Docker & Kubernetes Systems Engineering

Docker internals, multi-stage builds, CNI networking, Gateway API, eBPF and production Kubernetes cluster operations.

Docker internals-ல இருந்து production Kubernetes cluster வரைக்கும் 50 session-ல ஆழமா கத்துக்கலாம். கடைசில ஒரு AI agent platform-ஐ Kubernetes-ல deploy பண்ணுவோம்.

About this program

A 50-session deep dive into Docker internals, multi-stage builds, CNI networking, Gateway API, eBPF and production Kubernetes cluster operations, in easy-to-follow Tamil. You finish by deploying an AI agent platform on Kubernetes.

Who it is for

Backend and DevOps engineers
Developers who want to understand containers and Kubernetes beyond the commands
Anyone preparing for platform and SRE roles

What you will be able to do

Explain how container isolation works (namespaces, cgroups, runtimes)
Build small, secure images with multi-stage builds and Trivy scanning
Operate Kubernetes: scheduling, networking, storage, autoscaling and RBAC
Package with Helm, extend with CRDs and operators, and observe with Prometheus, Grafana and Loki
Deliver with GitOps (Argo CD)

Syllabus

Phase 1 · Sessions 1–5

Docker & Container Fundamentals5 topics

Session 1 — Why Docker? (Bare Metal vs VMs vs Docker Containers, Portability)
Session 2 — Core Linux Prerequisites (Processes, PID, Mounts, Permissions, Signals & /proc)
Session 3 — Container Isolation Deep Dive (PID, NET, MNT, UTS, USER Namespaces)
Session 4 — Control Groups (cgroups v1/v2, CPU/Memory Limits & OOM Killer)
Session 5 — Container Runtime Internals (OCI Specs, runc, containerd, Docker Engine vs CRI)

Phase 2 · Sessions 6–15

Docker Mastery & Workload Packaging10 topics

Session 6 — Docker Architecture & CLI (Daemon, Client, Docker Hub & Lifecycle Commands)
Session 7 — Docker Image Mechanics (Storage Drivers, Layering, Image IDs, Digests & Immutability)
Session 8 — Dockerfile Fundamentals (FROM, RUN, COPY, ADD, WORKDIR, ENV, CMD vs ENTRYPOINT)
Session 9 — Dockerfile Deep Dive (Exec vs Shell form, Build Context, .dockerignore & Layer Caching)
Session 10 — Image Optimization (Alpine vs Distroless vs Slim, Dive Inspection, Trivy Scanning)
Session 11 — Multi-Stage Builds (Compiling dependencies vs Lightweight Runtime Images)
Session 12 — Container Lifecycle & Signal Handling (PID 1, Graceful Shutdowns with FastAPI/Uvicorn)
Session 13 — Docker Networking Fundamentals (Bridge, host, none, veth pairs & NAT Port Mapping)
Session 14 — Docker Networking Deep Dive (Overlay, macvlan, Custom Networks & Inter-container DNS)
Session 15 — Docker Volumes & Persistence (Writable Layer vs Volumes vs Bind Mounts vs tmpfs)

Phase 3 · Sessions 16–20

Docker Compose, Security & Observability5 topics

Session 16 — Docker Compose Orchestration (FastAPI Workload + PostgreSQL + Redis + Celery Stack)
Session 17 — Advanced Compose (Healthchecks, Dependencies, Secrets, Profiles & Resource Limits)
Session 18 — Container Security (Rootless Containers, Capabilities, Seccomp, AppArmor, Read-Only FS)
Session 19 — Container Observability (Metrics Collection, Prometheus, Grafana & cAdvisor Setup)
Session 20 — Mini-Project Lab: Build & Secure Production Docker Stack for Microservices

Phase 4 · Sessions 21–30

Kubernetes Architecture & Core Primitives10 topics

Session 21 — Why Kubernetes? (Container Sprawl, Orchestration Problems & Control Plane Goals)
Session 22 — K8s Architecture Deep Dive (API Server, etcd, Scheduler, Controller Manager, Kubelet)
Session 23 — Kubernetes Installation & Setup (Minikube, Kind, K3s, kubeadm & Cloud EKS/GKE)
Session 24 — Kubernetes API & kubectl (Declarative YAML, Imperative commands, Selectors & Labels)
Session 25 — Pod Mechanics & Patterns (Pause container, Pod IP, Sidecar, Ambassador & Adapter)
Session 26 — Deployments & ReplicaSets (Reconciliation loops, Rolling Updates & Rollbacks)
Session 27 — Kubernetes Services (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer & Endpoints routing)
Session 28 — CoreDNS & Service Discovery (Pod DNS, Service FQDN & Cluster-internal lookup)
Session 29 — ConfigMaps & Secrets (Env Injection, Volume Mounts, Base64 vs Encryption)
Session 30 — Health Probes in K8s (Liveness /healthz, Readiness /ready, Startup Probes for APIs)

Phase 5 · Sessions 31–38

Kubernetes Networking & Storage8 topics

Session 31 — K8s Networking Model (Pod Network, Node Network, Service Network, Cluster CIDR)
Session 32 — CNI Plugins & eBPF (Calico, Cilium, Flannel, veth pairs & Kernel packet routing)
Session 33 — Network Policies (Ingress/Egress rules, Namespace/Pod selectors, Microsegmentation)
Session 34 — Ingress Controllers (NGINX, Traefik, Host/Path Routing, TLS Termination)
Session 35 — Kubernetes Gateway API (Gateway, GatewayClass, HTTPRoute, Modern Routing)
Session 36 — Storage Architecture (emptyDir, hostPath, PersistentVolume, PVC & StorageClasses)
Session 37 — StatefulSets (Stateful workloads, Headless Services, Postgres/Redis ordering)
Session 38 — DaemonSets, Jobs & CronJobs (Log collectors, Monitoring agents & Batch jobs)

Phase 6 · Sessions 39–42

Scheduling, Resources & Autoscaling4 topics

Session 39 — Advanced Scheduling (Node Selection, nodeSelector, Node/Pod Affinities, Anti-affinity)
Session 40 — Resource Management (Requests, Limits, QoS Classes: Guaranteed/Burstable, LimitRanges)
Session 41 — Taints & Tolerations (Node isolation, Dedicated pools & GPU Workload placement)
Session 42 — Kubernetes Autoscaling (HPA, VPA, Cluster Autoscaler, Metrics Server & Custom Metrics)

Phase 7 · Sessions 43–44

Cluster Security & Access Control2 topics

Session 43 — Security Model (Authentication, Authorization, Admission Controllers & Webhooks)
Session 44 — RBAC Deep Dive (Roles, ClusterRoles, RoleBindings, ServiceAccounts & API access)

Phase 8 · Sessions 45–48

Advanced Extensions & Operations4 topics

Session 45 — Helm Package Manager (Charts, Templates, Values, Dependencies, Hooks & Releases)
Session 46 — CRDs & Operators (Custom Resource Definitions, Controllers & Reconciliation Loops)
Session 47 — Full Observability Stack (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, FluentBit & OpenTelemetry)
Session 48 — Cluster Break & Fix Lab: Debugging CrashLoopBackOff, OOMKilled, CNI & PVC lockups

Phase 9 · Sessions 49–50

Production Kubernetes & AI Agent Capstone2 topics

Session 49 — Production HA & GitOps (Multi-AZ Control Plane, etcd Backups, Argo CD & Canary)
Session 50 — FINAL CAPSTONE: Deploy Production AI Agent Platform Project on Kubernetes

Projects

Mini-project lab: build and secure a production Docker stack for microservices
Cluster break-and-fix lab: CrashLoopBackOff, OOMKilled, CNI and PVC issues
Final capstone: deploy a production AI agent platform on Kubernetes (FastAPI backend, vector DB, Celery workers, Argo CD, Gateway API with TLS, HA PostgreSQL and Redis, observability)