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Quick Start Kubernetes

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Do you need to figure out what Kubernetes is all about? Do you like learning through easy-to-follow hands-on?

If yes, this is the book for you...

Quick Start Kubernetes, brought to you by best-selling author Nigel Poulton, assumes zero prior experience and gets you to the point you can deploy and manage a simple app. And it does it in less than 100 pages!

You'll
- What microservices and cloud native is all about
- Why we need Kubernetes and how it fits in
- The fundamentals of Kubernetes architecture

You'll also perform the following optional hands-on
- Build a Kubernetes cluster
- Containerize an app
- Deploy the app to Kubernetes
- Break the app and watch it self-heal
- Scale the app
- Perform a rolling update

Along the way, Nigel explains everything as clearly as possible and busts every piece of jargon.

When you're done, you'll be up-to-speed with Kubernetes and ready to use your skills in the real world.

119 pages, Paperback

Published May 4, 2023

55 people are currently reading
51 people want to read

About the author

Nigel Poulton

32 books67 followers

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5 stars
63 (67%)
4 stars
20 (21%)
3 stars
7 (7%)
2 stars
1 (1%)
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2 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
Profile Image for Gianni Costanzi.
200 reviews3 followers
May 17, 2021
I was looking for a quick intro to the basics of Kubernetes, or K8s, and I must say that Nigel Poulton Quick Start its a great place.. to start and than to move on with his next more detailed and always updated book The Kubernetes Book. You'll understand the basic concepts of Deployment, Pods, Services etc in a clear way, with practical examples. At the end of the book there is a quick summary with all the commands/code used during the book, so you may read it quickly as I did and later on have a look at the commands/code recap to try the commands on your K8s cluster, and go back through the book only to clarify something if you don't remember it. It's a small book and it is a pleasure to read, I hope I'll find the same style on the other book "The Kubernetes Book" which I'll start reading soon.
Profile Image for Paweł Cisło.
61 reviews8 followers
January 4, 2025
I listened to Quick Start Kubernetes: 2024 Edition by Nigel Poulton as an audiobook, which I found as a 1st result while searching for "Kubernetes" on O'Reilly. I picked it up to pass the time while cleaning, as I’m currently preparing for the CKAD exam.

The book serves as a great refresher and covers the most common Kubernetes concepts, as promised by its title. That said, I’m fully aware it’s not sufficient on its own for the CKAD exam. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed the way Nigel narrated the book—his energy and tone made it engaging. I even chuckled at some parts, like when he read out YAML configurations, which isn’t exactly audiobook-friendly (as he claimed it), yet he managed to pull it off perfectly.

Overall, it’s an excellent starting point for anyone looking to get a quick overview of Kubernetes. While it won’t replace more in-depth study for advanced certifications, it’s a solid choice for brushing up on the basics.

I am giving it 4 stars, as I wished that it actually covered a little bit more of the Kubernetes world.
Profile Image for Angela Andrews.
14 reviews1 follower
February 19, 2021
Nigel has done it again!

I’ll preface this review by saying I know a little about Kubernetes. I’ve played with Minikube before. However, when you don’t use it, you lose it and now that my job requires that I understand Kubernetes and in turn, OpenShift, I needed a place to ground myself & get the terms right in my head.

I bought this book last night from Amazon & LeanPub (cuz Nigel deserves to get paid) and finished it this morning and I feel like I’m in a better place to pick up my studies. This book will NOT give you all you need to understand and run K8s, but it will darn sure give you a good foundation.

If you’re looking for more ways to learn, his Pluralsight courses are the bees knees, but there are other great courses out there on other platforms like A Cloud Guru and Udemy.
625 reviews5 followers
December 12, 2024
This was a simple, quick intro to Kubernetes. I'm learning about this at work and decided to see what's out there. Nigel seems to be a popular author & teacher in the field and this fit the bill.

The instructions given were simple and easy to follow. He explained things well enough. It skimmed the surface, but this is billed as a quick start and Nigel has other books that expand on the material.

There were a few places where the code from his GitHub repo did not match the instructions in the book - the repo has a few different files for controlling services, and neither matches the examples in the text - but I was able to get past that without too much fuss. Honestly, it's normally a benefit when things don't line up perfectly and I have to struggle a bit to make it work. It was a good opportunity to learn.
Profile Image for Pavlo Kvas.
11 reviews
February 21, 2025
It's a very nice book.
Very clear and straightforward explanations with a friendly tone.
Got through the book in no time.
Thanks to the author!
I was reading 2024 edition and in the book author says that docker desktop only allows single node kubernetes cluster to run locally and we need to create cluster on the cloud to follow the examples that use multiple nodes.
But Docker added multinode functionality recently and I could follow without a cloud cluster.
I'm sure it will be adjusted in the next edition, the author make frequent updates.
Profile Image for Michael.
149 reviews
November 5, 2023
Well narrated introduction to the main concepts. I was made aware of this work from a list of top Kubernetes books. Great to find that OReilly Media had the audio format available in my subscription. The audio presentation worked for me and gave a good confirmation of the main architectural features that K8s brings to cloud native agility
Profile Image for Albion.
2 reviews
December 31, 2021
Really loved the way that the book was organized and especially the hands on stuff. It really gives the feeling on how Kubernetes works in a real life application and gives the basic foundation for one that it's just starting with Kubernetes
167 reviews4 followers
February 21, 2024
Quick, hands-on and to-the-point. I especially liked his comment about how nobody understands Git!
Profile Image for Chumanus K..
4 reviews1 follower
September 3, 2025
Easy to understand and follow

Good for newbie like me. The example is precise and easy to follow. My platform is macbook using latest macOS version.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews

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