Introduction to AKS

1. Introduction to AKS

In this video, we'll explore Azure Kubernetes Service and understand why Kubernetes is such a powerful tool for container orchestration.

2. What is Kubernetes?

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications. It provides a framework to run distributed systems resiliently, handling scaling and fail-over, and offering tools for deployment patterns. Instead of manually managing containers, Kubernetes organizes them into logical units called pods and ensures they run reliably across a cluster of machines. This orchestration makes Kubernetes the backbone of modern cloud-native applications.

3. Azure Kubernetes Service

All major cloud providers offer their own customized Kubernetes distributions, each enhanced with provider-specific improvements and features. Azure Kubernetes Service, or AKS, is Microsoft's managed Kubernetes offering. Running Kubernetes yourself can be complex, requiring you to manage upgrades, patching, and scaling of the control plane. AKS removes that complexity by handling the control plane for you, while still giving you full access to the worker nodes where your applications run.

4. Benefits of AKS

Benefits include simplified cluster management, tight integration with Azure services like Monitor and Entra ID, and built-in security features such as role-based access control. For developers, this means focusing on applications rather than infrastructure. For organizations, it means faster adoption of Kubernetes with reduced operational overhead.

5. AKS architecture

An AKS cluster has two main parts: the control plane and the worker nodes.

6. AKS architecture

The control plane, managed entirely by Azure, is responsible for scheduling workloads, scaling, and monitoring cluster health.

7. AKS architecture

Worker nodes are the virtual machines that run your containerized applications. Each node runs a kubelet agent, which communicates with the control plane to ensure containers are running as expected. Nodes provide CPU, memory, and storage resources for your applications.

8. AKS architecture

The smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes is the pod. A pod usually contains one container, but can host multiple tightly coupled containers that share resources. Pods are ephemeral - they can be created, destroyed, or rescheduled by Kubernetes as needed.

9. AKS architecture

The pod is the component that actually exposes your application to the cluster. It runs the containerized workload and makes it available to other pods, services or end users.

10. When to use AKS vs ACI

Azure Container Instances are great for quick, single-container workloads, but AKS is designed for complex, long-running applications that need orchestration. If you need features like load balancing, rolling updates, or automatic scaling across multiple containers, Azure Kubernetes Service is the right choice. Many teams start with Azure Container Instances for experimentation and then move to AKS as their applications grow. Together, they provide a flexible path from simple deployments to enterprise-grade orchestration, giving you options depending on workload complexity.

11. Let's practice!

Let's reinforce these concepts, answer the questions to verify your understanding.

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