C++ and Kubernetes: Developing High-Performance Microservices

This book is a bridge between two worlds: classic high-performance programming in C++ and modern cloud infrastructure based on Kubernetes. If you are a C++ developer who wants to learn how to efficiently deploy and scale your applications in a cluster, or a DevOps engineer striving to understand the specifics of working with native code in containers — this publication is for you.

What is this book about?

Unlike most Kubernetes materials focused on Java, Go, or Python, this guide focuses on the unique challenges that arise when working with C++ in an orchestrated environment. You will not just learn how to "wrap" an application in Docker — you will understand how to design architecture to get maximum performance from hardware and avoid common mistakes.

• Build and CI/CD: Optimizing Dockerfile for C++ (multi-stage builds, dependency caching, reducing image size). Integration with CMake, Conan, and vcpkg.
• Configuration and Lifecycle: Using ConfigMaps and Secrets in C++ applications. Graceful shutdown, handling SIGTERM signals, and proper thread termination.
• Performance and Resources: Fine-tuning requests/limits for CPU and memory. Working with HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler) considering C++ specifics (memory leaks, heap fragmentation).
• Network and IPC: gRPC and HTTP/2 in C++ (libraries grpc-cpp, crow, drogon). Service Mesh (Istio/Linkerd) for native services.
• Debugging and Monitoring: Profiling in a container (perf, Valgrind, heaptrack). Integration with Prometheus and OpenTelemetry. Collecting core dumps and remote debugging via Delve/GDB.
• Security: Building with protection flags (ASLR, NX, Stack Canaries). Working with Seccomp and AppArmor for C++ binaries.

Who is this book for?

The book is intended for experienced developers (Middle/Senior) and architects who already have basic knowledge of C++ (RAII, templates, multithreading) and an understanding of Kubernetes principles (pods, services, deployments). It will be difficult for beginners — it is assumed that the reader can independently write an HTTP server in C++ and deploy a simple minikube cluster.

What will you learn?

• How to package a C++ application into a minimal Docker image without unnecessary libraries.
• Why "naive" use of std::thread can kill pod stability and how to fix it.
• Secrets of caching build artifacts in CI to speed up pipelines.
• How to configure liveness/readiness probes for a C++ service with a long startup time.
• Methods for combating Out-Of-Memory (OOM) Kill in high-load systems.

Each chapter contains practical code examples, manifest files, and ready-made testing scenarios. By the end of the reading, you will be able to confidently design and maintain production-grade C++ microservices in any Kubernetes infrastructure.