Kubernetes orchestrator

kubernetes-orchestrator

Deploy, manage, and troubleshoot Kubernetes workloads with production-grade configurations.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when you need to:

• Deploy applications to Kubernetes clusters with proper manifests
• Troubleshoot failing pods, services, or deployments
• Scale workloads horizontally or vertically
• Configure networking (Services, Ingress, NetworkPolicies)
• Manage resources (ConfigMaps, Secrets, PVCs)
• Set up monitoring and health checks
• Optimize resource requests and limits
• Implement blue-green or canary deployments
• Debug cluster issues and performance problems

Quick Start

Deploy a Simple Application

apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: web-app
  namespace: production
  labels:
    app: web-app
    version: v1.0.0
spec:
  replicas: 3
  strategy:
    type: RollingUpdate
    rollingUpdate:
      maxSurge: 1
      maxUnavailable: 0
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: web-app
        version: v1.0.0
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: web-app
        image: myregistry.io/web-app:v1.0.0
        ports:
        - containerPort: 8080
          name: http
        env:
        - name: DATABASE_URL
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: db-credentials
              key: connection-string
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "256Mi"
            cpu: "250m"
          limits:
            memory: "512Mi"
            cpu: "500m"
        livenessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /health
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 30
          periodSeconds: 10
        readinessProbe:
          httpGet:
            path: /ready
            port: 8080
          initialDelaySeconds: 5
          periodSeconds: 5
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: web-app-service
  namespace: production
spec:
  selector:
    app: web-app
  ports:
  - protocol: TCP
    port: 80
    targetPort: 8080
  type: ClusterIP
---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: web-app-ingress
  namespace: production
  annotations:
    cert-manager.io/cluster-issuer: letsencrypt-prod
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/ssl-redirect: "true"
spec:
  ingressClassName: nginx
  tls:
  - hosts:
    - app.example.com
    secretName: web-app-tls
  rules:
  - host: app.example.com
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: web-app-service
            port:
              number: 80

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: StatefulSet with Persistent Storage

apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: postgres
  namespace: database
spec:
  ports:
  - port: 5432
    name: postgres
  clusterIP: None
  selector:
    app: postgres
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
  name: postgres
  namespace: database
spec:
  serviceName: postgres
  replicas: 3
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: postgres
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: postgres
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: postgres
        image: postgres:15-alpine
        ports:
        - containerPort: 5432
          name: postgres
        env:
        - name: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: postgres-secret
              key: password
        - name: PGDATA
          value: /var/lib/postgresql/data/pgdata
        volumeMounts:
        - name: data
          mountPath: /var/lib/postgresql/data
        resources:
          requests:
            memory: "1Gi"
            cpu: "500m"
          limits:
            memory: "2Gi"
            cpu: "1000m"
  volumeClaimTemplates:
  - metadata:
      name: data
    spec:
      accessModes: [ "ReadWriteOnce" ]
      storageClassName: fast-ssd
      resources:
        requests:
          storage: 20Gi

Scenario 2: CronJob for Scheduled Tasks

apiVersion: batch/v1
kind: CronJob
metadata:
  name: database-backup
  namespace: jobs
spec:
  schedule: "0 2 * * *"  # Daily at 2 AM
  successfulJobsHistoryLimit: 3
  failedJobsHistoryLimit: 1
  jobTemplate:
    spec:
      template:
        spec:
          restartPolicy: OnFailure
          containers:
          - name: backup
            image: myregistry.io/db-backup:latest
            env:
            - name: DATABASE_URL
              valueFrom:
                secretKeyRef:
                  name: db-credentials
                  key: connection-string
            - name: S3_BUCKET
              value: "backups.example.com"
            resources:
              requests:
                memory: "512Mi"
                cpu: "250m"
              limits:
                memory: "1Gi"
                cpu: "500m"

Scenario 3: HorizontalPodAutoscaler

apiVersion: autoscaling/v2
kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler
metadata:
  name: web-app-hpa
  namespace: production
spec:
  scaleTargetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: web-app
  minReplicas: 3
  maxReplicas: 20
  metrics:
  - type: Resource
    resource:
      name: cpu
      target:
        type: Utilization
        averageUtilization: 70
  - type: Resource
    resource:
      name: memory
      target:
        type: Utilization
        averageUtilization: 80
  behavior:
    scaleDown:
      stabilizationWindowSeconds: 300
      policies:
      - type: Percent
        value: 50
        periodSeconds: 60
    scaleUp:
      stabilizationWindowSeconds: 0
      policies:
      - type: Percent
        value: 100
        periodSeconds: 30
      - type: Pods
        value: 4
        periodSeconds: 30
      selectPolicy: Max

Scenario 4: NetworkPolicy for Security

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: web-app-netpol
  namespace: production
spec:
  podSelector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app
  policyTypes:
  - Ingress
  - Egress
  ingress:
  - from:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          name: ingress-nginx
    - podSelector:
        matchLabels:
          app: monitoring
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 8080
  egress:
  - to:
    - namespaceSelector:
        matchLabels:
          name: database
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 5432
  - to:
    - namespaceSelector: {}
    ports:
    - protocol: TCP
      port: 53
    - protocol: UDP
      port: 53

Troubleshooting Guide

Pod Stuck in Pending

# Check pod events
kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>

# Common causes:
# 1. Insufficient resources - check node capacity
kubectl top nodes

# 2. PVC not bound - check persistent volumes
kubectl get pvc -n <namespace>

# 3. Node selector mismatch - verify labels
kubectl get nodes --show-labels

CrashLoopBackOff

# View container logs
kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace> --previous

# Check resource limits
kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace> | grep -A 10 "Limits"

# Common fixes:
# - Increase memory/CPU limits
# - Fix application startup issues
# - Verify environment variables

ImagePullBackOff

# Check image pull secrets
kubectl get secrets -n <namespace>

# Verify image exists
docker pull <image-name>

# Create image pull secret
kubectl create secret docker-registry regcred \
  --docker-server=<registry-url> \
  --docker-username=<username> \
  --docker-password=<password> \
  --docker-email=<email> \
  -n <namespace>

Service Not Reachable

# Verify service endpoints
kubectl get endpoints <service-name> -n <namespace>

# Check pod labels match service selector
kubectl get pods -n <namespace> --show-labels

# Test connectivity from another pod
kubectl run -it --rm debug --image=busybox --restart=Never -- sh
wget -O- http://<service-name>.<namespace>.svc.cluster.local

Best Practices

Resource Management

• Always set resource requests and limits
• Requests should match typical usage (95th percentile)
• Limits should allow for traffic spikes (2-3x requests)
• Use VerticalPodAutoscaler for right-sizing

Health Checks

• Liveness probes detect and restart frozen containers
• Readiness probes prevent traffic to unready pods
• Startup probes handle slow-starting applications
• Set appropriate initialDelaySeconds and timeouts

Security

• Run containers as non-root user
• Use read-only root filesystems where possible
• Implement NetworkPolicies to restrict traffic
• Scan images for vulnerabilities regularly
• Use PodSecurityPolicies or PodSecurityStandards

High Availability

• Deploy at least 3 replicas for critical services
• Use PodDisruptionBudgets to ensure availability during updates
• Spread pods across availability zones with topology constraints
• Implement circuit breakers at application level

Configuration Management

• Use ConfigMaps for non-sensitive configuration
• Store secrets in Secrets or external secret managers
• Version control all manifests in Git
• Use Kustomize or Helm for environment-specific configs

Advanced Patterns

Blue-Green Deployment

# Blue deployment (current)
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: app-service
spec:
  selector:
    app: myapp
    version: blue
  ports:
  - port: 80

---
# Green deployment (new)
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: app-green
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: myapp
      version: green
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: myapp
        version: green
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: app
        image: myapp:v2.0.0

# Switch traffic by updating service selector
kubectl patch service app-service -p '{"spec":{"selector":{"version":"green"}}}'

Canary Deployment with Flagger

apiVersion: flagger.app/v1beta1
kind: Canary
metadata:
  name: web-app
  namespace: production
spec:
  targetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: web-app
  service:
    port: 8080
  analysis:
    interval: 1m
    threshold: 5
    maxWeight: 50
    stepWeight: 10
    metrics:
    - name: request-success-rate
      thresholdRange:
        min: 99
      interval: 1m
    - name: request-duration
      thresholdRange:
        max: 500
      interval: 1m

Performance Optimization

Resource Quotas per Namespace

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: compute-quota
  namespace: production
spec:
  hard:
    requests.cpu: "100"
    requests.memory: 200Gi
    limits.cpu: "200"
    limits.memory: 400Gi
    persistentvolumeclaims: "50"
    pods: "100"

Pod Priority Classes

apiVersion: scheduling.k8s.io/v1
kind: PriorityClass
metadata:
  name: high-priority
value: 1000000
globalDefault: false
description: "High priority for critical workloads"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: critical-app
spec:
  priorityClassName: high-priority
  containers:
  - name: app
    image: myapp:latest

Related Skills

• helm-packager: Package K8s applications with Helm charts
• service-mesh-configurator: Set up Istio or Linkerd
• cluster-autoscaler: Configure automatic node scaling
• monitoring-configurator: Set up Prometheus for K8s
• gitops-deployer: Implement ArgoCD or Flux workflows
• container-scanner: Scan images for vulnerabilities
• secrets-manager: Integrate external secret stores

Useful Commands

# Get cluster info
kubectl cluster-info
kubectl get nodes -o wide

# View all resources in namespace
kubectl get all -n <namespace>

# Watch pod status
kubectl get pods -n <namespace> -w

# Port forward for local testing
kubectl port-forward svc/<service-name> 8080:80 -n <namespace>

# Execute command in pod
kubectl exec -it <pod-name> -n <namespace> -- /bin/sh

# Copy files to/from pod
kubectl cp <local-file> <namespace>/<pod-name>:/path/to/file
kubectl cp <namespace>/<pod-name>:/path/to/file <local-file>

# View resource usage
kubectl top pods -n <namespace>
kubectl top nodes

# Drain node for maintenance
kubectl drain <node-name> --ignore-daemonsets --delete-emptydir-data

# Apply manifests
kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
kubectl apply -k ./kustomize-dir

# Rollback deployment
kubectl rollout undo deployment/<name> -n <namespace>
kubectl rollout status deployment/<name> -n <namespace>
kubectl rollout history deployment/<name> -n <namespace>

References

• Kubernetes Documentation
• Best Practices Guide
• Production Best Practices
• kubectl Cheat Sheet