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Kubernetes Admin

Kubernetes admin tasks can be categorized into various domains such as cluster management, security, networking, monitoring, troubleshooting, and automation. Here’s a comprehensive list of Kubernetes admin tasks:

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1. Cluster Setup & Management

  • Deploy Kubernetes clusters using kubeadm, kOps, eksctl, or managed services (EKS, AKS, GKE, etc.)

  • Configure etcd backup and restore

  • Manage Kubernetes API server access

  • Upgrade Kubernetes versions

  • Scale clusters (manual/auto-scaling)

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2. Node & Worker Management

  • Add/remove worker nodes

  • Drain and cordon nodes for maintenance

  • Monitor node health using kubectl top nodes or Prometheus

  • Configure Cluster Autoscaler or Karpenter

  • Manage taints and tolerations for workload distribution

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3. Namespace & Resource Management

  • Create and manage namespaces for isolation

  • Set up ResourceQuotas and LimitRanges

  • Manage Resource requests and limits for pods

  • Implement PriorityClasses to prioritize workloads

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4. Security & Access Control

  • Configure RBAC (Role-Based Access Control)

  • Manage ServiceAccounts, Roles, ClusterRoles, RoleBindings, and ClusterRoleBindings

  • Enable Pod Security Policies (PSP) or Pod Security Admission

  • Set up Network Policies for microservices isolation

  • Enable and configure OIDC authentication (for EKS, AKS, GKE)

  • Rotate Kubernetes API certificates and kubeconfig

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5. Networking & Ingress

  • Manage CNI plugins (Calico, Cilium, Flannel, Weave)

  • Configure DNS resolution with CoreDNS

  • Set up and manage Ingress controllers (Nginx, Traefik, HAProxy)

  • Troubleshoot network latency and connectivity issues

  • Implement multi-cluster networking (Istio, Linkerd, Cilium)

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6. Storage & Persistent Volumes

  • Configure Persistent Volumes (PV) and Persistent Volume Claims (PVC)

  • Set up StorageClasses for dynamic provisioning

  • Manage CSI drivers for cloud-native storage

  • Perform volume expansion and migration

  • Set up backup and restore strategies for persistent data

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7. Logging & Monitoring

  • Deploy Prometheus & Grafana for metrics

  • Set up Loki, EFK (Elasticsearch, Fluentd, Kibana) or OpenTelemetry for logging

  • Monitor cluster health using kubectl top or Prometheus metrics

  • Configure alerts using Alertmanager

  • Check audit logs for security events

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8. Workload & Application Management

  • Deploy, update, and rollback Deployments, StatefulSets, DaemonSets

  • Implement blue-green and canary deployments

  • Manage Jobs and CronJobs

  • Configure Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) & Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA)

  • Implement readiness, liveness, and startup probes

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9. Troubleshooting & Debugging

  • Debug pod failures using kubectl describe pod, kubectl logs, kubectl exec

  • Investigate OOMKilled and CrashLoopBackOff errors

  • Check and restart unhealthy nodes

  • Use kubectl debug for ephemeral container debugging

  • Analyze network issues using kubectl get events, kubectl get endpoints

  • Investigate API server failures (kubectl get apiservices)

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10. Disaster Recovery & Backup

  • Take etcd snapshots and restore clusters

  • Set up Velero for cluster backup & restore

  • Configure multi-region disaster recovery strategies

  • Automate failover mechanisms for high availability

  • Test disaster recovery playbooks regularly

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11. CI/CD & Automation

  • Implement GitOps with ArgoCD or FluxCD

  • Automate deployments using Helm or Kustomize

  • Integrate Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI/CD for pipelines

  • Manage Helm chart repositories and updates

  • Implement Tekton for Kubernetes-native CI/CD

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12. Cost Optimization

  • Right-size workloads based on resource usage

  • Implement Spot Instances and Node Autoscaling

  • Optimize Idle Resources and Unused PVs

  • Use Kubecost or KubeGreen for cost visibility

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13. Compliance & Governance

  • Enforce policies using Open Policy Agent (OPA) or Kyverno

  • Implement PodSecurityStandards (Baseline, Restricted)

  • Audit RBAC permissions and API requests

  • Apply FinOps principles for cloud cost governance

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14. API Gateway & Service Mesh

  • Deploy NGINX, Kong, or Traefik as an API Gateway

  • Implement Service Mesh (Istio, Linkerd, Kuma, Consul)

  • Manage traffic shifting, retries, circuit breaking

  • Enable mTLS for secure microservice communication

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15. Cluster Performance & Optimization

  • Tune Kubernetes scheduler settings

  • Optimize Pod startup times and scheduling

  • Reduce image pull times with local caching

  • Investigate throttling issues due to resource limits

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Final Thoughts

These tasks are critical for Kubernetes administrators to ensure cluster reliability, security, scalability, and cost-effectiveness. Let me know if you need details on any specific task! 🚀

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