Kubernetes is a powerful container orchestration platform that automates the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.
Kubernetes Architecture
At its core, Kubernetes follows a client-server architecture, consisting of the following primary components:
Master Node (Control Plane): Manages the cluster's state, including scheduling, scaling, and maintaining the desired state.
Worker Nodes: Machines that run containerized applications, managed by the control plane.
Kubernetes Components
Master Node
API Server
The front-end for the Kubernetes control plane, handling all administrative tasks.
etcd
A distributed key-value store for storing all cluster data, configuration, and state information.
Scheduler
Assigns pods to available worker nodes based on resource requirements.
Controller Manager
Runs controllers to ensure the cluster’s desired state matches the current state (e.g., maintaining the correct number of pod replicas).
Cloud Controller Manager
Integrates Kubernetes with cloud provider APIs for managing cloud resources like load balancers and storage.
Worker Nodes
Kubelet
An agent on each worker node that ensures containers are running and healthy.
Kube Proxy
Maintains network rules on each node, enabling communication between pods and services.
Pods
The smallest deployable units in Kubernetes, consisting of one or more containers sharing the same network namespace and storage.