Kubernetes Horizontal Pod Autoscaler and resource management

Ryan Nakamura Feb 2026
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# HPA v2 with multiple metrics
apiVersion: autoscaling/v2
kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler
metadata:
  name: web-app-hpa
  namespace: production
spec:
  scaleTargetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: web-app
  minReplicas: 3
  maxReplicas: 20
  metrics:
    - type: Resource
      resource:
        name: cpu
        target:
          type: Utilization
          averageUtilization: 70
    - type: Resource
      resource:
        name: memory
        target:
          type: Utilization
          averageUtilization: 80
    - type: Pods
      pods:
        metric:
          name: http_requests_per_second
        target:
          type: AverageValue
          averageValue: 1000
  behavior:
    scaleUp:
      stabilizationWindowSeconds: 60
      policies:
        - type: Percent
          value: 100
          periodSeconds: 60
        - type: Pods
          value: 4
          periodSeconds: 60
      selectPolicy: Max
    scaleDown:
      stabilizationWindowSeconds: 300
      policies:
        - type: Percent
          value: 10
          periodSeconds: 60

---
# Pod Disruption Budget
apiVersion: policy/v1
kind: PodDisruptionBudget
metadata:
  name: web-app-pdb
  namespace: production
spec:
  minAvailable: 2
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: web-app

---
# Resource Quota for namespace
apiVersion: v1
kind: ResourceQuota
metadata:
  name: production-quota
  namespace: production
spec:
  hard:
    requests.cpu: "20"
    requests.memory: 40Gi
    limits.cpu: "40"
    limits.memory: 80Gi
    pods: "100"
    services: "20"
    persistentvolumeclaims: "30"

---
# LimitRange for defaults
apiVersion: v1
kind: LimitRange
metadata:
  name: default-limits
  namespace: production
spec:
  limits:
    - type: Container
      default:
        cpu: 500m
        memory: 256Mi
      defaultRequest:
        cpu: 100m
        memory: 128Mi
      max:
        cpu: "2"
        memory: 2Gi
      min:
        cpu: 50m
        memory: 64Mi
1 file · yaml Explain with highlit

The Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) automatically scales Pod replicas based on observed metrics. It monitors CPU utilization, memory usage, or custom metrics via the metrics-server. The minReplicas and maxReplicas fields set scaling bounds. targetCPUUtilizationPercentage triggers scaling when average CPU crosses the threshold. HPA v2 supports multiple metrics and custom metrics from Prometheus. The behavior field controls scale-up and scale-down rates to prevent flapping. Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA) adjusts resource requests and limits automatically. Pod Disruption Budgets (PDB) ensure minimum availability during voluntary disruptions. Resource quotas limit namespace-level resource consumption. LimitRanges set default and max resources per container.