Kubernetes (K8s) is an orchestration engine that groups hosts into a cluster to run containerized workloads. It abstracts underlying infrastructure, allowing teams to define the desired state of applications using declarative YAML or JSON configurations.
How it works
The system operates on a control loop mechanism. Key components include the kube-apiserver for API requests, kube-scheduler for pod placement, and etcd as a distributed key-value store. Worker nodes host pods, which are the smallest deployable units in the cluster.
It is used in microservices architectures to ensure high availability and self-healing. Kubernetes automatically restarts failed containers and reschedules pods when nodes become unavailable, maintaining uptime without manual intervention.
The platform supports horizontal pod autoscaling (HPA) and integrated load balancing via Service and Ingress objects. According to CNCF surveys, over 90% of organizations using containers have adopted Kubernetes as their primary orchestration standard.