| Node |
The Host Machine |
A physical or virtual server in the cluster. |
| Pod |
A Container |
The smallest deployable unit (can contain multiple containers). |
| Deployments |
docker-compose up |
Manages the lifecycle and scaling of Pods. |
| Services |
Network Aliases |
Provides a stable DNS name/IP for a group of Pods. |
| HPA |
Auto-Scaling Group |
Automatically scales replicas based on traffic/load. |
| Ingress |
Nginx Proxy / Traefik |
Manages external access to Services via HTTP/HTTPS. |
| ConfigMap |
docker run -v config:/etc... |
Decouples configuration files from the container image. |
| Secret |
Environment Variables (Secure) |
Stores sensitive data (passwords, tokens) encoded in Base64. |
| DaemonSet |
mode: global (Swarm) |
Ensures one copy of a Pod runs on every Node (logs/monitoring). |
| StatefulSet |
N/A |
Manages apps requiring stable identities and storage (Databases). |