Kubernetes runs your workload by placing containers into Pods to run on Nodes. A node may be a virtual or physical machine, depending on the cluster. Each node is managed by the control plane and contains the services necessary to run Pods.

Components

Kubernetes orchestration require some componenets to work:

API Server

The API server is a component of the Kubernetes control plane that exposes the Kubernetes API. The API server is the front end for the Kubernetes control plane

ETCD

Consistent and highly-available key value store used as Kubernetes' backing store for all cluster data.

Scheduler

Control plane component that watches for newly created Pods with no assigned node, and selects a node for them to run on.

Controller

Control plane component that runs controller processes.

Container Runtime

A fundamental component that empowers Kubernetes to run containers effectively. It is responsible for managing the execution and lifecycle of containers within the Kubernetes environment.

Kubelet

An agent that runs on each node in the cluster. It makes sure that containers are running in a Pod.