Advanced everything in DevOps & Cloud, page 11
Container Storage Interface (CSI): The Universal Adapter for K8s Storage
CSI is a universal adapter for storage in Kubernetes, letting any storage system speak a common language. This allows providers to create plugins for their systems without touching core Kubernetes code.
Sealed Secrets: Safely Commit K8s Secrets to Git
Sealed Secrets lets you commit encrypted Kubernetes secrets to a public Git repo. In a GitOps workflow, this allows all configuration to live in version control. The footgun: a SealedSecret is a one-way street; only the target cluster can decrypt it.
External Secrets Operator: Sync Secrets into Kubernetes
Treat your cloud's secret manager as the source of truth. The External Secrets Operator (ESO) fetches secrets from external APIs like AWS Secrets Manager or Vault and injects them into native Kubernetes Secrets, keeping them in sync.
kube-proxy: The Plumber for Kubernetes Services
kube-proxy is the network plumber on each node, making Kubernetes Services work. It translates a Service's virtual IP into routes to real pods using iptables or IPVS. The name is a footgun: it's a Layer 4 packet forwarder, not a Layer 7 application proxy.
Kubernetes NetworkPolicy: A Firewall for Pods
NetworkPolicy is a firewall for pods, locking down traffic in a cluster where everything can talk to everything by default. Use it to isolate services, like preventing a web frontend from directly accessing a database.
Pod Affinity: Grouping or Separating Your Pods
Pod affinity tells Kubernetes to place pods together for performance or apart for high availability. Use it to co-locate a web server and cache for low latency, or spread database replicas across nodes to prevent a single point of failure.
Pod Disruption Budgets: Stop Upgrades From Killing Your App
A Pod Disruption Budget (PDB) is a contract with Kubernetes to maintain minimum availability. It limits how many pods can be voluntarily terminated at once during node drains or cluster upgrades, preventing self-inflicted outages.
kube-controller-manager: The Cluster's Reconciliation Engine
The kube-controller-manager is Kubernetes' reconciliation engine, running multiple control loops to make the cluster's actual state match your desired state. It handles tasks like ensuring a Deployment has the correct pod count.
kube-scheduler: The Cluster's Matchmaker
The kube-scheduler is your cluster's matchmaker, assigning new Pods to the best possible Node based on their needs. This is the default workload placement engine. The footgun is thinking it runs Pods; it only *assigns* them to a Node.
Kubernetes Controllers: The Reconciliation Loop
A Kubernetes controller acts like a thermostat for your cluster, constantly working to make the actual state match your desired state. It's the engine behind Deployments and ReplicaSets, ensuring the right number of pods are always running.
Container Image Signing: Verifying What You Run
Think of image signing as a digital "tamper-evident seal" on your containers. It proves who built an image and that it hasn't been altered. This is crucial for production systems to prevent running malicious code.
Harbor: A Private, Secure Artifact Registry
Think of Harbor as a private Docker Hub with built-in security. Use it to scan images for vulnerabilities, enforce role-based access control, and sign artifacts before deploying to Kubernetes.
OCI Image Manifest: The Recipe for a Container Image
An OCI Image Manifest is the recipe for a single container image, listing its configuration and filesystem layers for one specific architecture. It's what a runtime uses to assemble an image like ubuntu:22.04 on your linux/amd64 machine.
Docker Compose Secrets: Keep Credentials Out of Your Code
Docker Compose Secrets inject sensitive data into containers as files at runtime, keeping credentials out of your version-controlled docker-compose.yml. Use them for API keys and passwords. The footgun: your app must read from a file, not an env var.
Extending Compose Files for Different Environments
Think of extending Compose files like CSS for your services; a base file defines the structure, and override files style it for different environments. This is used to manage settings like local code mounts for dev vs. restart policies for prod.
Docker Compose Profiles: Activate Service Groups
Docker Compose profiles let you toggle groups of services on or off within a single compose.yaml file. Use it to separate your core app from debugging utilities or to define a "local dev" setup versus a "CI" setup.
Docker Image Scanning: A Background Check for Your Code
Docker image scanning is a background check for your software dependencies, checking packages against known vulnerability lists (CVEs). It's used in CI/CD to block vulnerable builds and in registries for continuous monitoring.
Docker Multi-stage Builds: Slimmer, Faster Images
Treat your Dockerfile like a pipeline: build your app in one stage with all its tools, then copy only the final artifact to a clean production stage. This keeps images small by excluding build-time dependencies.
seccomp: A Kernel-Level Allowlist for Syscalls
seccomp is a Linux kernel firewall for system calls (syscalls), restricting which operations a process can request. Docker and Kubernetes use it to harden containers against exploits. The footgun is creating a custom profile so restrictive it breaks your app.
Container Runtime Shim: Decoupling the Container Lifecycle
A runtime shim is a small process that decouples the container daemon (like containerd) from the container itself. This lets the daemon restart without killing running containers.
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