9 Best Books on Kubernetes for Beginners in 2024
Kubernetes is a container management platform.
Kubernetes has emerged as one of the most important and exciting container management platforms. It allows you to deploy cloud-native applications anywhere and manage them exactly as you like everywhere.
It achieves this through a combination of features within the Kubernetes platform, including Pods and Services. It is a tool written in Golang and it is created by Google.
If you want to learn Kubernetes in-depth and are looking for the best Kubernetes books then you have come to the right place.
Why learn Kubernetes?
Kubernetes is arguably the most important container management technology in the world. It marks a breakthrough for devops because it allows teams to keep pace with the requirements of modern software development. We are going to give you some reasons why you should learn Kubernetes.
Extensible: Kubernetes is very extensible. There are a set of existing resources like Pods, Deployments, StatefulSets, Secrets, ConfigMaps, etc. However, users and developers can add more resources in the form of Custom Resource Definitions.
Efficient: Kubernetes is an efficient model for application development and operations. It eliminates infrastructure lock-in by providing core capabilities for containers without imposing restrictions.
Multi-cloud flexibility: Kubernetes allows to derive maximum utility from containers and build cloud-native applications that can run anywhere, independent of cloud-specific requirements.
Architectural advantages: Kubernetes brings dynamism. It makes your architecture more responsive to the change.
High in demand: Kubernetes is in the trends and DevOps with proper knowledge of Kubernetes can grab excellent high-paying jobs. Kubernetes is mostly used by enterprise-level companies like Google, VMware, Deloitte, etc. So, you can expect a salary anywhere from $72K to $146K per year.
Active community support: Another big aspect of Kubernetes popularity is its huge, active, and strong community.
What Makes Best Kubernetes Books?
Depending upon the reader’s background, book’s style, and content coverage, different books will resonate with different people. Here are our criteria for the selection of the books:
Use clear, precise, and easy-to-understand language
Thoroughly teach and explain the basic concepts of Kubernetes
Contain exercises, examples, and practice problems for hands-on experience
Enable to hold the attention of readers
Well-structured and friendly toward self-taught programmers
Best Books on Kubernetes
To help you in selecting a well-structured and latest book for Kubernetes, we have narrowed it down to the top 6 best Kubernetes books. Let’s dive in:
1. Best book for total beginners: The Kubernetes Book
The Kubernetes Book by Nigel Poulton and Pushkar Joglekar helps you gain insight into the inner workings of Kubernetes. The book will help you to learn how to deploy and manage applications on Kubernetes. You will also explore ways to build and secure Kubernetes clusters.
After reading the book, you will be able to:
Explore cluster-level and node-level isolation and runtime isolation options
Use Kubernetes Deployments for self-healing, scaling, and updating apps
Manage Kubernetes clusters with
kubectlWrite a Container Storage Interface (CSI) plugin to work across multiple orchestrators
Use Kubernetes features such as Jons and CronJobs in your apps
Identify vulnerabilities and learn measures to prevent and mitigate them
The 228-page book consists of eleven chapters. The topics covered in the book are:
Chapter 1 covers Kubernetes Primer
Chapter 2 talks about Kubernetes Principles of Operation
Chapter 3 talks about Installing Kubernetes
Chapter 4 talks about Working with Pods
Chapter 5 covers Kubernetes Deployments
Chapter 6 talks about Kubernetes Services
Chapter 7 covers Kubernetes Storage
Chapter 8 covers other Important Kubernetes Stuff
Chapter 9 talks about Threat Modeling Kubernetes
Chapter 10 covers Real-World Kubernetes Security
By the end of the book, you’ll have the confidence and skills to leverage all the features of Kubernetes to develop scalable applications.
2. Best book for step-by-step learners: Kubernetes: Up and Running: Dive into the Future of Infrastructure
Kubernetes: Up and Running: Dive into the Future of Infrastructure by Joe Beda, Kelsey Hightower, and Brendan Burns describe the Kubernetes cluster orchestrator and how its tools and APIs can be used to improve the development, delivery, and maintenance of distributed applications. With this book's updated third edition, you'll learn how this popular container orchestrator can help your company achieve new levels of velocity, agility, reliability, and efficiency
The contents of this book are concise and well-constructed. Each chapter leads to the next. You won't feel the slightest need to skip forward or go back at any point in the book. Here's what you will learn from the book:
Create a simple cluster to learn how Kubernetes works
Dive into the details of deploying an application using Kubernetes
Learn specialized objects in Kubernetes, such as DaemonSets, jobs, ConfigMaps, and secrets
Explore deployments that tie together the lifecycle of a complete application
Get practical examples of how to develop and deploy real-world applications in Kubernetes
By the end of this book, you'll have a solid understanding of what Kubernetes is and how it works, as well as skills to deploy a Kubernetes cluster and simple applications.
3. Best book for hands-on learners: Kubernetes in Action, 2nd Edition
Kubernetes in Action by Marko Luksa is a fully-updated and comprehensive guide to developing and running applications in a Kubernetes environment. The book gives an overview of container technologies like Docker so readers who haven't used these technologies before can get up and running.
This updated edition contains new coverage of the Kubernetes architecture, including the Kubernetes API, and a deep dive into managing a Kubernetes cluster in production. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.
As you navigate this comprehensive guide, you'll also appreciate thorough coverage of high-value topics like monitoring, tuning, and scaling. The book is divided into five sections and thirty chapters. The topics covered in these chapters include:
Part 1 gives an introduction to Kubernetes
Part 2 talks about Kubernetes core concepts and API Objects
Part 3 Kubernetes Internals: the Control Plane Components, the Cluster Node Components, and the internal operation of Kubernetes Controllers
Part 4 talks about managing Kubernetes
Part 5 covers Kubernetes Development and Deployment of Best Practices
The book leverages a unique, friendly, and straightforward approach to teaching Kubernetes. It is perfect for software developers with little or no familiarity with Docker or container orchestration systems.
Other books that you may enjoy:
4. Best book for cloud developers: Mastering Kubernetes, 4th Edition
Mastering Kubernetes: Level up your container orchestration skills with Kubernetes is a great reference manual for Kubernetes, covering almost every topic in the K8s world to some degree or another. It goes beyond simply learning Kubernetes fundamentals and its deployment.
The fourth edition of the bestseller Mastering Kubernetes includes the most recent tools and code to enable you to learn the latest features of Kubernetes 1.25. This book contains a thorough exploration of complex concepts and best practices to help you master the skills of designing and deploying large-scale distributed systems on Kubernetes clusters.
Here's what you will learn in the book:
Learn how to govern Kubernetes using policy engines
Learn what it takes to run Kubernetes in production and at scale
Build and run stateful applications and complex microservices
Master Kubernetes networking with services, Ingress objects, load balancers, and service meshes
Achieve high availability for your Kubernetes clusters
Improve Kubernetes observability with tools such as Prometheus, Grafana, and Jaeger
Extend Kubernetes with the Kubernetes API, plugins, and webhooks
The 642-page book is divided into the following chapters:
Chapter 1 talks about understanding Kubernetes Architecture
Chapter 2 guided you to create Kubernetes Clusters
Chapter 3 talks about High Availability and Reliability
Chapter 4 covers Securing Kubernetes
Chapter 5 talks about using Kubernetes Resources in Practice
Chapter 6 talks about managing storage
Chapter 7 talks about running Stateful Applications with Kubernetes
Chapter 8 talks about Deploying and Updating Applications
Chapter 9 covers Packaging Applications
Chapter 10 talks about Exploring Advanced Networking
Chapter 11 guides you in Running Kubernetes on Multiple Clouds and Cluster Federation
Chapter 12 covers Serverless Computing on Kubernetes
Chapter 13 talks about Monitoring Kubernetes Clusters
Chapter 14 talks about Utilizing Service Meshes
Chapter 15 talks about Extending Kubernetes
Chapter 16 talks about Governing Kubernetes
Chapter 17 talks about Running Kubernetes in Production
Chapter 18 talks about the Future of Kubernetes
By the end of this Kubernetes book, you will graduate from an intermediate to advanced Kubernetes professional. This is an excellent book to keep on your desk for reference.
5. Best book for serious learners: Kubernetes Patterns
Kubernetes Patterns: Reusable Elements for Designing Cloud-Native Applications by Bilgin Ibryam, Roland Huß provide detailed, reusable Kubernetes patterns for container deployment and orchestration. Each pattern includes a description of the problem and a proposed solution with Kubernetes specifics. All patterns are backed by and demonstrated with concrete code examples.
The book is well structured, allowing you to easily navigate and find a pattern that solves your problem. There are many concrete code examples and easy-to-understand diagrams to back explanations on what the Kubernetes resources are used for.
After reading the book, you will learn about the following pattern categories:
Foundational patterns covering core principles and practices for building and running container-based cloud native applications
Behavioral patterns that delve into finer-grained concepts for managing various types of container and platform interactions
Structural patterns for organizing containers within a Pod for addressing specific use cases
Configuration patterns that provide insight into how application configurations can be handled in Kubernetes
Security patterns for hardening the access to cloud native applications running on Kubernetes Advanced patterns covering more complex topics such as operators and autoscaling
This updated edition is ideal for developers and architects familiar with basic Kubernetes concepts and want to learn how to solve common cloud native challenges with proven design patterns.
6. Best Book for Completionists: Kubernetes Cookbook
Kubernetes Cookbook: Building Cloud Native Applications by Sébastien Goasguen and Michael Hausenblas help you solve concrete problems around Kubernetes. The authors have compiled over 80 hands-on recipes for automating the deployment, scaling, and operations of application containers across clusters of hosts.
The book's easy-lookup problem/solution format helps you quickly find the detailed answers for many common issues you might face while working with Kubernetes. The book takes a practical approach to help you automate deployments and manage different operations of application containers across clusters of hosts. The hands-on recipes in the book focuses on:
Creating a Kubernetes cluster
Using the Kubernetes command-line interface
Managing fundamental workload types
Working with services
Exploring the Kubernetes API
Managing stateful and non-cloud native apps
Working with volumes and configuration data
Cluster-level and application-level scaling
Securing your applications
Monitoring and logging
Maintenance and troubleshooting
This book delivers the essential knowledge that developers and system administrators need to get there. The recipes will make you stay focused and you will not be bored!
7. The Book of Kubernetes: A Complete Guide to Container Orchestration
The Book of Kubernetes: A Complete Guide to Container Orchestration by Alan Hohn is a hands-on guidebook to the inner workings of containers. It provides a deep understanding of what a container is, how containerization changes the way programs run, and how Kubernetes provides computing, networking, and storage.
The book does a wonderful job explaining the concepts and has a lot of examples in github. Here’s what you’ll get from the book:
How containers make applications more reliable and easier to maintain
How to build a Kubernetes cluster and use it to run containerized applications
Why container networking is so important and how it works in detail
How to keep applications running well, and how to debug when things go wrong
How to keep a cluster secure with authentication and role-based access controls
Each chapter includes a set of examples with just enough automation to start your container exploration with ease. The book is divided into twenty chapters and includes the following topics:
PART I: Making and using Containers
Chapter 1: Why Containers Matter
Chapter 2: Process Isolation
Chapter 3: Resource Limiting
Chapter 4: Network Namespaces
Chapter 5: Container Images and Runtime Layers
PART II: Containers in Kubernetes
Chapter 6: Why Kubernetes Matters
Chapter 7: Deploying Containers to Kubernetes
Chapter 8: Overlay Networks
Chapter 9: Service and Ingress Networks
Chapter 10: When Things Go Wrong
Chapter 11: Control Plane and Access Control
Chapter 12: Container Runtime
Chapter 13: Health Probes
Chapter 14: Limits and Quotas
Chapter 15: Persistent Storage
Chapter 16: Configuration and Secrets
Chapter 17: Custom Resources and Operators
PART III: Performant Kubernetes
Chapter 18: Affinity and Devices
Chapter 19: Tuning Quality of Service
Chapter 20: Application Resiliency
I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in deeper learning into the containers orchestration.
8. Best Book for DevOps Developers: Kubernetes for Developers
Kubernetes for Developers by William Denniss reveals practical and painless methods for deploying your apps on Kubernetes—even for small-to-medium sized applications! You’ll learn how to migrate your existing apps onto Kubernetes without a rebuild, and implement modern cloud native architectures that can handle your future growth.
Here’s what you’ll get from the book:
Containerize a web application with Docker
Host a containerized app on Kubernetes with a public cloud service
Save money and improve performance with cloud native technologies
Make your deployments reliable and fault tolerant
Prepare your deployments to scale without a redesign
Monitor, debug and tune application deployments on Kubernetes
The book helps your first steps into Kubernetes using the powerful Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) service. You’ll start by creating a small application you can run on a cloud-based Kubernetes cluster. Then, you’ll systematically explore best practices for stable long-term deployment, including scaling, capacity planning, and resource optimization.
The content of this book is divided into twelve chapters:
Chapter 1 covers Kubernetes for application deployment
Chapter 2 talks about Containerizing apps
Chapter 3 talks about Deploying to Kubernetes
Chapter 4 covers Automated operations
Chapter 5 covers Resource management
Chapter 6 talks about Scaling up
Chapter 7 covers Internal services and load balancing
Chapter 8 talks about Node feature selection
Chapter 9 covers Stateful applications
Chapter 10 talks about Background processing
Chapter 11 covers GitOps: Configuration as code
Chapter 12 talks about Securing Kubernetes
Kubernetes is the future of app development, so make sure you're ahead of the curve --get started with Kubernetes today! This book provides practical exercises supported by background information that allow for a developer to become comfortable using Kubernetes.
9. Best Boof for Absolute Beginners: Quick Start Kubernetes
Quick Start Kubernetes by Nigel Poulton is an excellent hands-on guide for people who are new to Kubernetes. It starts with explaining what Kubernetes is with the official naming and simple explanations. The 2024 edition is fully updated for Kubernetes v1.29 and all the latest trends in the cloud-native ecosystem.
The author assumes zero prior experience and gets you to the point where you can deploy simple applications. And it does it in less than 100 pages! After reading the book, you’ll be able to perform the following hands-on tasks:
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
There's even an appendix with all of the lab code at the end of the book to make it easy to rerun the labs. I found this a very efficient way to solidify the learning hands-on, again and again.
More ways to learn Kubernetes
We hope our book curation will help you to pick the right book to learn Kubernetes. When it comes to Kubernetes, there are some awesome online resources as well.
Udemy: Kubernetes Certified Application Developer (CKAD) with Tests is a 10-hour high rated course. It helps you learn concepts and practice for the Kubernetes Certification with hands-on labs right in your browser - DevOps - CKAD.
Udemy: Learn DevOps: The Complete Kubernetes Course is for those who want to learn how to build, deploy, use, and maintain Kubernetes.
Coursera: Getting Started with Google Kubernetes Engine is an awesome course, offered by Google cloud, to learn Kubernetes from scratch. This course is part of the Preparing for Google Cloud Certification: Cloud DevOps Engineer Professional Certificate.
We also suggest over 70 coding resources that are free online.
That wraps our article about some of the best books to learn Kubernetes. It is hard to say which is the best book as it depends upon your background and choice. With the great selection of Kubernetes books and courses, the learning opportunities are simply endless!
Thanks for reading and see you in the next article.