Kubernetes Pod Security Policies (PSPs) is an enforcement mechanism to ensure that Pods run only with the appropriate privileges and can solely access the appropriate resources. You can leverage them as a threat prevention mechanism by controlling Pod creation, and limiting the capabilities available to specific users, groups, or applications.

While developing K3s to run at the edge we had to change our assumptions about how to manage these clusters at scale. A key assumption in a data center is that you have stable network connectivity, but this may not be true at the edge. You may have unreliable cellular service or limited time during the day in which you can connect. In these environments, operations such as upgrading Kubernetes or patching an operating system require a different paradigm.

By default, pods are non-isolated; they accept traffic from any source. The Kubernetes solution to this security concern is Network Policy that lets developers control network access to their services. Rancher comes configured with Network Policy using Project Calico which can be used to secure your clusters. This class will describe a few use cases for network policy and a live demo implementing each use case.

Security is one of the most talked-about topics for Kubernetes users. Google “Kubernetes security” and you'll find a huge number of articles, blogs and more. The reason is simple: you need to align your container and Kubernetes security with your organization’s existing security profile.

Ready to get some training on using K3s, the lightweight Kubernetes distribution?

One of the benefits of Kubernetes is the ability to run your applications everywhere in a simple manner. The conversation changes drastically when persistent storage is deployed with the application and the deployment becomes sticky as data has gravity.

Databases are business-critical entities and data loss leads to major operational risk scenarios in any organization. A single operational or architectural failure can lead to significant loss of time and resources. This class will provide a real-world view into the challenges of maintaining state and running databases in production and show solutions managed by Rancher.

As Kubernetes matures, enterprises are increasingly using it to run mission-critical applications with strict business requirements for uptime and availability. As a result, it is important to consider how your Kubernetes applications can recover from the failure of a server, data center and even entire region. In this Kubernetes master class, we'll look at how to ensure business continuity for your most important applications running on Kubernetes.

Pete Smails from Rancher catches up with Ka Wai Leung and Michael Mattsson from Hewlett Packard Enterprise at KubeCon NA in San Diego.