The cluster in front of you is empty. Not broken, just quiet. Before you create anything, ask it what it has.

Read the reply carefully. It is the most honest sentence Kubernetes will ever tell you, and the first objective wants it word for word.

Make something exist

A PodPodThe smallest thing Kubernetes runs: one or more containers sharing an IP and a lifetime. is the smallest thing Kubernetes runs: one or more containers that share a network address and a lifetime. For now, one container is plenty.

kubectl run podling --image=nginx

run creates a Pod named podling from the nginx image. Check it:

kubectl get pods

You will see ContainerCreating for a moment, then Running. If it stays ContainerCreating, run the command again; the objective checks cluster state, not how many times you looked.

Label it

Labels are small key=value notes stuck to any object. You will learn them properly in two nodes; for now, add one to your Pod:

kubectl label pod podling owner=me
kubectl get pods --show-labels