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> only needing to know YAML, and not some custom DSL like chef or puppet.

YAML may be a known syntax, but the use of it still requires domain specific knowledge, and is still a domain specific language expressing those domain specific concepts, as to what the expected keys and values are allowed to be and how they are interpreted.

YAML isn’t the DSL, it’s just the language used to express declarative config because the tooling is ubiquitous and it’s rare that anyone uses it as anything more than a nicer version of JSON.

For Kubernetes, it’s CRDs that are written in YAML and they conform to a specification.

I did something similar between jobs—built a k8s "cluster" on my home Linux box using kops+qemu. It didn't make me an experienced admin, but it was really enlightening and fun! Projects like these are a great way to learn.

Ansible?