Scaling and Updating Applications with Kubernetes

In this guided project, you will explore container application management with Kubernetes. A container is a software package that contains application code including libraries and dependencies. Containers are very portable, running on desktops, on-premises servers, or in the cloud. Kubernetes, the leader in container orchestration, manages large clusters of containers. Kubernetes provides a way to schedule, deploy, and scale containers.

When you start the guided project, you will build and push a Docker application image to the IBM Cloud Container Registry. An image is simply a file with code that you execute to build containers. You will explore deployments of your application with Kubernetes.

A Kubernetes ReplicaSet is a deployment object that ensures stability for a workload. You will discover how to manage heightened load by scaling up with the Kubernetes scale command and confirm that Kubernetes is load-balancing across replicas in clusters. Then you will  scale down your deployment.

You will practice using a rolling update, which is an easy way to update your application in an automated and controlled fashion. Then you will create different versions of your application and discover how to update the deployment for a new application.

Next you will work with ConfigMaps and Secrets, which are objects used to store configuration information separate from the code so that nothing is hardcoded. These objects also let the application pick up configuration changes without needing to be redeployed. You will store a message in a ConfigMap and update the message by creating a new ConfigMap.

This guided project will give you a great start in application deployment, scaling, and updating with cloud containers.

A Look at the Project Ahead
Once you have completed this project, you'll be able to:

What You’ll Need
Just a web browser and an IBM Cloud account!

Everything else is provided to you via the IBM Skills Network Labs environment. This platform works best with current versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Internet Explorer, or Safari.

Knowledge of command line interface (CLI) usage will be helpful.

Your Instructors
Upkar Lidder
Alex Parker