Managing Kubernetes

Chapter 6. Installing Kubernetes

To fully conceptualize and understand how Kubernetes works, it is imperative to experiment with an actual Kubernetes cluster. And, fortunately, there is no shortage of tools to get going with Kubernetes—typically, this can be achieved within a matter of minutes. Whether it be a local installation on your laptop with a tool like minikube or a managed deployment from any one of the major public cloud providers, a Kubernetes cluster can be had by just about anyone.

Although many of these projects and services have greatly helped to commoditize the deployment of a cluster, there are many circumstances that do not allow for this degree of flexibility. Perhaps there are internal compliance or regulatory constraints that prevent the use of a public cloud. Or maybe your organization has already invested heavily in their own datacenters. Whatever the circumstances, you will be hard pressed to find an environment that is not suitable for a Kubernetes deployment.

Beyond the logistics of where and how you consume Kubernetes, in order to fully appreciate how the distributed components of Kubernetes operate, it is also important to understand the architectures that make production-ready, containerized application delivery a reality. In this chapter, we explore the services involved and how they are installed.

kubeadm

Among the wide array of Kubernetes installation solutions is the community-supported kubeadm utility. This application provides all of the functionality ...