What you will learn
- Inject config via env and volumes
- Manage secrets
- Avoid baking config into images
New to this? Start here
The basics, in plain English
Apps need settings (like a database URL) and secrets (like passwords). Kubernetes keeps these separate from your image so you can change them without rebuilding, and handle secrets more carefully.
- Configuration
- Settings your app reads at runtime, like which database to use.
- ConfigMap
- A Kubernetes object that holds non-secret settings as key-value pairs.
- Secret
- A special object for sensitive values like passwords and API keys.
- Environment variable
- A named value handed to your app when it starts, a common way to pass settings.
- Why separate
- So the same image can run in dev and prod with different settings, no rebuild needed.
01
Twelve-factor
ConfigMaps hold non-sensitive config, Secrets hold sensitive data (base64, not encrypted by default). Mount them as env vars or files.
Finished this topic?
Mark it done to earn 100 XP and keep your streak alive.