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Cloudev
Cloudev

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Hands-On Journey Experimenting with Kubernetes: FastAPI + React Deployment

#kubernetes #fastapi #react #docker

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been diving deep into Kubernetes, exploring how to deploy and manage containerized applications. To really understand the mechanics, I decided to create a small but complete full-stack project: a FastAPI backend with a React frontend running on a local Kubernetes cluster using Kind (Kubernetes in Docker).

Why I Started Experimenting

Kubernetes is powerful but complex, and reading documentation can only take you so far. I wanted to:

  • See how Deployments and Services interact in real-time
  • Understand how frontend and backend communicate inside a cluster
  • Experiment with replicas, scaling, and networking without affecting production

This project became my sandbox for testing Kubernetes concepts and workflows hands-on

How I Set Up the Project

I structured the project into three main areas:

  1. Backend (FastAPI)
  • Runs on Python 3.11, serving API requests on port 80
  • Exposed internally with a ClusterIP service
  • I’ve experimented with creating endpoints and testing them using pytest

2.Frontend (React + Nginx)

  • React app is built statically and served by Nginx
  • Exposed externally with a LoadBalancer service
  • Configured SPA routing and CORS headers to communicate seamlessly with the backend
  1. Kubernetes Manifests
  2. Separate YAML files for backend and frontend
  3. Each deployment has 2 replicas
  4. Services use Kubernetes DNS for internal pod communication

My Hands-On Experiments
Here’s what I’ve been tinkering with:

  • Creating a Kind Cluster: Spinning up a lightweight Kubernetes environment locally
  • Loading Docker Images: Pre-loading backend and frontend images into the cluster with kind load docker-image
  • Deploying and Updating: Iteratively modifying endpoints, rebuilding images, and redeploying -Service Discovery: Using Kubernetes DNS for frontend-backend communication instead of hardcoded IPs -Debugging: Inspecting logs, port-forwarding services, and fixing issues like ImagePullBackOff and misconfigured CORS

Through this, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of:

  • Replicas and pod distribution
  • ClusterIP vs LoadBalancer services
  • Internal pod networking
  • How environment variables manage API connections

Testing & Local Development

Backend

  • Tested with pytest and FastAPI TestClient
  • GET / returns a 200 status code with JSON
  • Tests run locally with make test

Frontend

  • Points to backend API via REACT_APP_API_URL
  • Can be tested locally before deploying to Kubernetes

Experimenting with Kubernetes is all about deploying, breaking, fixing, and iterating. Creating a small project like this is the fastest way to understand how everything fits together.
Check out the repo:https://github.com/Copubah/simple-k8s-project

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