Kubernetes Best Practices for Production

Kubernetes Best Practices for Production

Kubernetes Best Practices for Production

Running Kubernetes in production requires careful attention to security, resource management, monitoring, and operational excellence. This guide covers essential best practices to ensure your cluster runs smoothly and securely.

Resource Management

Set Resource Requests and Limits

Always specify resource requests and limits for your containers:

resources:
  requests:
    memory: "256Mi"
    cpu: "250m"
  limits:
    memory: "512Mi"
    cpu: "500m"

Why it matters:

  • Prevents resource contention
  • Enables better scheduling decisions
  • Protects against resource exhaustion

Use Resource Quotas

Implement resource quotas at the namespace level to prevent any single application from consuming all cluster resources:

apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: compute-quota
spec:
  hard:
    requests.cpu: "4"
    requests.memory: 8Gi
    limits.cpu: "8"
    limits.memory: 16Gi

Security Best Practices

Use Non-Root Users

Run containers as non-root users whenever possible:

securityContext:
  runAsNonRoot: true
  runAsUser: 1000
  fsGroup: 2000

Enable RBAC

Implement Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to limit who can perform what actions:

apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: Role
metadata:
  name: pod-reader
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["pods"]
  verbs: ["get", "list"]

Scan Container Images

Regularly scan your container images for vulnerabilities:

trivy image myapp:latest

Monitoring and Observability

Implement Health Checks

Use liveness and readiness probes to ensure your applications are healthy:

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

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

Set Up Monitoring

Deploy monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana to track cluster and application metrics. For more details, see our guide on Monitor Pods & Resources.

Configure Alerting

Set up intelligent alerts for critical issues. Learn more in our Smart Alerting guide.

Network Policies

Implement network policies to control traffic between pods:

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

Backup and Disaster Recovery

Regular Backups

  • Backup etcd regularly (control plane data)
  • Use Velero for application-level backups
  • Test restore procedures regularly

Version Control

Store all Kubernetes manifests in version control and use GitOps practices for deployment.

Cost Optimization

Optimize your cluster costs by:

  • Right-sizing your resources
  • Using spot instances for non-critical workloads
  • Implementing auto-scaling
  • Regularly reviewing unused resources

See our Cost Optimization guide for detailed strategies.

Conclusion

Following these best practices will help you run Kubernetes safely and efficiently in production. Start with resource management and security, then gradually implement monitoring and cost optimization strategies.

For more operational guidance, check out our Day-2 Operations guides.