> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://notes.mikaelsamvelian.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://notes.mikaelsamvelian.com/devops-knowledge/containers/container-orchestration/kubernetes.md).

# Kubernetes

Kubernetes is an open source, portable platform designed for managing containerized workloads and services through declarative configuration and automation. The term "Kubernetes" comes from the Greek word for helmsman or pilot, and the abbreviation "K8s" stems from counting the eight letters between "K" and "s." Originating as a Google project in 2014, Kubernetes integrates more than 15 years of Google's expertise in handling large-scale production workloads with community-driven best practices.

<figure><img src="/files/IHwywrPT7Tqd4fU4UI09" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## History

### **Traditional deployment era**

Early on, organizations ran applications on physical servers and there was no way to define resource boundaries for applications. This caused issues where one application would take up most of the resources.

### **Virtualized deployment era**

As a solution, virtualization was introduced. It allowed better utilization of resources in a physical server and security.

### **Container deployment era**

Containers are comparable to virtual machines but with relaxed isolation properties, shared operating system, making them lightweight and portable across clouds and OS distributions, gaining popularity for agile application creation, continuous development, DevOps separation, observability, environmental consistency, cloud and OS distribution portability, application-centric management, and resource efficiency.

<figure><img src="/files/HDigXge77XFp97L4Ygc5" alt="" width="563"><figcaption><p>History Visualized</p></figcaption></figure>

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