📘 Kubernetes Docs — Personal Reference (CKA Focused)

A curated collection of official Kubernetes documentation links for quick navigation and CKA prep. Grouped by topic, sorted by importance.

📌 General Docs

🚀 Getting Started

Concepts

  • Overview
    • Kubernetes Components
    • Objects In Kubernetes
      • Kubernetes Object Management
      • Object Names and IDs
      • Labels and Selectors
      • Namespaces
      • Annotations
      • Field Selectors
      • Finalizers
      • Owners and Dependents
      • Recommended Labels
    • The Kubernetes API
  • Cluster Architecture
    • Nodes
    • Communication between Nodes and the Control Plane
    • Controllers
    • Leases
    • Cloud Controller Manager
    • About cgroup v2
    • Kubernetes Self-Healing
    • Container Runtime Interface (CRI)
    • Garbage Collection
    • Mixed Version Proxy
  • Containers
    • Images
    • Container Environment
    • Runtime Class
    • Container Lifecycle Hooks
  • Workloads
    • Pods
      • Pod Lifecycle
      • Init Containers
      • Sidecar Containers
      • Ephemeral Containers
      • Disruptions
      • Pod Quality of Service Classes
      • User Namespaces
      • Downward API
    • Workload Management
      • Deployments
      • ReplicaSet
      • StatefulSets
      • DaemonSet
      • Jobs
      • Automatic Cleanup for Finished Jobs
      • CronJob
      • ReplicationController
    • Autoscaling Workloads
    • Managing Workloads
  • Services, Load Balancing, and Networking
    • Service
    • Ingress
    • Ingress Controllers
    • Gateway API
    • EndpointSlices
    • Network Policies
    • DNS for Services and Pods
    • IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack
    • Topology Aware Routing
    • Networking on Windows
    • Service ClusterIP allocation
    • Service Internal Traffic Policy
  • Storage
    • Volumes
    • Persistent Volumes
    • Projected Volumes
    • Ephemeral Volumes
    • Storage Classes
    • Volume Attributes Classes
    • Dynamic Volume Provisioning
    • Volume Snapshots
    • Volume Snapshot Classes
    • CSI Volume Cloning
    • Storage Capacity
    • Node-specific Volume Limits
    • Volume Health Monitoring
    • Windows Storage
  • Configuration
    • Configuration Best Practices
    • ConfigMaps
    • Secrets
    • Liveness, Readiness, and Startup Probes
    • Resource Management for Pods and Containers
    • Organizing Cluster Access Using kubeconfig Files
    • Resource Management for Windows nodes
  • Security
    • Cloud Native Security
    • Pod Security Standards
    • Pod Security Admission
    • Service Accounts
    • Pod Security Policies
    • Security For Windows Nodes
    • Controlling Access to the Kubernetes API
    • Role Based Access Control Good Practices
    • Good practices for Kubernetes Secrets
    • Multi-tenancy
    • Hardening Guide - Authentication Mechanisms
    • Kubernetes API Server Bypass Risks
    • Linux kernel security constraints for Pods and containers
    • Security Checklist
    • Application Security Checklist
  • Policies
    • Limit Ranges
    • Resource Quotas
    • Process ID Limits And Reservations
    • Node Resource Managers
  • Scheduling, Preemption and Eviction
    • Kubernetes Scheduler
    • Assigning Pods to Nodes
    • Pod Overhead
    • Pod Scheduling Readiness
    • Pod Topology Spread Constraints
    • Taints and Tolerations
    • Scheduling Framework
    • Dynamic Resource Allocation
    • Scheduler Performance Tuning
    • Resource Bin Packing
    • Pod Priority and Preemption
    • Node-pressure Eviction
    • API-initiated Eviction
  • Cluster Administration
    • Node Shutdowns
    • Node Autoscaling
    • Certificates
    • Cluster Networking
    • Admission Webhook Good Practices
    • Logging Architecture
    • Compatibility Version For Kubernetes Control Plane Components
    • Metrics For Kubernetes System Components
    • Metrics for Kubernetes Object States
    • System Logs
    • Traces For Kubernetes System Components
    • Proxies in Kubernetes
    • API Priority and Fairness
    • Installing Addons
    • Coordinated Leader Election
  • Windows in Kubernetes
    • Windows containers in Kubernetes
    • Guide for Running Windows Containers in Kubernetes
  • Extending Kubernetes
    • Compute, Storage, and Networking Extensions
      • Network Plugins
      • Device Plugins
    • Extending the Kubernetes API
      • Custom Resources
      • Kubernetes API Aggregation Layer
    • Operator pattern

Tasks

  • Install Tools
    • Install and Set Up kubectl on Linux
    • Install and Set Up kubectl on macOS
    • Install and Set Up kubectl on Windows
  • Administer a Cluster
    • Administration with kubeadm
      • Adding Linux worker nodes
      • Adding Windows worker nodes
      • Upgrading kubeadm clusters
      • Upgrading Linux nodes
      • Upgrading Windows nodes
      • Configuring a cgroup driver
      • Certificate Management with kubeadm
      • Reconfiguring a kubeadm cluster
      • Changing The Kubernetes Package Repository
    • Overprovision Node Capacity For A Cluster
    • Migrating from dockershim
      • Changing the Container Runtime on a Node from Docker Engine to containerd
      • Find Out What Container Runtime is Used on a Node
      • Troubleshooting CNI plugin-related errors
      • Check whether dockershim removal affects you
      • Migrating telemetry and security agents from dockershim
    • Generate Certificates Manually
    • Manage Memory, CPU, and API Resources
      • Configure Default Memory Requests and Limits for a Namespace
      • Configure Default CPU Requests and Limits for a Namespace
      • Configure Minimum and Maximum Memory Constraints for a Namespace
      • Configure Minimum and Maximum CPU Constraints for a Namespace
      • Configure Memory and CPU Quotas for a Namespace
      • Configure a Pod Quota for a Namespace
    • Install a Network Policy Provider
      • Use Antrea for NetworkPolicy
      • Use Calico for NetworkPolicy
      • Use Cilium for NetworkPolicy
      • Use Kube-router for NetworkPolicy
      • Romana for NetworkPolicy
      • Weave Net for NetworkPolicy
    • Access Clusters Using the Kubernetes API
    • Advertise Extended Resources for a Node
    • Autoscale the DNS Service in a Cluster
    • Change the Access Mode of a PersistentVolume to ReadWriteOncePod
    • Change the default StorageClass
    • Switching from Polling to CRI Event-based Updates to Container Status
    • Change the Reclaim Policy of a PersistentVolume
    • Cloud Controller Manager Administration
    • Configure a kubelet image credential provider
    • Configure Quotas for API Objects
    • Control CPU Management Policies on the Node
    • Control Topology Management Policies on a node
    • Customizing DNS Service
    • Debugging DNS Resolution
    • Declare Network Policy
    • Developing Cloud Controller Manager
    • Enable Or Disable A Kubernetes API
    • Encrypting Confidential Data at Rest
    • Decrypt Confidential Data that is Already Encrypted at Rest
    • Guaranteed Scheduling For Critical Add-On Pods
    • IP Masquerade Agent User Guide
    • Limit Storage Consumption
    • Migrate Replicated Control Plane To Use Cloud Controller Manager
    • Namespaces Walkthrough
    • Operating etcd clusters for Kubernetes
    • Reserve Compute Resources for System Daemons
    • Running Kubernetes Node Components as a Non-root User
    • Safely Drain a Node
    • Securing a Cluster
    • Set Kubelet Parameters Via A Configuration File
    • Share a Cluster with Namespaces
    • Upgrade A Cluster
    • Use Cascading Deletion in a Cluster
    • Using a KMS provider for data encryption
    • Using CoreDNS for Service Discovery
    • Using NodeLocal DNSCache in Kubernetes Clusters
    • Using sysctls in a Kubernetes Cluster
    • Utilizing the NUMA-aware Memory Manager
    • Verify Signed Kubernetes Artifacts
  • Configure Pods and Containers
    • Assign Memory Resources to Containers and Pods
    • Assign CPU Resources to Containers and Pods
    • Assign Pod-level CPU and memory resources
    • Configure GMSA for Windows Pods and containers
    • Resize CPU and Memory Resources assigned to Containers
    • Configure RunAsUserName for Windows pods and containers
    • Create a Windows HostProcess Pod
    • Configure Quality of Service for Pods
    • Assign Extended Resources to a Container
    • Configure a Pod to Use a Volume for Storage
    • Configure a Pod to Use a PersistentVolume for Storage
    • Configure a Pod to Use a Projected Volume for Storage
    • Configure a Security Context for a Pod or Container
    • Configure Service Accounts for Pods
    • Pull an Image from a Private Registry
    • Configure Liveness, Readiness and Startup Probes
    • Assign Pods to Nodes
    • Assign Pods to Nodes using Node Affinity
    • Configure Pod Initialization
    • Attach Handlers to Container Lifecycle Events
    • Configure a Pod to Use a ConfigMap
    • Share Process Namespace between Containers in a Pod
    • Use a User Namespace With a Pod
    • Use an Image Volume With a Pod
    • Create static Pods
    • Translate a Docker Compose File to Kubernetes Resources
    • Enforce Pod Security Standards by Configuring the Built-in Admission Controller
    • Enforce Pod Security Standards with Namespace Labels
    • Migrate from PodSecurityPolicy to the Built-In PodSecurity Admission Controller
  • Monitoring, Logging, and Debugging
    • Troubleshooting Applications
      • Debug Pods
      • Debug Services
      • Debug a StatefulSet
      • Determine the Reason for Pod Failure
      • Debug Init Containers
      • Debug Running Pods
      • Get a Shell to a Running Container
    • Troubleshooting Clusters
      • Troubleshooting kubectl
      • Resource metrics pipeline
      • Tools for Monitoring Resources
      • Monitor Node Health
      • Debugging Kubernetes nodes with crictl
      • Auditing
      • Debugging Kubernetes Nodes With Kubectl
      • Developing and debugging services locally using telepresence
      • Windows debugging tips
  • Manage Kubernetes Objects
    • Declarative Management of Kubernetes Objects Using Configuration Files
    • Declarative Management of Kubernetes Objects Using Kustomize
    • Managing Kubernetes Objects Using Imperative Commands
    • Imperative Management of Kubernetes Objects Using Configuration Files
    • Update API Objects in Place Using kubectl patch
    • Migrate Kubernetes Objects Using Storage Version Migration
  • Managing Secrets
    • Managing Secrets using kubectl
    • Managing Secrets using Configuration File
    • Managing Secrets using Kustomize
  • Inject Data Into Applications
    • Define a Command and Arguments for a Container
    • Define Dependent Environment Variables
    • Define Environment Variables for a Container
    • Expose Pod Information to Containers Through Environment Variables
    • Expose Pod Information to Containers Through Files
    • Distribute Credentials Securely Using Secrets
  • Run Applications
    • Run a Stateless Application Using a Deployment
    • Run a Single-Instance Stateful Application
    • Run a Replicated Stateful Application
    • Scale a StatefulSet
    • Delete a StatefulSet
    • Force Delete StatefulSet Pods
    • Horizontal Pod Autoscaling
    • HorizontalPodAutoscaler Walkthrough
    • Specifying a Disruption Budget for your Application
    • Accessing the Kubernetes API from a Pod
  • Run Jobs
    • Running Automated Tasks with a CronJob
    • Coarse Parallel Processing Using a Work Queue
    • Fine Parallel Processing Using a Work Queue
    • Indexed Job for Parallel Processing with Static Work Assignment
    • Job with Pod-to-Pod Communication
    • Parallel Processing using Expansions
    • Handling retriable and non-retriable pod failures with Pod failure policy
  • Access Applications in a Cluster
    • Deploy and Access the Kubernetes Dashboard
    • Accessing Clusters
    • Configure Access to Multiple Clusters
    • Use Port Forwarding to Access Applications in a Cluster
    • Use a Service to Access an Application in a Cluster
    • Connect a Frontend to a Backend Using Services
    • Create an External Load Balancer
    • List All Container Images Running in a Cluster
    • Set up Ingress on Minikube with the NGINX Ingress Controller
    • Communicate Between Containers in the Same Pod Using a Shared Volume
    • Configure DNS for a Cluster
    • Access Services Running on Clusters
  • Extend Kubernetes
  • TLS
  • Manage Cluster Daemons
    • Building a Basic DaemonSet
    • Perform a Rolling Update on a DaemonSet
    • Perform a Rollback on a DaemonSet
    • Running Pods on Only Some Nodes
  • Networking
    • Adding entries to Pod /etc/hosts with HostAliases
    • Extend Service IP Ranges
    • Validate IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack
  • Extend kubectl with plugins
  • Manage HugePages
  • Schedule GPUs

Tutorials

  • Hello Minikube
  • Learn Kubernetes Basics
    • Create a Cluster
      • Using Minikube to Create a Cluster
    • Deploy an App
      • Using kubectl to Create a Deployment
    • Explore Your App
      • Viewing Pods and Nodes
    • Expose Your App Publicly
      • Using a Service to Expose Your App
    • Scale Your App
      • Running Multiple Instances of Your App
    • Update Your App
      • Performing a Rolling Update
  • Configuration
    • Updating Configuration via a ConfigMap
    • Configuring Redis using a ConfigMap
    • Adopting Sidecar Containers
  • Security
    • Apply Pod Security Standards at the Cluster Level
    • Apply Pod Security Standards at the Namespace Level
    • Restrict a Container's Access to Resources with AppArmor
    • Restrict a Container's Syscalls with seccomp
  • Stateless Applications
    • Exposing an External IP Address to Access an Application in a Cluster
    • Example: Deploying PHP Guestbook application with Redis
  • Stateful Applications
    • StatefulSet Basics
    • Example: Deploying WordPress and MySQL with Persistent Volumes
    • Example: Deploying Cassandra with a StatefulSet
    • Running ZooKeeper, A Distributed System Coordinator
  • Cluster Management
    • Running Kubelet in Standalone Mode
  • Services
    • Connecting Applications with Services
    • Using Source IP
    • Explore Termination Behavior for Pods And Their Endpoints

Reference

  • Glossary
  • API Overview
    • Kubernetes API Concepts
    • Server-Side Apply
    • Client Libraries
    • Common Expression Language in Kubernetes
    • Kubernetes Deprecation Policy
    • Deprecated API Migration Guide
    • Kubernetes API health endpoints
  • API Access Control
    • Authenticating
    • Authenticating with Bootstrap Tokens
    • Authorization
    • Using RBAC Authorization
    • Using Node Authorization
    • Webhook Mode
    • Using ABAC Authorization
    • Admission Control
    • Dynamic Admission Control
    • Managing Service Accounts
    • Certificates and Certificate Signing Requests
    • Mapping PodSecurityPolicies to Pod Security Standards
    • Kubelet authentication/authorization
    • TLS bootstrapping
    • Mutating Admission Policy
    • Validating Admission Policy
  • Well-Known Labels, Annotations and Taints
    • Audit Annotations
  • Kubernetes API
    • Workload Resources
      • Pod
      • Binding
      • PodTemplate
      • ReplicationController
      • ReplicaSet
      • Deployment
      • StatefulSet
      • ControllerRevision
      • DaemonSet
      • Job
      • CronJob
      • HorizontalPodAutoscaler
      • HorizontalPodAutoscaler
      • PriorityClass
      • PodSchedulingContext v1alpha3
      • ResourceClaim v1alpha3
      • ResourceClaim v1beta1
      • ResourceClaimTemplate v1alpha3
      • ResourceClaimTemplate v1beta1
      • ResourceSlice v1alpha3
      • ResourceSlice v1beta1
    • Service Resources
      • Service
      • Endpoints
      • EndpointSlice
      • Ingress
      • IngressClass
    • Config and Storage Resources
      • ConfigMap
      • Secret
      • CSIDriver
      • CSINode
      • CSIStorageCapacity
      • PersistentVolumeClaim
      • PersistentVolume
      • StorageClass
      • StorageVersionMigration v1alpha1
      • Volume
      • VolumeAttachment
      • VolumeAttributesClass v1beta1
    • Authentication Resources
      • ServiceAccount
      • TokenRequest
      • TokenReview
      • CertificateSigningRequest
      • ClusterTrustBundle v1alpha1
      • SelfSubjectReview
    • Authorization Resources
      • LocalSubjectAccessReview
      • SelfSubjectAccessReview
      • SelfSubjectRulesReview
      • SubjectAccessReview
      • ClusterRole
      • ClusterRoleBinding
      • Role
      • RoleBinding
    • Policy Resources
      • FlowSchema
      • LimitRange
      • ResourceQuota
      • NetworkPolicy
      • PodDisruptionBudget
      • PriorityLevelConfiguration
      • ValidatingAdmissionPolicy
      • ValidatingAdmissionPolicyBinding
    • Extend Resources
      • CustomResourceDefinition
      • DeviceClass v1alpha3
      • DeviceClass v1beta1
      • MutatingWebhookConfiguration
      • ValidatingWebhookConfiguration
    • Cluster Resources
      • APIService
      • ComponentStatus
      • Event
      • IPAddress v1beta1
      • Lease
      • LeaseCandidate v1alpha1
      • Namespace
      • Node
      • RuntimeClass
      • ServiceCIDR v1beta1
    • Common Definitions
      • DeleteOptions
      • LabelSelector
      • ListMeta
      • LocalObjectReference
      • NodeSelectorRequirement
      • ObjectFieldSelector
      • ObjectMeta
      • ObjectReference
      • Patch
      • Quantity
      • ResourceFieldSelector
      • Status
      • TypedLocalObjectReference
    • Common Parameters
  • Instrumentation
    • Service Level Indicator Metrics
    • CRI Pod & Container Metrics
    • Node metrics data
    • Kubernetes z-pages
    • Kubernetes Metrics Reference
  • Kubernetes Issues and Security
    • Kubernetes Issue Tracker
    • Kubernetes Security and Disclosure Information
    • CVE feed
  • Node Reference Information
    • Kubelet Checkpoint API
    • Linux Kernel Version Requirements
    • Articles on dockershim Removal and on Using CRI-compatible Runtimes
    • Node Labels Populated By The Kubelet
    • Local Files And Paths Used By The Kubelet
    • Kubelet Configuration Directory Merging
    • Kubelet Device Manager API Versions
    • Kubelet Systemd Watchdog
    • Node Status
    • Seccomp and Kubernetes
  • Networking Reference
    • Protocols for Services
    • Ports and Protocols
    • Virtual IPs and Service Proxies
  • Setup tools
    • Kubeadm
      • kubeadm init
      • kubeadm join
      • kubeadm upgrade
      • kubeadm upgrade phases
      • kubeadm config
      • kubeadm reset
      • kubeadm token
      • kubeadm version
      • kubeadm alpha
      • kubeadm certs
      • kubeadm init phase
      • kubeadm join phase
      • kubeadm kubeconfig
      • kubeadm reset phase
      • Implementation details
  • Command line tool (kubectl)
    • Introduction to kubectl
    • kubectl Quick Reference
    • kubectl reference
      • kubectl
      • kubectl annotate
      • kubectl api-resources
      • kubectl api-versions
      • kubectl apply
        • kubectl apply edit-last-applied
        • kubectl apply set-last-applied
        • kubectl apply view-last-applied
      • kubectl attach
      • kubectl auth
        • kubectl auth can-i
        • kubectl auth reconcile
        • kubectl auth whoami
      • kubectl autoscale
      • kubectl certificate
        • kubectl certificate approve
        • kubectl certificate deny
      • kubectl cluster-info
        • kubectl cluster-info dump
      • kubectl completion
      • kubectl config
        • kubectl config current-context
        • kubectl config delete-cluster
        • kubectl config delete-context
        • kubectl config delete-user
        • kubectl config get-clusters
        • kubectl config get-contexts
        • kubectl config get-users
        • kubectl config rename-context
        • kubectl config set
        • kubectl config set-cluster
        • kubectl config set-context
        • kubectl config set-credentials
        • kubectl config unset
        • kubectl config use-context
        • kubectl config view
      • kubectl cordon
      • kubectl cp
      • kubectl create
        • kubectl create clusterrole
        • kubectl create clusterrolebinding
        • kubectl create configmap
        • kubectl create cronjob
        • kubectl create deployment
        • kubectl create ingress
        • kubectl create job
        • kubectl create namespace
        • kubectl create poddisruptionbudget
        • kubectl create priorityclass
        • kubectl create quota
        • kubectl create role
        • kubectl create rolebinding
        • kubectl create secret
        • kubectl create secret docker-registry
        • kubectl create secret generic
        • kubectl create secret tls
        • kubectl create service
        • kubectl create service clusterip
        • kubectl create service externalname
        • kubectl create service loadbalancer
        • kubectl create service nodeport
        • kubectl create serviceaccount
        • kubectl create token
      • kubectl debug
      • kubectl delete
      • kubectl describe
      • kubectl diff
      • kubectl drain
      • kubectl edit
      • kubectl events
      • kubectl exec
      • kubectl explain
      • kubectl expose
      • kubectl get
      • kubectl kustomize
      • kubectl label
      • kubectl logs
      • kubectl options
      • kubectl patch
      • kubectl plugin
        • kubectl plugin list
      • kubectl port-forward
      • kubectl proxy
      • kubectl replace
      • kubectl rollout
        • kubectl rollout history
        • kubectl rollout pause
        • kubectl rollout restart
        • kubectl rollout resume
        • kubectl rollout status
        • kubectl rollout undo
      • kubectl run
      • kubectl scale
      • kubectl set
        • kubectl set env
        • kubectl set image
        • kubectl set resources
        • kubectl set selector
        • kubectl set serviceaccount
        • kubectl set subject
      • kubectl taint
      • kubectl top
        • kubectl top node
        • kubectl top pod
      • kubectl uncordon
      • kubectl version
      • kubectl wait
    • kubectl Commands
    • kubectl
    • JSONPath Support
    • kubectl for Docker Users
    • kubectl Usage Conventions
  • Component tools
    • Feature Gates
    • Feature Gates (removed)
    • kubelet
    • kube-apiserver
    • kube-controller-manager
    • kube-proxy
    • kube-scheduler
  • Debug cluster
    • Flow control
  • Configuration APIs
    • Client Authentication (v1)
    • Client Authentication (v1beta1)
    • Event Rate Limit Configuration (v1alpha1)
    • Image Policy API (v1alpha1)
    • kube-apiserver Admission (v1)
    • kube-apiserver Audit Configuration (v1)
    • kube-apiserver Configuration (v1)
    • kube-apiserver Configuration (v1alpha1)
    • kube-apiserver Configuration (v1beta1)
    • kube-controller-manager Configuration (v1alpha1)
    • kube-proxy Configuration (v1alpha1)
    • kube-scheduler Configuration (v1)
    • kubeadm Configuration (v1beta3)
    • kubeadm Configuration (v1beta4)
    • kubeconfig (v1)
    • Kubelet Configuration (v1)
    • Kubelet Configuration (v1alpha1)
    • Kubelet Configuration (v1beta1)
    • Kubelet CredentialProvider (v1)
    • WebhookAdmission Configuration (v1)
  • External APIs
    • Kubernetes Custom Metrics (v1beta2)
    • Kubernetes External Metrics (v1beta1)
    • Kubernetes Metrics (v1beta1)
  • Scheduling
    • Scheduler Configuration
    • Scheduling Policies
  • Other Tools

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