What are ConfigMap and Secret used for in Kubernetes?

In Kubernetes, ConfigMap and Secret are used for managing configuration data and sensitive information, respectively.

• ConfigMap stores non-confidential configuration data, such as application parameters, URLs, and settings. This allows separating configuration from the container image and changing it without rebuilding.

• Secret is intended for storing sensitive data, such as passwords, tokens, and keys. Data in Secret is usually encoded (base64), and Kubernetes provides more secure storage and transmission.

Both objects can be mounted into containers as files or passed through environment variables, simplifying management of settings and secrets in the cluster.