08 - Deploy Apps on AKS

Welcome to Lab 08! In this module, you will take a local Python application and deploy it to a production-grade Kubernetes cluster in Azure.

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) simplifies the deployment, management, and scaling of containerized applications. It offloads much of the operational overhead of managing Kubernetes to Azure, allowing you to focus on your application code.

What You Will Build

In this hands-on lab, we will:

1. Containerize: Build a Docker image for a Python AI Inference API.
2. Store: Push the image to your private Azure Container Registry (ACR).
3. Provision: Spin up a managed AKS cluster, navigating Azure for Students quota and policy limitations.
4. Deploy: Write and apply Kubernetes deployment.yaml and service.yaml manifests.
5. Expose: Route internet traffic directly to your API using an Azure Load Balancer.

Prerequisites

Before starting, ensure you have:

• An active Azure subscription (Azure for Students is fully supported).
• The Azure CLI installed and authenticated (az login).
• Docker installed and running locally.
• The kubectl command-line tool installed.

Let's dive into the core concepts and get our hands dirty with Kubernetes!