From image to fleet
Day 1
Docker In Depth
- Image layers & BuildKit: Layer caching, multi-stage builds, minimal final images, .dockerignore
- Networking: Bridge, host, overlay networks; port mapping; container DNS
- Docker Compose: Production-grade Compose files, health checks, restart policies, volume management
- Registry: Tagging strategy, pushing to Docker Hub / private registries, image signing basics
- Security basics: Non-root users, read-only filesystems, capability dropping, image scanning with Trivy
- K3s introduction: Architecture, installation, use cases vs full Kubernetes, kubeconfig setup
Day 2
K3s Operations & Rancher
- K3s in production: HA setup with embedded etcd, datastore options (SQLite, PostgreSQL), air-gapped install
- K3s add-ons: Traefik ingress, local-path provisioner, Flannel CNI — replacing defaults when needed
- Rancher architecture: Server setup, cluster import vs provisioning, downstream cluster management
- Rancher Fleet: GitOps for multi-cluster deployments — Bundles, fleet.yaml, targeting by label
- RBAC & auth: Rancher user management, project/namespace isolation, AD/LDAP integration
- Monitoring: Rancher Monitoring stack (Prometheus + Grafana) deployment and configuration
What your team walks away with
After two days your team can build lean, secure container images, run Kubernetes in lightweight environments with K3s, and manage multiple clusters through Rancher — including GitOps-driven fleet deployments. Specifically:
- Build production-ready Docker images with optimized layers, security baselines, and multi-stage builds
- Deploy and operate K3s clusters for edge and smaller environments where full Kubernetes is overkill
- Manage multiple Kubernetes clusters centrally through Rancher's management plane
- Roll out workloads across a fleet of clusters via GitOps with Rancher Fleet
Book the Docker & K3s training
Can be delivered as a 2-day combined course or as individual 1-day modules. Short conversation about your setup, then a concrete proposal.
Need hands-on help in your own project instead of a training? I also take on architecture and implementation work, fully remote.
Get in touch