Docker & Kubernetes Systems Engineering

By the end, you can

1. Explain what a container really is, down to namespaces and cgroups
2. Build small, secure images and run a full stack with Docker Compose
3. Deploy any application on Kubernetes so it heals itself and scales with traffic
4. Debug a broken cluster calmly, from CrashLoopBackOff to a missing volume
5. Ship to the cluster with Helm, GitOps and a CI/CD pipeline
6. Deploy a production AI agent platform on Kubernetes as your capstone
7. Step into a cloud, DevOps or platform engineer role with real cluster experience

What you get

• Live classesTaught live on a schedule, with time to ask questions as they come up. Every class is recorded, so a missed session is never lost.
• Reading materialsRunnable, chapter-by-chapter notes with real outputs, in the portal. Read at your own pace and come back to revise any time.
• Topic-wise guided labsA step-by-step hands-on lab for every topic, with hints when you get stuck, so you learn by building and not just by watching.
• Chapter-wise quiz and flash cardsA short quiz after every chapter and spaced flash cards, so what you read actually sticks.
• Weekly assessmentsA short timed test every week on what was taught, scored on the portal, so gaps show up while there is still time to fix them.
• AssignmentsHands-on assignments to build and submit, with feedback, so you finish with real work to show.

Your path, stage by stage

9 stages, in the order you learn them. Each one has a clear goal and ends with something you build and keep. Every topic runs on your own machine first.

1. 1Containers from the inside
2. 2Package any app
3. 3Run a full stack
4. 4Kubernetes core
5. 5Networking and storage
6. 6Scale with traffic
7. 7Secure the cluster
8. 8Package and observe
9. 9Production and capstone

1. 01

   Stage 1 of 9

   Containers from the inside

   See what a container really is, from Linux processes to namespaces, cgroups and runtimes.

   You buildA lab that shows where every bit of a container's isolation comes from

   Docker & Container Fundamentals5 topics

   Part 1 · Sessions 1 to 5

   • Why Docker? (Bare Metal vs VMs vs Docker Containers, Portability)
   • Core Linux Prerequisites (Processes, PID, Mounts, Permissions, Signals & /proc)
   • Container Isolation Deep Dive (PID, NET, MNT, UTS, USER Namespaces)
   • Control Groups (cgroups v1/v2, CPU/Memory Limits & OOM Killer)
   • Container Runtime Internals (OCI Specs, runc, containerd, Docker Engine vs CRI)
2. 02

   Stage 2 of 9

   Package any app

   Write Dockerfiles that build small, safe and fast images for real services.

   You buildSmall multi-stage images for a real service, scanned for problems

   Docker Mastery & Workload Packaging10 topics

   Part 2 · Sessions 6 to 15

   • Docker Architecture & CLI (Daemon, Client, Docker Hub & Lifecycle Commands)
   • Docker Image Mechanics (Storage Drivers, Layering, Image IDs, Digests & Immutability)
   • Dockerfile Fundamentals (FROM, RUN, COPY, ADD, WORKDIR, ENV, CMD vs ENTRYPOINT)
   • Dockerfile Deep Dive (Exec vs Shell form, Build Context, .dockerignore & Layer Caching)
   • Image Optimization (Alpine vs Distroless vs Slim, Dive Inspection, Trivy Scanning)
   • Multi-Stage Builds (Compiling dependencies vs Lightweight Runtime Images)
   • Container Lifecycle & Signal Handling (PID 1, Graceful Shutdowns with FastAPI/Uvicorn)
   • Docker Networking Fundamentals (Bridge, host, none, veth pairs & NAT Port Mapping)
   • Docker Networking Deep Dive (Overlay, macvlan, Custom Networks & Inter-container DNS)
   • Docker Volumes & Persistence (Writable Layer vs Volumes vs Bind Mounts vs tmpfs)
3. 03

   Stage 3 of 9

   Run a full stack

   Run an API, database, cache and workers together, then secure and observe them.

   You buildA secured production Docker stack for microservices

   Docker Compose, Security & Observability5 topics

   Part 3 · Sessions 16 to 20

   • Docker Compose Orchestration (FastAPI Workload + PostgreSQL + Redis + Celery Stack)
   • Advanced Compose (Healthchecks, Dependencies, Secrets, Profiles & Resource Limits)
   • Container Security (Rootless Containers, Capabilities, Seccomp, AppArmor, Read-Only FS)
   • Container Observability (Metrics Collection, Prometheus, Grafana & cAdvisor Setup)
   • Mini-Project Lab (Build & Secure Production Docker Stack for Microservices)
4. 04

   Stage 4 of 9

   Kubernetes core

   Learn how a cluster thinks, and run your service with Pods, Deployments and Services.

   You buildYour service running on a local cluster, with rolling updates

   Kubernetes Architecture & Core Primitives10 topics

   Part 4 · Sessions 21 to 30

   • Why Kubernetes? (Container Sprawl, Orchestration Problems & Control Plane Goals)
   • K8s Architecture Deep Dive (API Server, etcd, Scheduler, Controller Manager, Kubelet)
   • Kubernetes Installation & Setup (Minikube, Kind, K3s, kubeadm & Cloud EKS/GKE)
   • Kubernetes API & kubectl (Declarative YAML, Imperative commands, Selectors & Labels)
   • Pod Mechanics & Patterns (Pause container, Pod IP, Sidecar, Ambassador & Adapter)
   • Deployments & ReplicaSets (Reconciliation loops, Rolling Updates & Rollbacks)
   • Kubernetes Services (ClusterIP, NodePort, LoadBalancer & Endpoints routing)
   • CoreDNS & Service Discovery (Pod DNS, Service FQDN & Cluster-internal lookup)
   • ConfigMaps & Secrets (Env Injection, Volume Mounts, Base64 vs Encryption)
   • Health Probes in K8s (Liveness /healthz, Readiness /ready, Startup Probes for APIs)
5. 05

   Stage 5 of 9

   Networking and storage

   Connect services inside the cluster, expose them safely and keep data across restarts.

   You buildA stateful app with persistent volumes and network policies

   Kubernetes Networking & Storage8 topics

   Part 5 · Sessions 31 to 38

   • K8s Networking Model (Pod Network, Node Network, Service Network, Cluster CIDR)
   • CNI Plugins & eBPF (Calico, Cilium, Flannel, veth pairs & Kernel packet routing)
   • Network Policies (Ingress/Egress rules, Namespace/Pod selectors, Microsegmentation)
   • Ingress Controllers (NGINX, Traefik, Host/Path Routing, TLS Termination)
   • Kubernetes Gateway API (Gateway, GatewayClass, HTTPRoute, Modern Routing)
   • Storage Architecture (emptyDir, hostPath, PersistentVolume, PVC & StorageClasses)
   • StatefulSets (Stateful workloads, Headless Services, Postgres/Redis ordering)
   • DaemonSets, Jobs & CronJobs (Log collectors, Monitoring agents & Batch jobs)
6. 06

   Stage 6 of 9

   Scale with traffic

   Place workloads on the right nodes and scale them when traffic grows.

   You buildAutoscaling that holds up under a load test

   Scheduling, Resources & Autoscaling4 topics

   Part 6 · Sessions 39 to 42

   • Advanced Scheduling (Node Selection, nodeSelector, Node/Pod Affinities, Anti-affinity)
   • Resource Management (Requests, Limits, QoS Classes, Guaranteed/Burstable, LimitRanges)
   • Taints & Tolerations (Node isolation, Dedicated pools & GPU Workload placement)
   • Kubernetes Autoscaling (HPA, VPA, Cluster Autoscaler, Metrics Server & Custom Metrics)
7. 07

   Stage 7 of 9

   Secure the cluster

   Control who can do what, for people and for apps.

   You buildRoles and service accounts for a team sharing one cluster

   Cluster Security & Access Control2 topics

   Part 7 · Sessions 43 to 44

   • Security Model (Authentication, Authorization, Admission Controllers & Webhooks)
   • RBAC Deep Dive (Roles, ClusterRoles, RoleBindings, ServiceAccounts & API access)
8. 08

   Stage 8 of 9

   Package and observe

   Ship with Helm, extend Kubernetes, and see everything with metrics and logs.

   You buildHelm charts and a Prometheus, Grafana and Loki stack

   Advanced Extensions & Operations4 topics

   Part 8 · Sessions 45 to 48

   • Helm Package Manager (Charts, Templates, Values, Dependencies, Hooks & Releases)
   • CRDs & Operators (Custom Resource Definitions, Controllers & Reconciliation Loops)
   • Full Observability Stack (Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, FluentBit & OpenTelemetry)
   • Cluster Break & Fix Lab (Debugging CrashLoopBackOff, OOMKilled, CNI & PVC lockups)
9. 09

   Stage 9 of 9

   Production and capstone

   Run a highly available cluster with GitOps, then deliver every change through a pipeline.

   You buildCapstone, a production AI agent platform deployed on Kubernetes

   Production Kubernetes & AI Agent Capstone2 topics

   Part 9 · Sessions 49 to 50

   • Production HA & GitOps (Multi-AZ Control Plane, etcd Backups, Argo CD & Canary)
   • Capstone, deploy a production AI agent platform on Kubernetes

   CI/CD with GitHub Actions15 topics

   15 sessions · build, test and deploy on every push with GitHub Actions.

   Pipelines

   • Your first workflow
   • Workflow anatomy
   • Continuous integration
   • Jobs, artifacts and failure
   • Secrets and environments

   Shipping

   • Building Docker images
   • Reusable workflows
   • Securing the pipeline
   • Deploy over SSH
   • Deploy to Kubernetes
   • Infrastructure with Terraform

   Running it

   • Releases and promotion
   • Verify and observe
   • Operations
   • Capstone