Tech Glossary
Kubernetes Pod
A Kubernetes Pod is the smallest and most basic deployable unit in Kubernetes, which is a popular container orchestration platform. A pod represents a single instance of a running process in a Kubernetes cluster, encapsulating one or more containers (typically Docker containers) that share resources like networking and storage.
Each pod has its own unique IP address and can communicate with other pods within the Kubernetes network. While a pod might contain just a single container, it can also run multiple containers that are tightly coupled, sharing the same storage volume and network namespace. This means that containers in the same pod can access the same network ports and storage, making it ideal for deploying services that need to work closely together, such as a web server and a logging service.
Pods are ephemeral by nature, meaning they are created, used, and destroyed as needed. If a pod fails or is stopped, Kubernetes automatically replaces it by creating a new pod based on the specified configuration. This dynamic management of pods ensures high availability and scalability for applications running in a Kubernetes cluster.
For example, in a microservices architecture, an application might be split into different services (e.g., frontend, backend, database), each running in separate pods. Kubernetes manages these pods, ensuring they are deployed across multiple nodes in a cluster, handling load balancing, auto-scaling, and self-healing when failures occur.
In summary, a Kubernetes Pod is a foundational component of the Kubernetes architecture, designed to run one or more closely related containers that share resources. Pods enable flexible, scalable, and resilient container-based applications.