Skip to main content
_d
devops/ness

Learn Kubernetes: A Hands-On Path From Containers to Troubleshooting

Learn Kubernetes in four stages: get comfortable with containers, deploy and expose a workload, run it safely with requests, probes and policies, then practice the failure modes you will meet in production. Every step links a guide with working commands and YAML.

The path assumes you can use a terminal. A local cluster (kind, minikube or Docker Desktop) is enough for every exercise until the GitOps stage.

  1. Stage 1: Foundations

    Containers, then the three Kubernetes objects you touch every day.

    1. 1Docker for beginners: your first containerBuild, run and inspect an image.
    2. 2Do you need Kubernetes?Decide whether the operational cost is worth it for your workload.
    3. 3Kubernetes 101: Pods, Deployments and ServicesDeploy a workload and give it a stable endpoint.
    4. 4The kubectl debugging commands we actually useRead events, logs and describe output quickly.

  2. Stage 2: Operate

    Configuration, resources and safe rollouts.

    1. 5Helm vs KustomizePick a config tool and know where each breaks.
    2. 6Rightsizing resource requestsSet requests and limits from real usage, not guesses.
    3. 7Readiness probes during rolling updatesShip zero-downtime rollouts.
    4. 8Pod disruption budgets and node drainsSurvive node maintenance without an outage.
    5. 9Why the HPA is not scalingDebug autoscaling end to end.

  3. Stage 3: Troubleshoot

    The errors that account for most Kubernetes incidents.

    1. 10Kubernetes error troubleshooting guideMap a symptom to its likely cause.
    2. 11Fix a Pod stuck in PendingRead scheduler events and fix capacity, taints and PVCs.
    3. 12Fix CrashLoopBackOffFind why a container keeps restarting.
    4. 13Fix ImagePullBackOffResolve registry, tag and credential errors.
    5. 14Fix OOMKilledTell a memory leak from a limit that is too low.
    6. 15Kubernetes exit codes explainedDecode 1, 137, 139 and 143.

  4. Stage 4: Production

    Security, networking and GitOps for clusters other teams depend on.

    1. 16Kubernetes security best practicesHarden RBAC, Pod security and images.
    2. 17Network policies in practiceDefault-deny without breaking DNS.
    3. 18Ingress vs Gateway APIPlan the migration off Ingress.
    4. 19GitOps explainedUnderstand pull-based delivery.
    5. 20Flux vs Argo CDChoose a GitOps engine.

Keep these open

Every guide on this path names the versions and docs it was checked against and lists its sources at the end. Browse all kubernetes guides or another learning path.