Exercises for Kubernetes Workshop

This repo contains hands-on exercises for the Kubernetes workshop — the sequel to the Containerisation workshop. Workshop #1 was about building and running one container. This one is about deploying, scaling, exposing, and continuously running containers on a cluster.

Repo layout

• Kubernetes_workshop.pptx — theory parts presented during the workshop.
• setup/ — do this first. Setup a local cluster and a namespace for this workshop.
• kubectl-demo/ — live-demo showing the power of Kubernetes via kubectl.
• <num>-<name>/ — exercise modules for you to work through, in order. Each has a README.md with TASK blocks and starter manifests with TODOs to fill in.
• edu-<name>/ — finished examples to read and run, not exercises.
• helm-teaser/ — demo teasing the Helm workshop.
• live-demo/ — facilitator cheat-sheet for demo on a real cluster.
• deck-notes/ — supporting notes for the presentation.

Prerequisites

🤓 Skip these if you already have a working local Kubernetes! (with host ingress and a working storage-class). Just make sure to check the setup guide section 4.

• Install Rancher Desktop (Recommended!)
  • Make sure ~/.rd/bin is on your PATH so kubectl resolves to the Rancher provided one.
  • It ships a container runtime, kubectl, a Traefik ingress controller, and a local-path storage class — everything these exercises need.
  • If you prefer kind or k3d, that works too; see notes in setup (Section 4).
• Enable Kubernetes under Preferences.
• Confirm kubectl get nodes shows a single Ready node (your machine).
• Ensure below CLI tools are available on your terminal (requires ~/rd/bin on your path).

CLI Tools

⚠️ You should make sure that these are available in your shell/terminal. ⚠️

• kubectl (included with Rancher Desktop)
• helm (included with Rancher Desktop)
• Optional: k9s (NOT included, but priceless tool. Install guide).
• Optional: Use my aliases and functions, for shorter less verbose kubectl commands 🗣️

Bash completion

Using the CLI tool kubectl becomes much easier with bash completion.

Run this in your active terminal, or add it to your ~/.bash_profile

source <(kubectl completion bash)

IDE Support

⚠️ Highly recommend you have basic IDE support setup for the exercises ⚠️

VS Code extensions

• Kubernetes by Microsoft link
• (next workshop) Helm Intellisense by Tim Koehler link

IntelliJ Idea plugins

• Kubernetes by JetBrains link

Docs

Keep these open while you work:

• https://kubernetes.io/docs
• Pods & Deployments: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/
• Services & Ingress: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/services-networking/
• kubectl reference: https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/
• An LLM (ChatGPT/Claude) knows a lot about Kubernetes — use it as a tutor.

Modules

Work through them in order — each builds on the last.

1 — Deployments & Pods

Create an nginx Deployment, scale it, exec in, kill a Pod and watch it heal, port-forward, roll out a change. Then write it as a YAML manifest.

2 — Configuration & Environment

Move content and config out of the image: ConfigMaps (incl. subPath), Secrets, and environment variables — set directly and imported from a ConfigMap.

3 — Volumes & Persistence

emptyDir shared inside a Pod, then a PersistentVolumeClaim that survives Pod deletion. StorageClass → PVC → PV explained.

4 — Exposing Workloads

Put a Service in front of your Pods, then an Ingress so it's reachable from your browser at *.localhost.

5 — Composite system (capstone)

Wire the Spring Boot + Postgres app from Workshop #1 together yourself: two cooperating Deployments, a Service for discovery, a ConfigMap + Secret, a PVC, and an Ingress — everything from modules 1–4 in one real system.

edu — Multi-component system

A finished two-tier app (nginx → http-echo) wired by Services and an Ingress — service discovery in action. Plus short notes on StatefulSets, DaemonSets, and kubectl debug.

How the exercises work

Each module teaches the same idea twice, mirroring Workshop #1's "single-stage then multi-stage" progression:

1. Imperative first — kubectl create/scale/expose/... for instant feedback.
2. Declarative second — write the same object as a YAML manifest and kubectl apply -f it. This is how real systems are managed: versioned, reviewable, idempotent. Fill in the TODOs in each module's starter manifests.

Solutions

If you're stuck or want to compare, completed manifests will be on the solutions branch:

git checkout -t origin/solutions

Essential kubectl

# What's in my current namespace?
kubectl get all
kubectl get pods -o wide
kubectl get <type>/<name> -o yaml        # full object; -o wide for a table

# Inspect & troubleshoot
kubectl describe <type>/<name>           # events + current state
kubectl logs <pod> -f                    # stream stdout/stderr (-p for previous crash)
kubectl exec -it deployment/<name> -- sh # shell into a running Pod

# CRUD
kubectl create deployment <name> --image=<img>
kubectl edit <type>/<name>
kubectl delete <type>/<name>
kubectl apply -f <file-or-url>.yaml      # declarative; idempotent

# Namespaces
kubectl get pods -A                      # across ALL namespaces
kubectl config set-context --current --namespace=<ns>   # set your default

# Tip: shell completion
source <(kubectl completion bash)        # or zsh

How to get unstuck

Before reaching for the solutions branch, these five tools resolve most problems:

• kubectl explain <type>.<field> — built-in schema docs, works offline. Drill in: kubectl explain deployment.spec.template.spec.containers. Every field is documented.
• kubectl create <thing> ... --dry-run=client -o yaml — scaffold a valid manifest to start from, then edit it. e.g. kubectl create deployment x --image=nginx --dry-run=client -o yaml.
• kubectl describe <type>/<name> — the Events at the bottom usually say exactly what's wrong (bad image, unbound PVC, failed mount, no endpoints).
• kubectl logs <pod> (add --previous for a crashed container) — the app's own errors.
• kubectl get <type>/<name> -o yaml — the full object including its live status.

Plus the docs, and an LLM makes a strong Kubernetes tutor.

Best practices

• Declare desired state; let Kubernetes reconcile it. Don't script how — describe what you want and apply it.
• Keep config and content out of images — use ConfigMaps, Secrets, and env vars so changes don't need a rebuild and survive rollouts.
• Pods are disposable. Never store anything you care about in a Pod's filesystem; use a PVC for data that must persist.
• Reach workloads by Service name, not Pod IP. Pod IPs change; Service DNS is stable.
• Pin image tags (e.g. nginx:1.31), don't use :latest — same rule as Workshop #1.
• Namespace your work so you can clean up in one command and avoid collisions.

Tools worth knowing

• k9s — terminal dashboard for navigating cluster objects fast.
• kubectl krew — plugin manager for kubectl.
• Rancher (web + RBAC), Headlamp (desktop), Kubernetes Dashboard (web) — UIs.

Bonus

1. Deploy your own image from Workshop #1. Once the Workshop #1 images are published to a registry, deploy one to your cluster, expose it with a Service, and route to it with an Ingress — the same artifact you built, now running on Kubernetes. (See 5-composite-system.)
2. Bring the whole edu-multi-component system up and add a second backend behind the same Ingress on a different host.
3. Explore the cluster with k9s instead of raw kubectl for some of the exercises.