Docker & Kubernetes · Module 07

Kubernetes Architecture

Why Kubernetes exists, running containers on AWS with ECS/EKS, the control plane and worker node components, and the cluster network model.

Practice interactively →

What you will learn

• Explain what Kubernetes does and how declarative management works
• Tell ECS, EKS and Fargate apart and connect kubectl to EKS
• Describe the apiserver, etcd, scheduler and controller-manager
• Describe the kubelet, kube-proxy, container runtime and pod network model

Lessons

1. From monoliths to microservices — why Kubernetes

   Kubernetes orchestrates thousands of containers across many nodes according to the desired state you declare.

2. Containers on AWS — ECS and EKS

   ECS is AWS's own orchestrator using task definitions; EKS is Kubernetes with an AWS-operated control plane.

3. The control plane

   kube-apiserver is the only door into the cluster; etcd stores state; the scheduler picks nodes; the controller-manager pulls the cluster to the desired state.

4. Worker nodes — kubelet, kube-proxy, container runtime

   The kubelet runs pods from their PodSpec, kube-proxy programs network rules for Services, and a CRI runtime runs the containers.

5. The Kubernetes network model

   Every pod has its own IP and reaches other pods directly without NAT; a CNI plugin builds the pod network and kube-proxy handles the service network.