What is ConfigMap?
A Kubernetes object for storing non-sensitive configuration data as key-value pairs.
A ConfigMap stores configuration data — environment variables, config files, command-line arguments — separately from container images. This lets you change application configuration without rebuilding images. ConfigMaps can be consumed as environment variables, command-line args, or files mounted into pods. For sensitive data (passwords, API keys), use Secrets instead. ConfigMaps can be made immutable in Kubernetes 1.21+ for performance.
Related Terms
More Kubernetes Terms
Admission Controller
A Kubernetes plugin that intercepts API requests before objects are persisted.
Auto Scaling
Automatically adjusting the number of compute resources based on demand.
ClusterIP
The default Kubernetes Service type that exposes a service on an internal cluster IP.
Controller Manager
Kubernetes control plane component running control loops to maintain desired state.
CoreDNS
The default DNS server in Kubernetes clusters for service discovery.
CRD (Custom Resource Definition)
A Kubernetes extension mechanism for defining custom object types.
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