Control Plane

The Kubernetes control plane is the collection of components, including the API server, controller manager, scheduler, and etcd, that make global decisions about the cluster and detect and respond to cluster events.

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• API Server

  The front-end of the Kubernetes control plane — receives, validates, and processes RESTful API requests from all cluster components.

• Cluster Store (etcd)

  The key-value store that persists all cluster configuration data and state.

• Controller Manager

  Runs controller processes that continuously reconcile cluster state — node, replication, and endpoints controllers.

• Scheduler

  Assigns newly created Pods to nodes based on resource availability, constraints, and affinity rules.