Book VII. Containers and Karma

Where Kubernetes meets enlightenment, and Docker becomes saṃsāra.

v7.1 — The Pod Incarnation

Every kubectl apply is the incarnation of a new life. Do not judge the pod until it has passed readinessProbe. And even then, remember — liveness can take it away at any moment.

Probability: 0.88

v7.2 — Logs in journald

The old container departs into /dev/null, but its logs remain forever in journald. Such is the law of the conservation of suffering in distributed systems.

Probability: 0.84

v7.3 — Tabs and apiVersion

YAML is a sacred text. It forgives everything, except tabs. And, possibly, an incorrect apiVersion.

Probability: 0.93

v7.4 — Exponential Backoff

The wise engineer does not restart pods by hand. He simply observes how the ReplicaSet does it for him, and meditates on the exponential backoff.

Probability: 0.90

v7.5 — PVC Attachment

True attachment is a PersistentVolumeClaim. Everything else is ephemeral. But even a PVC can be deleted with one command. Remember this before you attach.

Probability: 0.87

v7.6 — Microservice Reincarnation

Yesterday you were a container in Docker. Today you are a pod in Kubernetes. Tomorrow — a microservice in the cloud of someone else's imagination. The day after — a line in an architecture diagram drawn by an intern.

Probability: 0.91

v7.7 — CrashLoopBackOff

If your pod is stuck in CrashLoopBackOff, it means the Universe is giving you time to rethink everything. Do not argue with the Universe. Check your limits.

Probability: 0.94

v7.8 — Balance and Ego

Balance is when your Cluster Autoscaler scales not only pods, but also your ego. Usually — downward.

Probability: 0.89

v7.9 — The kubectl Bell

When the last container exits with code 0, and the cluster falls silent, you will understand — CI/CD is just another form of meditation. Only with kubectl get events instead of a bell.

Probability: ∞