API Deprecation Policy

• read up on Kubernetes API -> https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/overview/kubernetes-api/

• deprecation - process of providing advanced warning of changes to the API, giving consumers time to update their code/processes

• read up on the deprecation policy -> https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/deprecation-policy/

• apiVersion - field on a Kubernetes object that indicates which version of the API it is designed to be compatible with

• deprecation window - period after deprecation that API versions are still supported

  • GA (general availability) versions are supported the longer of 12 months or 3 releases after being deprecated

• migration guide - details on API changes with each version of Kubernetes

  • read up -> https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/using-api/deprecation-guide/

Probes and Health Checks

• Probe - part of the container spec that allows you to customize how Kubernetes detects the state of a container

  • probes can run a command inside the container, e.g. making an HTTP request or attempting a TCP socket connection

• read up on container probes -> https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/pods/pod-lifecycle/#container-probes

• how to configure -> https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-liveness-readiness-startup-probes/

Types of Probes

• Liveness - probes that check whether a container is healthy; unhealthy means it needs restarted

sample Pod with a livenessProbe that uses a shell command to check healthiness

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  labels:
    test: liveness
  name: liveness-exec
spec:
  containers:
  - name: liveness
    image: k8s.gcr.io/busybox
    args:
    - /bin/sh
    - -c
    - touch /tmp/healthy; sleep 30; rm -f /tmp/healthy; sleep 600
    livenessProbe:
      exec:
        command:
        - cat
        - /tmp/healthy
      initialDelaySeconds: 5
      periodSeconds: 5

sample Pod with a livenessProbe that uses HTTP to check healthiness

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  labels:
    test: liveness
  name: liveness-http
spec:
  containers:
  - name: liveness
    image: k8s.gcr.io/liveness
    args:
    - /server
    livenessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /healthz
        port: 8080
        httpHeaders:
        - name: Custom-Header
          value: Awesome
      initialDelaySeconds: 3
      periodSeconds: 3

• Readiness - probes that determine when a container is fully started up and ready to receive user traffic

sample Pod with a readinessProbe and livenessProbe that tries making a TCP connection to check readiness and healthiness

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: goproxy
  labels:
    app: goproxy
spec:
  containers:
  - name: goproxy
    image: k8s.gcr.io/goproxy:0.1
    ports:
    - containerPort: 8080
    readinessProbe:
      tcpSocket:
        port: 8080
      initialDelaySeconds: 5
      periodSeconds: 10
    livenessProbe:
      tcpSocket:
        port: 8080
      initialDelaySeconds: 15
      periodSeconds: 20

• Startup - probes that check container health during startup for slow-starting containers

Monitoring

• monitoring - process of gathering data on the performance of containerized applications

• access data with Metrics API

  1. install Metrics Server (component that gathers the metrics data for the Metrics API to return) -> https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server -> kubectl apply -f https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/metrics-server/releases/latest/download/components.yaml
  2. use kubectl top to view metrics data (Pod resource usage) once the Metrics Server gathered it (takes a few moments to gather data)

Container Logging

• container log - stores stdout/stderr console output for each container

  • kubectl logs [-f] [-p] POD [-c CONTAINER] - use to view logs
  • https://jamesdefabia.github.io/docs/user-guide/kubectl/kubectl_logs/
  • Data written to standard output will appear in the container log

Debugging

• high-level process

  1. locate the problem - identify which component(s) are not working
  2. gather info on broken components
  3. make changes

• check object status - quick way to locate broken Pod in the cluster

  • use kubectl get pods to check the status of all Pods in a Namespace
  • https://jamesdefabia.github.io/docs/user-guide/kubectl/kubectl_get/

• check object configuration - gather more information on the relevant object(s)

  • use kubectl describe (-f FILENAME | TYPE [NAME_PREFIX | -l label] | TYPE/NAME) or view the full object manifest

• check logs - container level and potentially cluster level to get more insight into what’s going on

  • use kubectl logs [-f] [-p] POD [-c CONTAINER] to view container logs