Kubernetes: Up & Running: Dive into the Future of Infrastructure, 3rd Edition

Kubernetes makes more sense when its individual parts are connected to the work of running an application. Kubernetes: Up & Running builds that picture step by step: from container images and a first cluster to the objects, policies, storage, and deployment practices used to manage distributed services.

In this third edition, Brendan Burns, Joe Beda, Kelsey Hightower, and Lachlan Evenson take readers through both the mechanics of Kubernetes and the ideas behind them. The result is a substantial technical guide for developers, engineers, and architects ready to move beyond isolated commands and understand how a Kubernetes-based application fits together.

Start with containers, then build the cluster

The opening chapters establish the groundwork: building and running container images, creating a Kubernetes cluster, and using kubectl to inspect and manage it. From there, the book introduces Pods, health checks, resource requests and limits, and volumes—core concepts that shape how applications run and recover.

Follow an application through its lifecycle

Services, DNS, load balancing, and Ingress explain how workloads find one another and receive traffic. The chapters on ReplicaSets, Deployments, DaemonSets, and Jobs then show how Kubernetes coordinates replicas, updates, node-level workloads, and scheduled or parallel tasks. Seeing these resources in sequence helps clarify how small building blocks support application-wide behavior.

Configuration, access, and security

ConfigMaps and Secrets cover application configuration; role-based access control explains how identities and permissions are managed. The book also explores service meshes, application security, policy and governance, and related controls—useful context for readers concerned with more than getting a workload to start.

Beyond a single cluster

Later chapters turn to storage and StatefulSets, extending Kubernetes with custom resources and operators, accessing its API from common programming languages, and planning multicluster deployments. The closing material considers how to organize application files, releases, and deployment patterns, with an appendix on building a cluster.

A structured route into Kubernetes

Designed for intermediate-to-advanced readers, this guide suits developers, engineers, and architects who want to understand Kubernetes in the context of real application operations. Its broad progression—from containers and cluster objects to security, governance, and multicluster design—makes it a useful companion for building a deeper working model of cloud-native infrastructure.