Cloud Computing Containers and Orchestration Syllabus

Containers and Orchestration syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Containers and Orchestration in Cloud Computing, not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Containerization with Docker

   4 topics

   • Container Images and Layers
   • Dockerfiles and Builds
   • Container Registries
   • Networking and Volumes
2. 2

   Kubernetes Fundamentals

   4 topics

   • Cluster Architecture
   • Core Workload Objects
   • Services and Ingress
   • ConfigMaps and Secrets
3. 3

   Managing Kubernetes Workloads

   5 topics

   • Namespaces and Resource Quotas
   • Horizontal Pod Autoscaling
   • Rolling Updates and Rollbacks
   • Persistent Volumes and Storage Classes
   • Helm Package Management
4. 4

   Managed Kubernetes Services

   4 topics

   • Amazon EKS
   • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
   • Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
   • Cluster Provisioning and Upgrades
5. 5

   Serverless Containers

   3 topics

   • AWS Fargate
   • Google Cloud Run
   • Azure Container Instances

Containers and Orchestration flashcards for Cloud Computing

25 of 70 cards from the Containers and Orchestration deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What is a container image?

   A read-only, immutable template packaging an application together with its runtime, libraries, dependencies, and configuration, used to instantiate running containers.

2. How are container images structured internally?

   As a stack of read-only layers. Each layer represents a filesystem change; layers are stacked and merged via a union filesystem to form the final image.

3. What is the copy-on-write (CoW) layer in a running container?

   A thin, writable top layer added on top of the read-only image layers. All changes made by the running container are written there, leaving the underlying image unchanged.

4. Why do image layers improve efficiency and caching?

   Layers are content-addressed and shared across images, so common layers are stored and pulled only once, reducing disk usage and speeding up builds and pulls.

5. What is an image digest and how does it differ from a tag?

   A digest is an immutable SHA-256 content hash (e.g. sha256:...) that uniquely identifies an exact image, while a tag (like :latest) is a mutable human-friendly pointer that can be reassigned.

6. What is a Dockerfile?

   A text file containing an ordered set of instructions that Docker reads to automatically build a container image.

7. What is the difference between the RUN, CMD, and ENTRYPOINT instructions in a Dockerfile?

   RUN executes commands at build time creating new layers; CMD sets default arguments/command run at container start (overridable); ENTRYPOINT sets the executable that always runs, with CMD supplying its default arguments.

8. What is a multi-stage Dockerfile build and why use it?

   A build using multiple FROM stages where artifacts are copied from a build stage into a slim final stage. It keeps the final image small by excluding build tools and intermediate files.

9. How does the Docker build cache work with layer instructions?

   Docker caches each layer; if an instruction and its context are unchanged it reuses the cached layer. Once an instruction changes, that layer and all subsequent layers are rebuilt.

10. What does a .dockerignore file do?

    It lists files and directories excluded from the build context sent to the daemon, reducing build size and preventing secrets or unneeded files from entering the image.

11. What is the difference between the COPY and ADD Dockerfile instructions?

    COPY simply copies local files/directories into the image; ADD does the same but additionally can auto-extract local tar archives and fetch remote URLs. COPY is preferred for clarity.

12. What is a container registry?

    A storage and distribution system for container images, allowing images to be pushed, versioned by tags, and pulled by clients and clusters.

13. Name three major managed container registries.

    Docker Hub, Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR), Azure Container Registry (ACR); also Google Artifact Registry / GCR.

14. What is the format of a fully qualified image reference?

    registry/repository:tag (or registry/repository@digest), e.g. myregistry.io/team/app:1.2.0.

15. How does Kubernetes authenticate to a private registry?

    Via an imagePullSecret of type kubernetes.io/dockerconfigjson referenced by the pod or service account, supplying registry credentials for pulling images.

16. What is the default Docker bridge network?

    A private internal network (docker0) on the host that connects containers on the same host, giving them internal IPs and NAT-based outbound access.

17. Compare a Docker volume with a bind mount.

    A volume is managed by Docker in its storage area and is portable and decoupled from the host path; a bind mount maps a specific host filesystem path directly into the container and depends on host layout.

18. Why should persistent data be stored in volumes rather than the container's writable layer?

    The writable layer is ephemeral and destroyed when the container is removed; volumes persist independently of the container lifecycle and can be shared or backed up.

19. What are the main Docker network drivers?

    bridge (default single-host), host (shares host network stack), none (no networking), overlay (multi-host across a swarm), and macvlan (assigns MAC/IP on the physical network).

20. What are the two main plane components of Kubernetes cluster architecture?

    The control plane (manages cluster state) and the worker nodes (run the workloads/pods).

21. What are the core control plane components in Kubernetes?

    kube-apiserver, etcd (cluster datastore), kube-scheduler, kube-controller-manager, and cloud-controller-manager.

22. What is etcd's role in Kubernetes?

    etcd is the distributed, consistent key-value store that holds all cluster state and configuration as the single source of truth.

23. What components run on every Kubernetes worker node?

    kubelet (manages pods/containers on the node), kube-proxy (handles service networking rules), and a container runtime (e.g. containerd).

24. What does the kube-scheduler do?

    It watches for newly created pods with no assigned node and selects an appropriate node for them based on resource requirements, affinity, taints, and constraints.

25. What is a Pod in Kubernetes?

    The smallest deployable unit: one or more tightly coupled containers that share the same network namespace (IP), storage volumes, and lifecycle.

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