Azure Documentation > Services > Compute > Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Overview

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies deploying, managing, and scaling containerized applications and microservices using Kubernetes on Azure. AKS provides a managed Kubernetes control plane, reducing the complexity of orchestration, and integrates seamlessly with other Azure services for networking, storage, security, and monitoring.

Key Benefits of AKS

  • Simplified Orchestration: AKS manages the Kubernetes control plane, including API servers, etcd, and Kubelet, allowing you to focus on your applications.
  • Hybrid and Multi-cloud Ready: Run Kubernetes workloads consistently across Azure, on-premises, and other cloud providers with Azure Arc.
  • Enterprise-Grade Security: Leverage Azure Active Directory integration, network policies, and secrets management for robust security.
  • Integrated Development Experience: Connect AKS with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, and VS Code for a streamlined CI/CD pipeline.
  • Cost Optimization: Utilize Azure Spot Virtual Machines for significant cost savings on non-mission-critical workloads.
  • Scalability and High Availability: Automatically scale your applications based on demand and ensure high availability with multi-master support and node auto-scaling.

Core AKS Concepts

Kubernetes Cluster

A managed Kubernetes control plane hosted by Azure, combined with worker nodes that run your containerized applications.

Nodes (VMs)

Virtual machines that host your application pods. AKS manages the lifecycle of these nodes.

Pods

The smallest deployable units in Kubernetes, representing a single instance of a running process in your cluster.

Deployments

Declarative updates that manage the desired state of your pods and provide rolling updates and rollbacks.

Services

Abstract away network access to a set of pods, enabling stable communication and load balancing.

Ingress Controllers

Manage external access to services in a cluster, typically HTTP and HTTPS, providing load balancing, SSL termination, and name-based virtual hosting.

Common Use Cases

  • Microservices architectures
  • Web application hosting
  • CI/CD pipelines
  • Batch processing and big data analytics
  • IoT edge computing

Getting Started with AKS

Ready to deploy your first containerized application? Follow these steps:

  1. Create an AKS Cluster: Use the Azure portal, Azure CLI, or ARM templates to provision your AKS cluster.
  2. Install kubectl: Configure your Kubernetes command-line tool to connect to your cluster.
  3. Deploy an Application: Create Kubernetes manifests (YAML files) for your application's deployments and services.
  4. Access Your Application: Use Services or Ingress to expose your application to the internet or internal networks.

Explore the detailed documentation and tutorials to master Kubernetes on Azure.

Start with AKS Quickstart Explore AKS Tutorials