This blog post provides an insight into how we run our Kubernetes workshops as we prepare for even more from Jetstack training in 2018.
Introduction
In 2017, Jetstack ran more than 25 Kubernetes in Practice workshops: We trained engineers from over 80 different companies in London and across Europe, and had a great time doing so!
2018 promises to be an even busier year for Jetstack training, with several dates already in the diary for our first and second series of Beginner and Intermediate workshops. In addition, we will be running a number of workshops in our Kubernetes for Startups series. If you want to participate, you can find dates for Q1 at the end of this post.
In the run up to our 2018 workshops, we have been developing new material for our Advanced courses and working hard on the Jetstack Subscription, which will soon provide users with on-demand Kubernetes training modules and playbooks.
“Lots of lightbulb moments!" ~ Workshop Attendee
How do we run our workshops?
We run a number of our workshops in association with Google Cloud at the Google Academy in London Victoria. A typical day commences at 9.30am and finishes around 5pm, with a break for lunch. This gives us enough time to cover course content, answer questions, and pause to pick the brains of fellow Kubernetes enthusiasts over a cup of coffee!
Jetstack training courses are developed around the knowledge and experience gained by our engineers when deploying Kubernetes for clients. Our training modules are continuously updated and refined in order to ensure that they are consistent with the constantly changing Kubernetes ecosystem.
We focus on making our courses interactive, with a mixture of presentations, demos and hands-on labs. They are designed to prepare you to deploy, use and operate Kubernetes efficiently.
“The trainers were enthusiastic and knowledgeable." ~ Workshop Attendee
Agenda
We have a range of courses tailored for Kubernetes users of all levels. We run a two-day Kubernetes in Practice course (Beginner and Intermediate) and we now offer our Advanced workshop as part of a two-day Kubernetes Operator course.
Kubernetes in Practice
Day 1 - Beginner
- Introduction to core concepts of Kubernetes.
- Hands-on labs covering: persistent volume types, application logs, and using Helm to package and deploy applications.
- Demo: continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) on Kubernetes. An application is deployed into multiple environments before being rolled out to production.
“The workshop helped me understand what Kubernetes is made for, what the building blocks are and how we are supposed to use them.” ~ Beginner Workshop Attendee
Day 2 - Intermediate
- More advanced Kubernetes features and how to use them to lessen operational burden.
- Hands-on labs covering: Autoscaling, the Control Plane, Ingress and StatefulSet.
- Set up a CI/CD pipeline running on Kubernetes, deploying to multiple environments with Helm.
- Cluster Federation demo.
“I now know the concepts and building blocks and I have a sense of what’s possible.” ~ Intermediate Workshop Attendee
Kubernetes Operator
Our Advanced Wargaming workshop is now part of a two-day Advanced Operations course.
Advanced Operations - Day 1
- Provision a Kubernetes cluster manually from the ground up.
- Learn how to configure cluster components (apiserver, controller-manager, scheduler, etcd, kubelet, kube-proxy, container runtime) and how the configuration of these components affects cluster behaviour.
- Comparison of Kubernetes deployment tools such as Kubeadm, Kops, Tarmak.
Advanced Operations - Day 2 (Wargaming)
- Deep dive into Kubernetes Internals.
- Team Wargaming: work together to overcome various production issues and common cluster failures.
“Had a really insightful day…just proves how important it is to have the operational tasks rehearsed!" ~ Advanced Workshop Attendee
“Yes yes please please more training at an advanced level!" ~ Workshop Attendee
Feedback
We make workshop slides available to participants following the session, and warmly welcome feedback. We develop new material with our participants' comments in mind; we need to know which approaches work best from an educational perspective, as well as any further topics and issues that could be tackled in future workshops.
We were grateful to receive some very positive feedback from our 2017 series, with an average score of 9/10 from participants. We aim to build on this by constantly refining our course content and adding new material, and we are looking forward to delivering in 2018.
Kubernetes for Startups 2018
Dates for Q1 training:
- Thursday 8th March - Beginner (London)
- Friday 9th March - Intermediate (London)
- Monday 26th March - Beginner (Paris)
- Tuesday 27th March - Intermediate (Paris)
If you work in a Startup and would like to attend any of these workshops, please email [email protected]