Kubernetes Quick Reference

Version: 1.0.0 | Target Size: <100KB | Purpose: Fast reference for Kubernetes manifest development and deployment

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Overview

Kubernetes is a container orchestration platform for automating deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. This quick reference provides essential patterns for creating production-ready Kubernetes manifests with security hardening and best practices.

When to Load This Skill:

• Detected: *.yaml with apiVersion: v1|apps/v1, kind: Deployment|Service|Pod, kustomization.yaml
• Manual: --tools=kubernetes flag
• Use Case: Container orchestration and production deployments

Progressive Disclosure:

• This file (SKILL.md): Quick reference for immediate use
• REFERENCE.md: Comprehensive guide with advanced patterns and 20+ production examples

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Table of Contents

1. Core Resources Quick Reference
2. Security Hardening Checklist
3. Resource Requests and Limits Guidelines
4. Networking Basics
5. Storage Overview
6. RBAC Basics
7. Common kubectl Commands
8. Health Checks and Probes
9. Configuration Management
10. Troubleshooting Quick Guide

---

Core Resources Quick Reference

Pod

Basic unit of deployment - one or more containers running together:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: webapp
  labels:
    app: webapp
spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: nginx:1.21
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80

Key Concepts:

• Smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes
• Containers in same pod share network and storage
• Typically managed by higher-level controllers (Deployment, StatefulSet)
• Use for debugging, not production deployments

---

Deployment

Declarative pod management with rolling updates and rollbacks:

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: webapp
  labels:
    app: webapp
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: webapp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: webapp
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: app
        image: nginx:1.21
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80

Key Features:

• Manages ReplicaSets for pod scaling
• Rolling updates with zero downtime
• Rollback to previous versions
• Self-healing (restarts failed pods)

---

Service

Network abstraction providing stable endpoint for pods:

ClusterIP (internal only):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: webapp
spec:
  type: ClusterIP  # Default
  selector:
    app: webapp
  ports:
  - port: 80        # Service port
    targetPort: 80  # Container port

NodePort (external access via node port):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: webapp
spec:
  type: NodePort
  selector:
    app: webapp
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80
    nodePort: 30080  # External port (30000-32767)

LoadBalancer (cloud load balancer):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: webapp
spec:
  type: LoadBalancer
  selector:
    app: webapp
  ports:
  - port: 80
    targetPort: 80

Service Types:

• ClusterIP: Internal access only (default)
• NodePort: External access via node IP:port
• LoadBalancer: Cloud provider load balancer
• ExternalName: DNS CNAME record

---

ConfigMap

Non-sensitive configuration data:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ConfigMap
metadata:
  name: webapp-config
data:
  app.conf: |
    [server]
    port = 8080
    timeout = 30
  database.host: postgres.default.svc.cluster.local
  cache.ttl: "3600"

Usage in Pod:

spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    envFrom:
    - configMapRef:
        name: webapp-config
    # Or individual keys
    env:
    - name: DB_HOST
      valueFrom:
        configMapKeyRef:
          name: webapp-config
          key: database.host
    # Or mount as volume
    volumeMounts:
    - name: config
      mountPath: /etc/config
  volumes:
  - name: config
    configMap:
      name: webapp-config

---

Secret

Sensitive data storage (base64 encoded):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: webapp-secrets
type: Opaque
data:
  # Base64 encoded values
  db-password: cGFzc3dvcmQxMjM=
  api-key: YWJjZGVmZ2hpamts
stringData:
  # Plain text (auto-encoded)
  admin-password: changeme

Usage in Pod:

spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    env:
    - name: DB_PASSWORD
      valueFrom:
        secretKeyRef:
          name: webapp-secrets
          key: db-password
    # Or mount as volume
    volumeMounts:
    - name: secrets
      mountPath: /etc/secrets
      readOnly: true
  volumes:
  - name: secrets
    secret:
      secretName: webapp-secrets

Secret Types:

• Opaque: Generic secret (default)
• kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson: Docker registry credentials
• kubernetes.io/tls: TLS certificate and key
• kubernetes.io/service-account-token: Service account token

---

Ingress

HTTP/HTTPS routing to services:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: webapp
  annotations:
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - www.example.com
    secretName: webapp-tls
  rules:
  - host: www.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: webapp
            port:
              number: 80

Path Types:

• Prefix: Matches path prefix (/app matches /app, /app/page)
• Exact: Exact path match only
• ImplementationSpecific: Ingress controller-specific

---

Security Hardening Checklist

Essential Security Settings

From infrastructure-developer best practices (production-validated):

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: webapp
  namespace: production
spec:
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: webapp
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: webapp
    spec:
      # Pod-level security context
      securityContext:
        runAsNonRoot: true      # ✅ Prevent root execution
        runAsUser: 1000         # ✅ Specific non-root user
        fsGroup: 2000           # ✅ File system group
        seccompProfile:
          type: RuntimeDefault  # ✅ Seccomp profile

      containers:
      - name: app
        image: myapp:1.2.3      # ✅ Pinned version (not :latest)

        # Container-level security context
        securityContext:
          allowPrivilegeEscalation: false  # ✅ No privilege escalation
          readOnlyRootFilesystem: true     # ✅ Immutable filesystem
          capabilities:
            drop:
            - ALL                            # ✅ Drop all capabilities

        # Resource limits (prevent DoS)
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "256Mi"
            cpu: "250m"
          limits:
            memory: "512Mi"
            cpu: "500m"

        # Health checks
        livenessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /health
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 30
          periodSeconds: 10

        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /ready
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 5
          periodSeconds: 5

Security Context Fields

Pod-level:

securityContext:
  runAsNonRoot: true        # Enforce non-root user
  runAsUser: 1000           # UID to run as
  runAsGroup: 3000          # GID to run as
  fsGroup: 2000             # Volume ownership group
  fsGroupChangePolicy: "OnRootMismatch"
  seccompProfile:
    type: RuntimeDefault    # Seccomp profile
  supplementalGroups: [4000]

Container-level:

securityContext:
  allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
  privileged: false
  readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
  runAsNonRoot: true
  runAsUser: 1000
  capabilities:
    drop:
    - ALL
    add:
    - NET_BIND_SERVICE  # Only if needed for ports <1024
  seccompProfile:
    type: RuntimeDefault

Common Security Anti-Patterns

❌ INSECURE (avoid):

spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: myapp:latest           # ❌ Mutable tag
    # No security context          # ❌ Running as root
    # No resource limits           # ❌ Resource exhaustion risk
    # No health checks             # ❌ No failure detection

✅ SECURE (production-ready):

spec:
  securityContext:
    runAsNonRoot: true
    runAsUser: 1000
    fsGroup: 2000
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: myapp:1.2.3            # ✅ Immutable tag
    securityContext:
      allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
      readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
      capabilities:
        drop: [ALL]
    resources:
      limits:
        memory: "512Mi"
        cpu: "500m"
    livenessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /health
        port: 8080

---

Resource Requests and Limits Guidelines

Resource Specification

resources:
  requests:     # Guaranteed allocation
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"
  limits:       # Maximum allocation
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"

CPU Units:

• 1 = 1 vCPU/core
• 500m = 0.5 vCPU (500 millicores)
• 100m = 0.1 vCPU

Memory Units:

• Mi = Mebibytes (1024^2 bytes)
• Gi = Gibibytes (1024^3 bytes)
• M = Megabytes (1000^2 bytes)
• G = Gigabytes (1000^3 bytes)

Resource Guidelines by Workload

Small web service:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "128Mi"
    cpu: "100m"
  limits:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "200m"

Medium application:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"

Large application:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"
  limits:
    memory: "1Gi"
    cpu: "1000m"

Database/stateful:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "2Gi"
    cpu: "1000m"
  limits:
    memory: "4Gi"
    cpu: "2000m"

QoS Classes

Kubernetes assigns QoS class based on resources:

1. Guaranteed (highest priority):

   • Requests = Limits for all containers
   • Last to be evicted

2. Burstable (medium priority):

   • Requests < Limits
   • Evicted after BestEffort

3. BestEffort (lowest priority):

   • No requests or limits
   • First to be evicted

---

Networking Basics

Service Types Comparison

Type	Use Case	External Access	Cloud Cost
ClusterIP	Internal only	No	Free
NodePort	Development/testing	Yes (node:port)	Free
LoadBalancer	Production	Yes (load balancer)	Paid
ExternalName	External DNS	N/A	Free

Service DNS

Services accessible via DNS:

# Within same namespace
<service-name>

# Across namespaces
<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local

# Full FQDN
<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local

Example:

# Service in namespace "default"
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: postgres
  namespace: default
---
# Access from pod in any namespace
env:
  - name: DB_HOST
    value: postgres.default.svc.cluster.local

Headless Service

For direct pod access (StatefulSets):

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: postgres-headless
spec:
  clusterIP: None  # Headless
  selector:
    app: postgres
  ports:
  - port: 5432

Pod DNS:

<pod-name>.<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local

---

Storage Overview

PersistentVolume (PV)

Cluster-level storage resource:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolume
metadata:
  name: pv-data
spec:
  capacity:
    storage: 10Gi
  volumeMode: Filesystem
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  persistentVolumeReclaimPolicy: Retain
  storageClassName: gp3
  hostPath:
    path: /mnt/data

PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC)

Pod's request for storage:

apiVersion: v1
kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
metadata:
  name: webapp-pvc
spec:
  accessModes:
  - ReadWriteOnce
  resources:
    requests:
      storage: 10Gi
  storageClassName: gp3

Usage in Pod:

spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    volumeMounts:
    - name: data
      mountPath: /app/data
  volumes:
  - name: data
    persistentVolumeClaim:
      claimName: webapp-pvc

Access Modes

• ReadWriteOnce (RWO): Single node read-write
• ReadOnlyMany (ROX): Multiple nodes read-only
• ReadWriteMany (RWX): Multiple nodes read-write

StorageClass

Dynamic provisioning template:

apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
kind: StorageClass
metadata:
  name: fast-ssd
provisioner: kubernetes.io/aws-ebs
parameters:
  type: gp3
  iopsPerGB: "50"
  encrypted: "true"
reclaimPolicy: Delete
allowVolumeExpansion: true

---

RBAC Basics

Service Account

Pod identity:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: webapp-sa
  namespace: production

Usage in Pod:

spec:
  serviceAccountName: webapp-sa
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: myapp:1.0.0

Role and RoleBinding

Namespace-scoped permissions:

# Role: Define permissions
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: pod-reader
  namespace: production
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["pods"]
  verbs: ["get", "list", "watch"]
---
# RoleBinding: Grant permissions to user/SA
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: RoleBinding
metadata:
  name: read-pods
  namespace: production
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: webapp-sa
  namespace: production
roleRef:
  kind: Role
  name: pod-reader
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

ClusterRole and ClusterRoleBinding

Cluster-wide permissions:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: cluster-reader
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["nodes", "namespaces"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: read-cluster
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: admin-sa
  namespace: kube-system
roleRef:
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: cluster-reader
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io

RBAC Verbs

• get: Retrieve individual resource
• list: List resources
• watch: Watch for changes
• create: Create new resources
• update: Update existing resources
• patch: Partially update resources
• delete: Delete resources
• deletecollection: Delete multiple resources

---

Common kubectl Commands

Pod Management

# List pods
kubectl get pods
kubectl get pods -n production
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
kubectl get pods -o wide  # Show node and IP

# Describe pod
kubectl describe pod webapp-abc123

# View logs
kubectl logs webapp-abc123
kubectl logs webapp-abc123 -f  # Follow logs
kubectl logs webapp-abc123 --previous  # Previous container
kubectl logs webapp-abc123 -c container-name  # Multi-container

# Execute command
kubectl exec -it webapp-abc123 -- /bin/sh
kubectl exec webapp-abc123 -- env

# Port forward
kubectl port-forward webapp-abc123 8080:80
kubectl port-forward svc/webapp 8080:80

# Delete pod
kubectl delete pod webapp-abc123

Deployment Management

# Create deployment
kubectl create deployment webapp --image=nginx:1.21
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml

# Scale deployment
kubectl scale deployment webapp --replicas=5

# Update image
kubectl set image deployment/webapp app=nginx:1.22

# Rollout status
kubectl rollout status deployment/webapp

# Rollout history
kubectl rollout history deployment/webapp

# Rollback
kubectl rollout undo deployment/webapp
kubectl rollout undo deployment/webapp --to-revision=2

# Pause/resume
kubectl rollout pause deployment/webapp
kubectl rollout resume deployment/webapp

Service Management

# List services
kubectl get services
kubectl get svc

# Describe service
kubectl describe svc webapp

# Expose deployment
kubectl expose deployment webapp --port=80 --type=LoadBalancer

# Get endpoints
kubectl get endpoints webapp

Resource Information

# Get all resources
kubectl get all
kubectl get all -n production

# Get resource YAML
kubectl get deployment webapp -o yaml
kubectl get pod webapp-abc123 -o json

# Get resource with labels
kubectl get pods -l app=webapp
kubectl get pods --selector app=webapp,env=prod

# Get events
kubectl get events
kubectl get events --sort-by='.lastTimestamp'

# Top (resource usage)
kubectl top nodes
kubectl top pods
kubectl top pods -n production

Debugging

# Describe resource
kubectl describe pod webapp-abc123
kubectl describe node node-1

# Get cluster info
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl version

# API resources
kubectl api-resources
kubectl api-versions

# Explain resource
kubectl explain pod
kubectl explain pod.spec.containers

---

Health Checks and Probes

Liveness Probe

Determines if container should be restarted:

livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /health
    port: 8080
    httpHeaders:
    - name: Custom-Header
      value: Awesome
  initialDelaySeconds: 30  # Wait before first check
  periodSeconds: 10        # Check every 10s
  timeoutSeconds: 5        # Timeout after 5s
  failureThreshold: 3      # Restart after 3 failures
  successThreshold: 1      # Success after 1 check

Readiness Probe

Determines if container should receive traffic:

readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /ready
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 5
  timeoutSeconds: 3
  failureThreshold: 3
  successThreshold: 1

Startup Probe

For slow-starting containers:

startupProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /startup
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 0
  periodSeconds: 10
  failureThreshold: 30  # 5 minutes (30 * 10s)

Probe Types

HTTP GET:

httpGet:
  path: /health
  port: 8080
  scheme: HTTP  # or HTTPS

TCP Socket:

tcpSocket:
  port: 8080

Exec Command:

exec:
  command:
  - cat
  - /tmp/healthy

Probe Timing

initialDelaySeconds: Wait before first probe
periodSeconds: Time between probes
timeoutSeconds: Probe timeout
failureThreshold: Failures before action
successThreshold: Successes to recover

---

Configuration Management

Environment Variables

Direct values:

env:
- name: LOG_LEVEL
  value: "info"
- name: APP_ENV
  value: "production"

From ConfigMap:

env:
- name: DB_HOST
  valueFrom:
    configMapKeyRef:
      name: app-config
      key: database.host

From Secret:

env:
- name: DB_PASSWORD
  valueFrom:
    secretKeyRef:
      name: app-secrets
      key: db-password

From field:

env:
- name: POD_NAME
  valueFrom:
    fieldRef:
      fieldPath: metadata.name
- name: POD_IP
  valueFrom:
    fieldRef:
      fieldPath: status.podIP

EnvFrom (all keys)

envFrom:
- configMapRef:
    name: app-config
- secretRef:
    name: app-secrets
- prefix: DB_
  configMapRef:
    name: database-config

Volume Mounts

ConfigMap as volume:

volumes:
- name: config
  configMap:
    name: app-config
    items:
    - key: app.conf
      path: app.conf
volumeMounts:
- name: config
  mountPath: /etc/config
  readOnly: true

Secret as volume:

volumes:
- name: secrets
  secret:
    secretName: app-secrets
    defaultMode: 0400  # Read-only
volumeMounts:
- name: secrets
  mountPath: /etc/secrets
  readOnly: true

---

Troubleshooting Quick Guide

Pod Issues

Pod Pending:

# Check events
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

# Common causes:
# - Insufficient resources
# - PVC not bound
# - Node selector mismatch
# - Image pull errors

CrashLoopBackOff:

# Check logs
kubectl logs <pod-name>
kubectl logs <pod-name> --previous

# Common causes:
# - Application error
# - Missing environment variables
# - Failed liveness probe
# - Incorrect command/args

ImagePullBackOff:

# Describe pod
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

# Common causes:
# - Wrong image name/tag
# - Private registry without credentials
# - Network issues
# - Rate limiting

Pod Stuck Terminating:

# Force delete
kubectl delete pod <pod-name> --grace-period=0 --force

# Check finalizers
kubectl get pod <pod-name> -o yaml | grep finalizers

Service Issues

Service not reachable:

# Check endpoints
kubectl get endpoints <service-name>

# Check selector labels
kubectl get pods --show-labels
kubectl describe service <service-name>

# Test from another pod
kubectl run test --rm -it --image=curlimages/curl -- \
  curl http://<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local

Resource Issues

Out of resources:

# Check node resources
kubectl top nodes
kubectl describe nodes

# Check pod resources
kubectl top pods
kubectl describe pod <pod-name>

Debug Commands

# Run debug pod
kubectl run debug --rm -it --image=busybox -- /bin/sh

# Copy files from pod
kubectl cp <pod-name>:/path/to/file ./local-file

# Ephemeral debug container
kubectl debug <pod-name> -it --image=busybox

---

Next Steps

For Advanced Patterns:

• See REFERENCE.md for comprehensive guide with 20+ production examples
• Covers: StatefulSets, DaemonSets, Jobs, CronJobs, HPA/VPA, Network Policies, advanced RBAC, observability

Common Use Cases:

• Stateful applications → REFERENCE.md § StatefulSets
• Cluster-wide services → REFERENCE.md § DaemonSets
• Batch processing → REFERENCE.md § Jobs and CronJobs
• Auto-scaling → REFERENCE.md § HPA and VPA
• Network isolation → REFERENCE.md § Network Policies
• Production monitoring → REFERENCE.md § Observability

---

Progressive Disclosure: Start here for quick reference, load REFERENCE.md for comprehensive patterns and production examples.

Performance Target: <100ms skill loading (this file ~70KB)

Last Updated: 2025-10-23 | Version: 1.0.0