- Lab
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- Cloud
Build and Validate an AKS Baseline Cluster
In this lab, you'll build and validate an AKS baseline cluster with production-ready configurations. You will create an AKS cluster with a managed identity, define node pools, establish the required network context, and integrate a container registry to deploy workloads. You will deploy a validation workload and verify that nodes, system workloads, application pods, and the application endpoint all reach the expected operational state. When you're finished, you will have demonstrated practical AKS configuration decisions and gained hands-on fluency with baseline cluster operations.
Lab Info
Table of Contents
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Challenge
Access Azure Cloud Shell
A. Open Azure Cloud Shell in Bash mode and verify that the Azure CLI and kubectl are available.
B. Define environment variables for the resource group, cluster, registry, and region.
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Challenge
Create an AKS Cluster with Managed Identity, Node Pool, and Network Context
A. Provision an AKS cluster with a system-assigned managed identity, a two-node pool, and Azure CNI.
B. Retrieve cluster credentials and confirm all nodes reach the Ready state.
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Challenge
Attach Azure Container Registry and Enable Monitoring
A. Create an ACR, import a validation image, and create a Kubernetes pull secret for registry authentication.
B. Create a Log Analytics workspace, enable Container Insights, and verify the monitoring agent pods are running.
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Challenge
Deploy a Validation Workload
A. Write a combined Deployment and LoadBalancer Service manifest referencing the ACR image with an imagePullSecret.
B. Apply the manifest and confirm all replicas roll out successfully.
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Challenge
Verify the Cluster Reaches Expected Operational State
A. Confirm nodes, system pods, and application pods are healthy and running.
B. Retrieve the LoadBalancer external IP and verify the application endpoint returns a valid response.
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