Kubernetes – 100+ Lab Exercises (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced)

🔰 Basic Level (30+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Learn foundational concepts, architecture, and core resources of Kubernetes.

 

Introduction to Kubernetes

  • Understand Kubernetes architecture (Master, Node, etcd, kubelet, kube-proxy).

  • Install Minikube and kubectl on local machine.

  • Start a Kubernetes cluster using Minikube.

  • Explore kubectl get, describe, logs, and exec.

  • View cluster nodes and pods.

Pods and Containers

  • Create a basic Pod using YAML.

  • Deploy a single-container Pod using CLI and YAML.

  • Check Pod status and logs.

  • Use kubectl port-forward to expose a pod.

  • Create a multi-container Pod.

ReplicaSets and Deployments

  • Define and deploy a ReplicaSet.

  • Update ReplicaSet to scale pods.

  • Migrate ReplicaSet to Deployment.

  • Perform rolling updates and rollbacks.

  • Set resource requests and limits.

Services & Networking

  • Create a ClusterIP service for a pod.

  • Deploy a NodePort service.

  • Access services from within and outside the cluster.

  • Use labels and selectors for service discovery.

  • Test DNS resolution between pods.

 

🚀 Intermediate Level (40+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Dive into workload management, persistent storage, and Helm.

 

ConfigMaps & Secrets

  • Create ConfigMaps using YAML and CLI.

  • Inject environment variables via ConfigMaps.

  • Store credentials using Secrets.

  • Mount Secrets and ConfigMaps as volumes.

  • Use kubectl describe to inspect Secrets.

Volumes & Storage

  • Mount a hostPath volume into a Pod.

  • Use emptyDir, configMap, and secret volumes.

  • Create a PersistentVolume (PV).

  • Define and bind a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC).

  • Use dynamic volume provisioning (e.g., with Minikube hostpath provisioner).

StatefulSets & DaemonSets

  • Deploy a StatefulSet with volume claims.

  • Create a headless service for StatefulSets.

  • Deploy a logging DaemonSet (e.g., Fluentd, Filebeat).

  • Understand pod identity and persistence in StatefulSets.

  • Scale StatefulSets and manage identity.

Ingress & TLS

  • Deploy an Nginx Ingress Controller.

  • Create Ingress rules for multiple services.

  • Enable TLS using self-signed certificate.

  • Test domain-based routing.

  • Configure backend service weights.

Helm (Package Manager)

  • Install Helm on local machine.

  • Add official Helm chart repositories.

  • Install a Helm chart (e.g., WordPress, Redis).

  • Override Helm values using --set.

  • Create a custom Helm chart.

 

🧠 Advanced Level (40+ Exercises)

 

Goal: Implement CI/CD, advanced networking, observability, and security at production scale.

 

Advanced Deployments

  • Implement Blue/Green deployments.

  • Use canary deployments with traffic splitting.

  • Create CronJobs and Jobs.

  • Configure pod affinity and anti-affinity.

  • Use taints, tolerations, and node selectors.

Observability & Monitoring

  • Install Prometheus and Grafana via Helm.

  • Configure pod metrics scraping.

  • Create custom Grafana dashboards.

  • Monitor pod logs with EFK stack (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, Kibana).

  • Set up alerting rules in Prometheus.

Security & RBAC

  • Create Kubernetes Roles and RoleBindings.

  • Apply ServiceAccount to a pod.

  • Use NetworkPolicies to restrict traffic.

  • Enable PodSecurity admission policies.

  • Scan workloads for vulnerabilities using tools like Kube-Bench or Trivy.

CI/CD & GitOps

  • Deploy Argo CD for GitOps.

  • Set up Jenkins pipelines with Kubernetes agents.

  • Deploy using GitHub Actions into a cluster.

  • Configure webhooks for auto-deployment.

  • Automate Helm releases via Flux.

Cluster Operations

  • Backup and restore etcd data.

  • Upgrade Kubernetes cluster (Minikube/Kubeadm).

  • Drain, cordon, and uncordon cluster nodes.

  • Scale node pools (e.g., with Karpenter or Cluster Autoscaler).

  • Audit API server activity logs.

 

Capstone Projects

 

  • Deploy a multi-service microservices architecture.

  • Secure and monitor a production-grade web app.

  • Implement cost-optimized auto-scaling for traffic spikes.

  • Migrate workloads from Docker Compose to Kubernetes.

  • Build an internal developer platform using Helm and Ingress.

 

✅ Tools & Technologies

 

  • kubectl, Minikube, Kubeadm, k3s, Kind

  • Helm, Prometheus, Grafana, K9s

  • Argo CD, Flux, Jenkins, GitHub Actions

  • Linkerd, Istio, Kiali, KubeLens

  • Trivy, Kube-Bench, OPA Gatekeeper

Download Syllabus 👇
Scroll to Top