving your application.

The image shows a diagram of a cluster with three nodes, each containing a Redis icon and a Kubernetes symbol, alongside a person standing to the right.

2. Control Plane Components

The control plane (formerly called “master”) runs components that maintain the cluster’s desired state:

The image shows a diagram of Kubernetes components, including API Server, etcd, kubelet, Scheduler, Controller, and Container Runtime, with a person standing on the right side.

Component	Role
API Server	The cluster’s front end. All CLI (`kubectl`), UI, and internal requests go through it.
etcd	A highly available key-value store for all cluster data and configuration.
Scheduler	Assigns pods to nodes based on resource requirements and policies.
Controller	Monitors state and takes corrective actions (e.g., launching new pods on failure).
kubelet	Agent on each node ensuring containers described in PodSpecs are running and healthy.
Container Runtime	Software that runs containers (e.g., Docker, containerd, CRI-O).

Data in etcd is critical: back it up regularly. Loss of etcd data can render your cluster unusable.

3. Kubernetes CLI (`kubectl`)

kubectl is the primary command-line tool to interact with the Kubernetes API. Here are common commands:

Command	Description
`kubectl run`	Deploy an application (create a Deployment or Pod).
`kubectl get nodes`	List all nodes in the cluster.
`kubectl get pods`	List all pods in the current namespace.
`kubectl cluster-info`	Display addresses of the control plane.
`kubectl scale deployment`	Adjust the number of replicas in a Deployment.
`kubectl set image`	Update the image of a Deployment.
`kubectl rollout undo`	Roll back to a previous Deployment version.

Example Workflow

# Deploy a simple BusyBox pod with a single replica
kubectl run hello-minikube --image=busybox --replicas=1

# Verify nodes and cluster
kubectl get nodes
kubectl cluster-info

# Scale up your application
kubectl scale deployment hello-minikube --replicas=3

# Perform a rolling update
kubectl set image deployment/hello-minikube hello-minikube=busybox:1.1 --record

# Roll back if needed
kubectl rollout undo deployment/hello-minikube

You can also configure Horizontal Pod Autoscaler to automatically adjust replica counts based on CPU or custom metrics. See Horizontal Pod Autoscaling for details.

Ready to dive deeper? Explore our in-depth Kubernetes courses to master topics like Networking, Storage, Security, and become a certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA).

Introduction

Docker Engine

Docker Image Management

Docker Engine - Security

Docker Engine - Networking

Docker Engine - Storage

Docker Compose

Docker Swarm

Kubernetes

Docker Engine Enterprise

Docker Trusted Registry

Disaster Recovery

Kubernetes Architecture

Docker vs. Kubernetes

1. Nodes and Cluster

2. Control Plane Components

3. Kubernetes CLI (`kubectl`)

Example Workflow

Links and References

Watch Video

​Docker vs. Kubernetes

​1. Nodes and Cluster

​2. Control Plane Components

​3. Kubernetes CLI (kubectl)

​Example Workflow

​Links and References

Watch Video

Docker vs. Kubernetes

1. Nodes and Cluster

2. Control Plane Components

3. Kubernetes CLI (`kubectl`)

Example Workflow

Links and References