Containers Under the Hood

A Bottom-up Approach to Docker and Kubernetes

Created by: Systems Guy
All Things Systems

What Will I Learn?

• Ever wondered how Docker or any other container technology works under the hood?
• Understand in depth the core concepts that underlie any container technology - Namespaces, Cgroups and Overlay Filesystems.
• Understand the different Namespaces that enable Containers with detailed examples on PID, MOUNT, UTS and IPC Namespaces
• Gain in-depth knowledge on Overlay Filesystems - what they are and what role they play in the world of Containers
• Learn how to use Cgroups with step-by-step concrete examples for controlling the CPU and Memory available to an application
• Create your own container by just using Namespaces, Cgroups and Overlay Filesystems
• Learn what container images are, how image layering works under the hood, how they related to Overlay FS using detailed hands-on working examples.
• See under the hood to understand how Cgroups are used in Containers and Kubernetes for resource allocation.
• What a Kubernetes Control Plane is, what the key components are and how they work together
• Gain a solid understanding of related concepts such as the proc filesystem and mount points. Learn how these tie into Namespaces.

Requirements

• Basic programming skills and a basic understanding of Linux - how to use a text editor and some basic Linux commands. I will walk you through any related concepts needed to understand the core topics in the course.
• What you need to bring is a curiosity to understand how container technologies work under the hood.
• Patience and willingness to go through the concepts, demos and also get your hands dirty using the Virtual Machine that comes with the course.
• If you like to follow along and try out the examples, which is highly recommended, you should be able to set up a VM that comes for free with the course.

Target audience

• This course is for anyone who is curious and eager to learn how Containers work under the hood. You are not expected to come in with an understanding of containers. We will start from the very basics.
• Whether you are a novice looking to get started with Containers and Kubernetes or have been using them for a while, if you want to understand the key mechanisms that make these technologies work, you will gain a lot from this course.
• This course comes with an Ubuntu Virtual Machine that includes all the needed software. This is the same VM I have used in this course. To truly appreciate and digest the core concepts, you must be willing to try out the examples on your own.