Jump right into Kubernetes development with career-focused lessons and hands-on practice.

DevOps for Developers

Kubernetes is a powerful container management tool that's taking the world by storm. This detailed course will help you master it.

In this course, you'll start with the fundamentals of Kubernetes and what the main components of a cluster look like. You'll then learn how to use those components to build, test, deploy, and upgrade applications, as well as how to achieve state persistence once your application is deployed. You'll also learn how to secure your deployments and manage resources, which are crucial DevOps skills.

By the time you're done, you'll have a firm grasp on what Kubernetes is, as well as the skills to deploy your own clusters and applications with confidence.

A Practical Guide to Kubernetes

# Similarities

Secrets are very similar to Kubernetes ConfigMaps and Docker Swarm configs. Everything we said for configurations applies to Secrets, with a few additional features.

Both Kubernetes and Docker Swarm store Secrets in tmpfs inside containers. From that aspect, they are equally secure. 

# Differences
>**Note:** The significant difference is in the way Secrets are stored internally.

Kubernetes stores Secrets in etcd. By default, they are exposed, and we need to take extra precautions to protect them. 

On the other hand, Docker Swarm Secrets are more secure by default. They are synchronized between managers using SSL/TLS, and they are encrypted at rest. We prefer the “secure by default” approach behind Docker Swarm Secrets.

In Kubernetes, we need to take extra steps to reach a similar level of security as with Docker Swarm.


On the other hand, Kubernetes integration with third-party solutions for secrets is much better. For example, plugging in [HashiCorp Vault](https://www.vaultproject.io/) into a Kubernetes workflow is much smoother than if we'd try to integrate it with Docker Swarm. Using Vault is a better solution than what Kubernetes and Swarm offer.

# Conclusion
Although Kubernetes can be made more secure with Vault and similar products, we’ll evaluate and compare it with Docker Swarm on the basis of their out-of-the-box capabilities. 

If we exclude third-party solutions, Docker Swarm has a clear advantage over Kubernetes. Its secrets are more secure by default. Even after tweaking Kubernetes (especially etcd), Docker Swarm is still more secure. 

That does not mean that Secret management with both products does not have a lot to be desired. Both have their shortcomings.
> **Note:** We must proclaim Docker Swarm as a winner in this round. Its secrets are more secure.



Comparison between Kubernetes Secrets and the Docker Swarm equivalent. 

Comparison with Docker Swarm

Comparison between Kubernetes Secrets and the Docker Swarm equivalent.