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**Kubernetes topics**

  * What is Kubernetes? 
  * Kubernetes 101 
  * What is KubeCon? 
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  * Kubernetes vs Docker 
  * What are the components of Kubernetes? 
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  * What are the challenges of using Kubernetes? 
  * What is managed Kubernetes? 
  * How to get started with Kubernetes 
  * Kubernetes for developers 

#  What is Kubernetes?

![](/a/ocom/img/yt-video-thumbnail-zofbcxbcjfg.jpg)

Often described as the “operating system for the cloud,” Kubernetes is an open
source platform for managing clusters of containerized applications and
services. Developed by Google engineers Joe Beda, Brendan Burns, and Craig
McLuckie in 2014 and open sourced shortly thereafter, Kubernetes soon became a
thriving, cloud native ecosystem in its own right. Today, Kubernetes—which
means “helmsman” or “pilot” in ancient Greek—is managed by the [ Cloud Native
Computing Foundation (CNCF) ](https://www.cncf.io/) , an arm of the Linux
Foundation.

Kubernetes was the first graduated project for the CNCF, and it became one of
the fastest growing open source projects in history. Kubernetes now has more
than 2,300 contributors, and has been widely adopted by companies large and
small, including half of the Fortune 100.

[ Learn more about Container Engine for Kubernetes ](/cloud/cloud-
native/container-engine-kubernetes/)

##  Kubernetes 101—Key terms

To begin with, here are a few key terms related to Kubernetes. There is a more
exhaustive list available on the Kubernetes Standardized Glossary page. You
can also leverage the [ Kubernetes Cheat Sheet
](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/kubectl/cheatsheet/) , which contains a
list of commonly used kubectl commands and flags.

####  Cluster

Is a set of machines individually referred to as nodes used to run
containerized applications managed by Kubernetes.

####  Node

Is either a virtual or physical machine. A cluster consists of a master node
and a number of worker nodes.

####  Cloud Container

Is an image that contains software and its dependencies.

####  Pod

Is a single container or a set of containers running on your Kubernetes
cluster.

####  Deployment

Is an object that manages replicated applications represented by pods. Pods
are deployed onto the nodes of a cluster.

####  Replicaset

Ensures that a specified number of pod replicas are running at one time.

####  Service

Describes how to access applications represented by a set of pods. Services
typically describe ports and load balancers, and can be used to control
internal and external access to a cluster.

[ Kubernetes documentation ](https://kubernetes.io/docs/home/)

##  What is KubeCon?

KubeCon is the annual conference for Kubernetes developers and users. Since
the first KubeCon in 2015 with 500 attendees, KubeCon has grown to become an
important event for the cloud native community. In 2019, the San Diego,
California edition of KubeCon drew 12,000 developers and site reliability
engineers who were celebrating the open source