# Kubernetes Pod & Service
Confidence: high
Last verified: 2026-05-22
Generation: human_only


## TL;DR

A Pod is the smallest deployable unit in Kubernetes — one or more containers sharing network namespace, IPC, and storage volumes. A Service provides stable networking — a virtual IP (ClusterIP) and DNS name that load-balances across Pod replicas, surviving Pod restarts.

## Core Explanation

Pod lifecycle: Pending → Running → Succeeded/Failed. Init containers run before app containers. Sidecar pattern: helper container alongside main (logging, proxying). Service types: ClusterIP (internal only), NodePort (exposes on node IP), LoadBalancer (cloud provider LB). Ingress routes external HTTP traffic to Services.

## Further Reading

- [Kubernetes Documentation](https://kubernetes.io/docs/)