When I first looked at Kubernetes, I saw a wall of YAML and acronyms. PVC, PV, StatefulSet, Endpoint — none of it connected. What helped was stepping back and mapping out what each piece actually does before trying to use any of it.

Here's how I think about it now.

A pod is the smallest unit

A Pod is the smallest thing Kubernetes runs. It's one or more containers running together on the same node, sharing the same network and storage.

apiVersion : v1 kind : Pod metadata : name : my-app labels : app : my-app spec : containers : - name : my-app image : nginx:latest ports : - containerPort : 80

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In practice I rarely create Pods directly. They're disposable. If a Pod dies, nothing brings it back on its own.

A deployment keeps pods running

A Deployment manages Pods for me.…