in this article we are going to learn about pod’s.

POD’s

• In Kubernetes, a “pod” is the smallest building block and most basic unit

• A Pod is a group of one or more containers, with shared storage and network resources, and a specification for how to run the containers.

• it represents a single instance of a running process

• pods are typically created and managed using higher level of abstraction such as Deployments, Replica-Sets or Stateful-Sets, which provides additional features like scaling, rolling updates, and self-healing capabilities

  Pods in a Kubernetes cluster are used in two main ways:

• Pods that run a single container: The "one-container-per-Pod" model is the most common Kubernetes use case; in this case, you can think of a Pod as a wrapper around a single container; Kubernetes manages Pods rather than managing the containers directly.

• Pods that run multiple containers that need to work together: A Pod can encapsulate an application composed of multiple co-located containers that are tightly coupled and need to share resources. These co-located containers form a single cohesive unit. Multi Container includes initcontainer and sidecar/helper container.

  To create a pod we will use manifest YAML files

  The following is an example of a Pod which consists of a container running the image nginx:latest

• Create a file named nginx-pod.yaml with the following content

    ---
    apiVersion: v1 # species the API version of the Kubernetes object
    kind: pod  # specifies the kind of object, in this case, a Pod
    metadata: # metadata contains information about the object        3
      name: my-pod # name of the Pod3
    spec:   # specification of the Pod
      containers: # list of containers in the Pod
        - name: my-container # name of the container
          image: nginx:latest # image to use for the container
          ports: # list of ports to expose from the container
            - containerPort: 80 # port number to expose from the container
    ...
  

  To create the Pod shown above, run the following command:

    kubectl apply -f nginx-pod.yaml
    pod/nginx-pod created
  

  Check if the pod is running:

    kubectl get pods
  

  Output:

    NAME        READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    nginx-pod   1/1     Running   0          10s
  

  If you need more details about the pod:

    kubectl describe pod nginx-pod
  

  sample Output Snippet:

    Name:         nginx-pod
    Namespace:    default
    Labels:       app=nginx
    Status:       Running
    Containers:
      nginx-container:
        Image:          nginx:latest
        Port:           80/TCP
        State:          Running
    Events:
      Type    Reason     Age   From               Message
      ----    ------     ----  ----               -------
      Normal  Scheduled  ...   default-scheduler  Successfully assigned default/nginx-pod to node-1
      Normal  Pulling    ...   kubelet            Pulling image "nginx:latest"
      Normal  Pulled     ...   kubelet            Successfully pulled image "nginx:latest"
      Normal  Created    ...   kubelet            Created container nginx-contai
  

Pod Commands:

• kubectl get pod : Get pod

  Output:

    NAME         READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    nginx-pod    1/1     Running   0          1h
    test-pod     0/1     Pending   0          2m
  

• kubectl get pod -o wide : Get pod wide information
  Output:

    NAME         READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE   IP            NODE           NOMINATED NODE   READINESS GATES
    nginx-pod    1/1     Running   0          1h    10.244.0.5   node-1         <none>           <none>
    test-pod     0/1     Pending   0          2m    <none>       node-2
  

• kubectl get pod -w : Get pod with watch

  Output: (Continuously updates as pod statuses change)

    NAME         READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    nginx-pod    1/1     Running   0          1h
    test-pod     0/1     Pending   0          2m
    test-pod     1/1     Running   0          3m
  

• kubectl get pod -o yaml : Get pod in yaml

  kubectl get pod nginx-pod -o yaml

  Output: (Shows the pod configuration in YAML format)

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Pod
    metadata:
      name: nginx-pod
      namespace: default
    spec:
      containers:
      - image: nginx:latest
        name: nginx-container
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
    status:
      phase: Running
      podIP: 10.244.0.5
  

• kubectl edit pod : Edit pod

  Command:

    kubectl edit pod nginx-pod
  

  Action: Opens the pod configuration in the editor (e.g., nano or vi) for direct editing. After saving changes, Kubernetes applies them.

• kubectl describe pod : Describe pod

  Output:

    Name:         nginx-pod
    Namespace:    default
    Status:       Running
    IP:           10.244.0.5
    Containers:
      nginx-container:
        Image:       nginx:latest
        Port:        80/TCP
    Events:
      Type    Reason     Age   From               Message
      ----    ------     ----  ----               -------
      Normal  Scheduled  1h    default-scheduler  Successfully assigned default/nginx-pod to node-1
      Normal  Pulled     1h    kubelet            Successfully pulled image "nginx:latest"
  

• kubectl delete pod : Delete pod

  Output:

    pod "nginx-pod" deleted
  

• kubectl logs pod : Logs of the pod

  kubectl logs nginx-pod

  Output: (Shows logs generated by the pod)

    10.244.0.5 - - [28/Apr/2025:11:43 +0000] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 200 612 "-" "curl/7.
  

• kubectl exec -it pod /bin/bash : Execute into pod

  Output: (Opens a shell inside the container)

    kubectl exec -it nginx-pod -- /bin/bash
    root@nginx-pod:/#
  

Conclusion

This article aimed to provide a high-level overview of pods in Kubernetes, hopefully sparking your curiosity and encouraging you to delve deeper into its fascinating ecosystem. If you're intrigued, I urge you to explore Kubernetes further and immerse yourself in the rich world of cloud-native technologies.

Remember, Kubernetes may seem complex at first, but don't let it intimidate you. Once you've deployed a few applications, it becomes much more straightforward and intuitive to use—especially for developers. So, embrace the challenge and enjoy the journey!

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