Learning Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
2h 32mBeginner2025-04-23
Authors

Richard Hooper
Microsoft Azure Cloud Native Advocate, Microsoft MVP, and CKA
Course details
Kubernetes has become the gold standard for containerized infrastructure. As an open-source system, it scales quickly and with ease. In this course, Microsoft MVP Richard Hooper shows you how to use Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to create a secure, robust, and agile containerized application platform. Explore the concepts and skills you need to know to get AKS deployed at speed. Get tips on managing and monitoring your AKS cluster to ensure its workloads are healthy and secure. Along the way, Richard walks you through best practices for ongoing container maintenance and success, including diagnosing and solving problems with your cluster by using Azure Policy, Microsoft Defender for Containers, and role-based access control.
Learning objectives
Understand the purpose, administrative benefits, and high-level architecture of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Apply the necessary tools, permissions, and networking basics to manage AKS effectively.
Analyze different network configurations and advanced networking options in AKS to enhance control and monitoring.
Create an AKS cluster using both the Azure portal and CLI, including setting up availability zones and node pool configurations.
Evaluate the security and compliance policies for AKS by enabling and configuring Azure Policy and Microsoft Defender for Containers.
Learning objectives
Understand the purpose, administrative benefits, and high-level architecture of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS).
Apply the necessary tools, permissions, and networking basics to manage AKS effectively.
Analyze different network configurations and advanced networking options in AKS to enhance control and monitoring.
Create an AKS cluster using both the Azure portal and CLI, including setting up availability zones and node pool configurations.
Evaluate the security and compliance policies for AKS by enabling and configuring Azure Policy and Microsoft Defender for Containers.
Skills covered
KubernetesDevOps ToolsDevOpsLearningOpen Source
Concepts
0. Introduction
- 01 - Azure Kubernetes Service overview
- 02 - Prerequisites for using AKS
1. Getting Started with Azure Kubernetes Service
- 03 - Overview of AKS
- 04 - Network types for AKS
- 05 - Advanced Container Networking Services
- 06 - Create an AKS cluster using the portal
- 07 - Create an AKS cluster using the CLI
- 08 - Overview of AKS in the Azure portal
- 09 - Introduction and setup for AKS Automatic
- 10 - Connect to the AKS cluster
2. Manage and Maintain an AKS Cluster
- 11 - Upgrade the AKS control plane
- 12 - Upgrade an AKS node pool
- 13 - Apply security updates to nodes
- 14 - Using maintenance windows for AKS
- 15 - Creating and managing node pools
- 16 - Configuring autoscaling
- 17 - Overview of AKS add-ons and extensions
3. Monitoring Your AKS Cluster
- 18 - Enable Container Insights on your AKS cluster
- 19 - Overview of Container Insights
- 20 - Integrating Prometheus with AKS
- 21 - Setting up Grafana for AKS monitoring
- 22 - Recommended alerts and alert configurations
- 23 - Diagnose and solve problems
4. Secure Your AKS Cluster
- 24 - Enable Azure Policy for AKS
- 25 - Overview of Azure Policy for AKS
- 26 - Safeguards for AKS
- 27 - Enable Microsoft Defender for Containers
- 28 - Overview of Microsoft Defender for Containers
- 29 - Role-based access control (RBAC) and AKS
- 30 - Network security best practices for AKS
Conclusion
- 31 - Next steps