Building Scalable Microservices with Docker and Kubernetes

Microservices architecture involves breaking down a monolithic application into smaller, independent services that can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently.

What is Docker?

Docker is a containerization platform that allows you to package applications with all dependencies into isolated containers.

Creating a Dockerfile

FROM node:18-alpine
WORKDIR /app
COPY package*.json ./
RUN npm install
COPY . .
EXPOSE 3000
CMD ["npm", "start"]

Building and Running

docker build -t myapp .
docker run -p 3000:3000 myapp

Kubernetes Basics

Kubernetes automates deployment, scaling, and management of containerized applications.

Key Features

• Deployments – Roll out updates
• Services – Load balancing
• Pods – Container groups
• ConfigMaps – Configuration data
• Secrets – Sensitive data

1. One concern per container
2. Use .dockerignore – Exclude unnecessary files
3. Multi-stage builds – Smaller images
4. Health checks – Monitor container health
5. Resource limits – Prevent resource exhaustion

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