Container Platforms Administration with Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift Training Course

Day 1 – Containers and Image Management

Introduction to Container Platforms

• Comparison of traditional application deployment versus container-based deployment
• Differences between containers and virtual machines
• Container runtimes and container engines
• The specific roles of Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift
• Standard container platform architectures
• Workflows for development, testing, and production

Working with Containers

• Executing and managing containers
• The container lifecycle
• Starting, stopping, and deleting containers
• Running commands within containers
• Managing environment variables
• Port mapping techniques
• Reviewing container logs
• Monitoring resource usage and inspecting processes

Building Container Images

• Image structure and layering
• Creating Dockerfiles and Containerfiles
• Choosing appropriate base images
• Installing application dependencies
• Setting entry points and commands
• Implementing image caching
• Optimizing image size
• Creating reproducible images

Container Registries

• Public and private registry options
• Tagging and versioning strategies
• Pushing and pulling images
• Image authentication methods
• Image retention and cleanup policies
• Basic image security considerations

Container Networking and Storage

• Core container network concepts
• Bridge networking configurations
• Exposing ports
• Communication between containers
• Using bind mounts and volumes
• Managing persistent container data
• Backup considerations for data

Hands-on Exercises

• Run and inspect container instances
• Build a custom application image
• Set up ports and environment variables
• Publish an image to a registry
• Store persistent data externally

Day 2 – Kubernetes Architecture and Workloads

Kubernetes Fundamentals

• The purpose of container orchestration
• Overview of Kubernetes architecture
• Control plane components
• Worker node functions
• The API server
• The Scheduler
• Controller managers
• Cluster state versus desired state
• Interacting with the cluster via kubectl

Kubernetes Resources

• Pods
• ReplicaSets
• Deployments
• Namespaces
• Labels and annotations
• Selectors
• Declarative resource definitions
• YAML manifest files

Deploying Applications

• Creating and managing Deployments
• Scaling workloads up and down
• Updating container images
• Implementing rolling updates
• Performing rollbacks
• Reviewing deployment history
• Restarting workloads
• Managing application replicas

Application Configuration

• ConfigMaps
• Secrets management
• Using environment variables
• Managing configuration files
• Separating code from configuration
• Handling environment-specific settings

Resource Management

• CPU and memory requests
• CPU and memory limits
• Resource quotas
• Limit ranges
• Impact on scheduling
• Diagnosing resource-related failures

Hands-on Exercises

• Deploy a containerized application
• Create and modify Kubernetes manifests
• Scale an application instance
• Execute a rolling update and rollback
• Configure settings using ConfigMaps and Secrets
• Apply resource requests and limits

Day 3 – Kubernetes Networking, Storage, and Security

Kubernetes Networking

• The cluster networking model
• Pod-to-pod communication
• Service discovery mechanisms
• Internal DNS resolution
• ClusterIP services
• NodePort services
• LoadBalancer services
• Ingress concepts
• Application exposure patterns

Network Policies

• Controlling traffic between workloads
• Defining ingress and egress rules
• Namespace-based traffic control
• Testing network connectivity
• Troubleshooting service communication issues

Persistent Storage

• Ephemeral versus persistent storage
• Volumes
• PersistentVolumes
• PersistentVolumeClaims
• StorageClasses
• Dynamic provisioning
• Access modes
• Reclaim policies
• Storage strategies for stateful applications

Kubernetes Access Control

• Authentication and authorization concepts
• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Roles and ClusterRoles
• RoleBindings and ClusterRoleBindings
• Service accounts
• Implementing least-privilege access
• Inspecting effective permissions

Workload Security

• Security contexts
• Running containers as non-root users
• Linux capabilities
• Read-only filesystems
• Handling secrets securely
• Verifying image provenance
• Identifying common configuration risks

Hands-on Exercises

• Expose an application via Kubernetes services
• Configure ingress resources
• Restrict traffic with a network policy
• Provision persistent storage
• Set up RBAC permissions
• Run a workload with a secure context

Day 4 – Working with OpenShift Environments

Introduction to OpenShift

• OpenShift as a Kubernetes-based platform
• Mapping Kubernetes resources in OpenShift
• OpenShift cluster architecture
• Projects and their relation to namespaces
• Platform users and service accounts
• Navigating the web console
• Using the OpenShift CLI

Managing Projects and Access

• Creating and managing projects
• Assigning user permissions
• Project-level role definitions
• Administrative access levels
• Setting resource quotas
• Configuring limit ranges
• Managing service accounts
• Reviewing project resources

Deploying Applications

• Deploying container images
• Creating application workloads
• Managing deployments
• Scaling applications
• Updating application versions
• Executing rollbacks
• Managing application configuration
• Working with secrets

Application Exposure

• Services in the OpenShift context
• Configuring Routes
• TLS concepts
• Internal and external access methods
• Managing hostnames and certificates
• Diagnosing route and service issues

Storage in OpenShift

• Using Persistent Volume Claims
• Utilizing StorageClasses
• Attaching storage to workloads
• Managing stateful workloads
• Setting storage access permissions
• Troubleshooting volume mounting issues

Scheduling and Node Management

• Using labels and selectors
• Applying node selectors
• Taints and tolerations
• Affinity and anti-affinity rules
• Workload placement strategies
• Cordoning and draining nodes
• Considerations for node maintenance

Hands-on Exercises

• Access an OpenShift environment
• Create and configure a project
• Deploy and expose an application
• Set up user and service-account access
• Attach persistent storage
• Scale and update a live workload

Day 5 – Operations, Monitoring, and Troubleshooting

Platform Monitoring

• Monitoring cluster and application health
• Tracking resource metrics
• Assessing node health
• Checking workload status
• Analyzing capacity and resource utilization
• Identifying performance bottlenecks

Logging and Events

• Reviewing container logs
• Analyzing Pod logs
• Accessing previous container logs
• Inspecting Kubernetes events
• Reading application and platform messages
• Filtering and interpreting operational data

Health Checks

• Startup probes
• Readiness probes
• Liveness probes
• Designing effective health endpoints
• Diagnosing probe failures
• Preventing unnecessary application restarts

Troubleshooting Workloads

• Investigating Pending pods
• Resolving image pull failures
• Addressing Crash loops
• Fixing misconfigured environment variables
• Resolving failed mounts
• Handling insufficient resources
• Correcting permission errors
• Fixing service and route connectivity issues
• Resolving DNS problems
• Diagnosing application startup failures

Operational Security

• Auditing permissions
• Monitoring service account usage
• Securing credential handling
• Implementing image security practices
• Enforcing network isolation
• Auditing platform access
• Applying the principle of least privilege

Maintenance and Lifecycle Management

• Performing routine platform checks
• Managing node maintenance
• Considering application backup strategies
• Backing up configurations
• Planning updates
• Implementing change management
• Testing updates in safe environments
• Planning rollbacks
• Understanding disaster recovery concepts

Final Practical Workshop

Participants will complete an end-to-end operational scenario that includes:

• Building and tagging a container image.
• Publishing the image to a registry.
• Deploying the application to Kubernetes or OpenShift.
• Configuring application settings and credentials.
• Exposing the application to users.
• Attaching persistent storage.
• Configuring access permissions.
• Adding health checks.
• Scaling and updating the application.
• Diagnosing and resolving an injected failure.

Course Format

• Interactive lectures and technical discussions.
• Instructor-led demonstrations.
• Extensive hands-on exercises.
• Scenario-based administration and troubleshooting workshops.
• Practical work in container, Kubernetes, and OpenShift environments.

Course Customization Options

• The curriculum can be tailored to the participant's existing infrastructure, cloud provider, and container tooling.
• The depth of Docker, Kubernetes, and OpenShift topics can be adjusted based on the team's experience level.
• Practical exercises can be customized to match the organization's specific applications, deployment processes, and operational needs.

Trademark Notice

OpenShift is a trademark of Red Hat, Inc. This independently developed training is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by Red Hat.