Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) – Overview

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies the deployment, management, and operations of Kubernetes. AKS provides a fully managed Kubernetes control plane, automatic upgrades, and built-in monitoring tools, allowing you to focus on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.

Key Features

• Managed Control Plane: Azure handles the Kubernetes API server and backend components.
• Integrated Developer Tools: Seamless integration with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, and VS Code.
• Scaling & Autoscaling: Horizontal pod autoscaler (HPA) and cluster autoscaler are built‑in.
• Security & Compliance: Azure AD integration, RBAC, network policies, and compliance certifications.
• Monitoring & Insights: Azure Monitor for containers provides metrics, logs, and diagnostics.

Architecture Overview

AKS clusters consist of two main components:

1. Control Plane (Managed): Hosted by Azure, includes the API server, scheduler, and etcd. It is highly available across multiple zones.
2. Node Pools (User‑managed): Virtual machines that run container workloads. You can mix VM sizes, OS types, and zones.

Getting Started

Follow these steps to create your first AKS cluster:

# Install Azure CLI
curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

# Login
az login

# Create a resource group
az group create --name MyResourceGroup --location eastus

# Create AKS cluster
az aks create \
    --resource-group MyResourceGroup \
    --name MyAKSCluster \
    --node-count 3 \
    --enable-addons monitoring \
    --generate-ssh-keys

# Get credentials for kubectl
az aks get-credentials --resource-group MyResourceGroup --name MyAKSCluster

# Verify cluster
kubectl get nodes

For detailed walkthrough, see the Getting Started guide.

Next Steps

• Deep dive into AKS architecture
• Configure networking and ingress
• Implement security best practices
• Set up monitoring and alerting