- Exploring the official LKE documentation
- Provisioning Kubernetes clusters on Linode
- Deploying and scaling applications with kubectl
Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:- Compare managed Kubernetes (LKE) with self-managed, on-premises clusters
- Create and configure LKE clusters
- Connect to your LKE clusters using kubectl
- Deploy and manage applications on LKE
Before you begin, ensure you have:
- A Linode account
- kubectl installed (see Kubectl Installation Guide)
- Basic familiarity with Kubernetes concepts
Managed vs Self-Managed Kubernetes
| Feature | Managed LKE | Self-Managed (On-Premises) |
|---|---|---|
| Control Plane Management | Linode-managed with SLA | You manage API server, etcd, etc. |
| Upgrades & Patching | Automated rolling updates | Manual patching and version upgrades |
| Node Provisioning | One-click node pool creation | Custom scripts or tooling |
| Scalability | Scale clusters in minutes via the LKE UI/CLI | Requires capacity planning and scripting |
| Cost Structure | Pay per node instance | Infrastructure + operational overhead |