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Kubernetes From Zero to Production

A staged course for learning Kubernetes by building a real production path on DigitalOcean droplets. Start with the overview.

Course Stages

00

Orientation

Course goals, the stack chosen, cost expectations, and how to use the lessons.01

Workstation Setup

Install every CLI tool the course uses on Linux or macOS and authenticate the services.02

Fundamentals (Local)

Learn the core objects on a free local kind cluster and build the minimal Express app.03

Cluster on DigitalOcean

Provision droplets and install Kubernetes with kubeadm and Cilium - twice, for staging and prod.04

Edge: Ingress and TLS

Traefik, cert-manager, a real domain, and real Let’s Encrypt HTTPS.05

Image Pipeline

Build images with Kaniko in GitHub Actions and push to the DigitalOcean Container Registry.06

CI Gates

Lint, tests, manifest validation, and Trivy scans gating every pull request.07

Manifests with Kustomize

A base plus staging and prod overlays, deployed from CI with kubectl apply -k.08

Sealed Secrets

Encrypt secrets so they can be committed to git, decrypted only by the in-cluster controller.09

Observability

Prometheus, VictoriaMetrics, Grafana, Alertmanager, and Express RED dashboards.10

Hardening

Scoped RBAC, default-deny NetworkPolicies, Pod Security Standards, Trivy enforcement.11

Cluster Health and Backups

Control-plane and node monitoring, scheduled etcd snapshots, and a full restore drill.12

Production Polish

Requests/limits, PodDisruptionBudgets, graceful SIGTERM, and rollback drills.13

GitOps with ArgoCD

Migrate from push deploys to pull-based GitOps and compare both models.14

Ship the Course Site

Publish this Docusaurus site to Appliku with a custom domain and auto-deploys.

Core Threads

Self-managed servers

The course installs Kubernetes on DigitalOcean droplets with kubeadm and Cilium - no DOKS.

Repo-owned manifests

Every application keeps its Kubernetes files in its own repository, structured with Kustomize.

CI-driven delivery

GitHub Actions builds with Kaniko, gates merges with status checks, and deploys to the cluster.

Production visibility

Metrics, dashboards, and alerts are part of the course path, not an appendix.