☸️ Kubernetes for Beginners — SCaLE Workshop

Welcome workshop participants! This repository contains everything you need to follow along with the Kubernetes for Beginners workshop at SCaLE (Southern California Linux Expo).

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🎯 What You'll Build

By the end of this workshop, you will have:

• ✅ A local Kubernetes cluster running with KIND
• ✅ A real app deployed with Namespaces, Deployments, and Pods
• ✅ A Service exposing your app inside the cluster
• ✅ Traefik Ingress routing external HTTP traffic (installed via Helm)
• ✅ ConfigMaps and Secrets injected into your app as env vars and mounted files
• ✅ Horizontal scaling and zero-downtime rolling updates
• ✅ A rollback strategy for bad deploys

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🗂️ Workshop Modules

#	Module	Time
0	Pre-Flight Checklist	15 min
1	Containers & Kubernetes Concepts	20 min
2	Creating Your KIND Cluster	20 min
3	Namespaces — Organizing Your Cluster	10 min
4	Deployments — Running Your App	25 min
5	Services — Internal Networking	20 min
6	Ingress — External Traffic Routing with Traefik	25 min
7	ConfigMaps & Secrets	20 min
8	Scaling & Rolling Updates	20 min
9	Bonus: Troubleshooting & Tips	open

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⚙️ Prerequisites

Tool	Min Version	Install
Docker Desktop	v24+	docs.docker.com/get-docker
kind	v0.23+	kind.sigs.k8s.io
kubectl	v1.29+	kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/tools
helm	v3.14+	helm.sh/docs/intro/install

💡 New to the command line? Check the scripts/ folder for helper shell scripts.

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Clone this repo

git clone https://github.com/faisalcodesinfrastructure/scale23x-k8s-workshop.git
cd scale23x-k8s-workshop

2. Pre-pull images

docker pull kindest/node:v1.29.0
docker pull traefik:v3.0

3. Create the KIND cluster

kind create cluster --name workshop --config manifests/kind-config.yaml
kubectl config use-context kind-workshop
kubectl wait --for=condition=Ready node --all --timeout=120s

4. Install Traefik Ingress Controller

helm repo add traefik https://traefik.github.io/charts
helm repo update
helm upgrade --install traefik traefik/traefik \
  --namespace traefik \
  --create-namespace \
  -f manifests/traefik-values.yaml \
  --wait

PowerShell:

helm repo add traefik https://traefik.github.io/charts
helm repo update
helm upgrade --install traefik traefik/traefik `
  --namespace traefik `
  --create-namespace `
  -f manifests/traefik-values.yaml `
  --wait

5. Build and load the workshop app

docker build -t k8s-workshop-demo:1.0.0 ./app
kind load docker-image k8s-workshop-demo:1.0.0 --name workshop

6. Apply all manifests

kubectl apply -f manifests/namespace.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifests/configmap.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifests/secret.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifests/deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifests/service.yaml
kubectl apply -f manifests/ingress.yaml
kubectl rollout status deployment/demo-app -n workshop-app --timeout=120s

7. Add hosts file entry

macOS / Linux / WSL:

echo '127.0.0.1 demo.local' | sudo tee -a /etc/hosts

Windows (PowerShell as Administrator):

Add-Content -Path "$env:SystemRoot\System32\drivers\etc\hosts" -Value "127.0.0.1 demo.local"

8. Verify

Open http://demo.local in your browser.

9. Follow the modules in order

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🧱 Repo Structure

k8s-workshop/
├── README.md                    ← You are here
├── manifests/                   ← All YAML files (apply these!)
│   ├── kind-config.yaml
│   ├── namespace.yaml
│   ├── deployment.yaml
│   ├── service.yaml
│   ├── ingress.yaml
│   ├── configmap.yaml
│   └── secret.yaml
├── app/                         ← Demo app source (optional)
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   └── index.html
├── modules/                     ← Step-by-step module guides
│   ├── 00-preflight/
│   ├── 01-concepts/
│   └── ...
├── scripts/                     ← Helper scripts
│   ├── setup.sh / setup.ps1
│   ├── teardown.sh / teardown.ps1
│   └── verify.sh / verify.ps1
└── docs/                        ← Extra reference material
    └── kubectl-cheatsheet.md

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🙌 About

Workshop presented at SCaLE Linux Expo by Faisal, a Principal Technical Consultant Lead at AHEAD, specializing in cloud-native transformations, platform engineering, and enterprise architecture.

A CNCF Ambassador and Platform Engineering Ambassador and organizer of Cloud Native LA.

• 🐦 Questions? Open an Issue
• 💬 Join CNCF Slack — #kubernetes channel
• 📚 Official Kubernetes Docs

🔗 Connect

• 💼 Company: AHEAD
• 🌐 Community: Cloud Native LA
• 🐦 Questions? Open an Issue or reach out on LinkedIn

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If you found this workshop helpful, consider giving the repo a ⭐ — it helps others find it!