Description: Linux containers have exploded in popularity and usage over the last 5 years and Kubernetes is the leading container orchestration platform. It was originally created at Google but is open-source and home to thousands of contributors, yet is often cited as being overly complex or unfriendly to understand, install and operate.

This talk assumes only that the audience know what containers are (though won't necessarily have used them) and through the use of practical examples will: - Summarise the need for container orchestrators and discuss the properties of Kubernetes that made it so popular - Show the Kubernetes primitives and how to use them for constructing and deploying software applications - Explain the architecture of the Kubernetes tooling and how it's components interact - Cover how the platform can (and is being) extended by the community to support more complex applications and use cases

Abstract: Since it's inception at Google 3 years ago, Kubernetes has surged ahead as the dominant container orchestration platform, boasting a healthy ecosystem and thousands of contributors. But at nearly 2 million lines of code and near-continual feature sprawl, it is often cited that Kubernetes is overly complex and unfriendly to understand, install, configure and operate.

If you're planning on deploying containers and Kubernetes, understanding the main primitives and overall system architecture are key pre-requisites. Even if you aim to deploy to one of the major cloud providers (where often the control plane is managed), an appreciation of the behaviours and concepts that underpin the system will reduce much of the operations pain when ready to deploy to production.

So do you know your pods from your deployments? Are you fluentd in logging and monitoring containers? Do you believe in kubicorns?

In this talk, we will look briefly at why container orchestration is so important, and the properties of Kubernetes that enabled it to capture much of the orchestration mind-share. We'll examine the resource types provided by Kubernetes for us to construct and deploy software applications in a scalable, secure and portable way by walking through clear and practical demo examples. Finally, we'll dive into the architecture of Kubernetes, and explain how all of the composite components interact to deliver the full platform.

After attending this talk you'll definitely be ready to take the Helm!