Kubernetes Best Practices for Production Workloads

Running Kubernetes in production requires careful planning and adherence to best practices. In this post, I'll share some key learnings from managing production Kubernetes clusters.

1. Resource Management

Always define resource requests and limits for your pods. This ensures proper scheduling and prevents resource starvation.

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "128Mi"
    cpu: "100m"
  limits:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "200m"

Why This Matters

• Requests help the scheduler place pods on appropriate nodes
• Limits prevent runaway processes from affecting other workloads
• Proper resource management leads to better cluster utilization

2. Health Checks

Implement both liveness and readiness probes to ensure your applications are running correctly.

livenessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthz
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 30
  periodSeconds: 10

readinessProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /ready
    port: 8080
  initialDelaySeconds: 5
  periodSeconds: 5

3. Security Best Practices

Pod Security

• Run containers as non-root users
• Use read-only file systems where possible
• Drop unnecessary capabilities

securityContext:
  runAsNonRoot: true
  runAsUser: 1000
  readOnlyRootFilesystem: true
  capabilities:
    drop:
      - ALL

Network Policies

Implement network policies to control traffic flow between pods:

apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: NetworkPolicy
metadata:
  name: default-deny-ingress
spec:
  podSelector: {}
  policyTypes:
    - Ingress

4. Observability

A robust observability stack is crucial:

• Metrics: Use Prometheus for collecting and storing metrics
• Logging: Implement centralized logging with ELK or Loki
• Tracing: Add distributed tracing with Jaeger or Zipkin

5. GitOps Workflow

Adopt GitOps for managing your Kubernetes deployments:

1. Store all manifests in Git
2. Use tools like ArgoCD or Flux for continuous deployment
3. Implement proper RBAC and access controls

Conclusion

These practices form the foundation of a reliable Kubernetes deployment. Start with these basics and iterate based on your specific needs.

Remember: Production readiness is a journey, not a destination.

Happy deploying! 🚀