--- layout: docwithnav title: "Kubernetes User Guide: Managing Applications" --- # Kubernetes User Guide: Managing Applications **Table of Contents** - [Kubernetes User Guide: Managing Applications](#kubernetes-user-guide-managing-applications) - [Quick walkthrough](#quick-walkthrough) - [Thorough walkthrough](#thorough-walkthrough) - [Concept guide](#concept-guide) - [Further reading](#further-reading) The user guide is intended for anyone who wants to run programs and services on an existing Kubernetes cluster. Setup and administration of a Kubernetes cluster is described in the [Cluster Admin Guide](../../docs/admin/README.html). The [Developer Guide](../../docs/devel/README.html) is for anyone wanting to either write code which directly accesses the Kubernetes API, or to contribute directly to the Kubernetes project. Please ensure you have completed the [prerequisites for running examples from the user guide](prereqs.html). ## Quick walkthrough 1. [Kubernetes 101](walkthrough/README.html) 1. [Kubernetes 201](walkthrough/k8s201.html) ## Thorough walkthrough If you don't have much familiarity with Kubernetes, we recommend you read the following sections in order: 1. [Quick start: launch and expose an application](quick-start.html) 1. [Configuring and launching containers: configuring common container parameters](configuring-containers.html) 1. [Deploying continuously running applications](deploying-applications.html) 1. [Connecting applications: exposing applications to clients and users](connecting-applications.html) 1. [Working with containers in production](production-pods.html) 1. [Managing deployments](managing-deployments.html) 1. [Application introspection and debugging](introspection-and-debugging.html) 1. [Using the Kubernetes web user interface](ui.html) 1. [Logging](logging.html) 1. [Monitoring](monitoring.html) 1. [Getting into containers via `exec`](getting-into-containers.html) 1. [Connecting to containers via proxies](connecting-to-applications-proxy.html) 1. [Connecting to containers via port forwarding](connecting-to-applications-port-forward.html) ## Concept guide [**Overview**](overview.html) : A brief overview of Kubernetes concepts. [**Cluster**](../admin/README.html) : A cluster is a set of physical or virtual machines and other infrastructure resources used by Kubernetes to run your applications. [**Node**](../admin/node.html) : A node is a physical or virtual machine running Kubernetes, onto which pods can be scheduled. [**Pod**](pods.html) : A pod is a co-located group of containers and volumes. [**Label**](labels.html) : A label is a key/value pair that is attached to a resource, such as a pod, to convey a user-defined identifying attribute. Labels can be used to organize and to select subsets of resources. [**Selector**](labels.html#label-selectors) : A selector is an expression that matches labels in order to identify related resources, such as which pods are targeted by a load-balanced service. [**Replication Controller**](replication-controller.html) : A replication controller ensures that a specified number of pod replicas are running at any one time. It both allows for easy scaling of replicated systems and handles re-creation of a pod when the machine it is on reboots or otherwise fails. [**Service**](services.html) : A service defines a set of pods and a means by which to access them, such as single stable IP address and corresponding DNS name. [**Volume**](volumes.html) : A volume is a directory, possibly with some data in it, which is accessible to a Container as part of its filesystem. Kubernetes volumes build upon [Docker Volumes](https://docs.docker.com/userguide/dockervolumes/), adding provisioning of the volume directory and/or device. [**Secret**](secrets.html) : A secret stores sensitive data, such as authentication tokens, which can be made available to containers upon request. [**Name**](identifiers.html) : A user- or client-provided name for a resource. [**Namespace**](namespaces.html) : A namespace is like a prefix to the name of a resource. Namespaces help different projects, teams, or customers to share a cluster, such as by preventing name collisions between unrelated teams. [**Annotation**](annotations.html) : A key/value pair that can hold larger (compared to a label), and possibly not human-readable, data, intended to store non-identifying auxiliary data, especially data manipulated by tools and system extensions. Efficient filtering by annotation values is not supported. ## Further reading * API resources * [Working with resources](working-with-resources.html) * Pods and containers * [Pod lifecycle and restart policies](pod-states.html) * [Lifecycle hooks](container-environment.html) * [Compute resources, such as cpu and memory](compute-resources.html) * [Specifying commands and requesting capabilities](containers.html) * [Downward API: accessing system configuration from a pod](downward-api.html) * [Images and registries](images.html) * [Migrating from docker-cli to kubectl](docker-cli-to-kubectl.html) * [Tips and tricks when working with config](config-best-practices.html) * [Assign pods to selected nodes](node-selection/) * [Perform a rolling update on a running group of pods](update-demo/) [![Analytics](https://kubernetes-site.appspot.com/UA-36037335-10/GitHub/docs/user-guide/README.md?pixel)]()