Kubernetes Resources

CPU and memory are each a resource type. A resource type has a base unit. CPU is specified in units of cores, and memory is specified in units of bytes.

CPU and memory are collectively referred to as compute resources, or just resources. Compute resources are measurable quantities that can be requested, allocated, and consumed. They are distinct from API resources. API resources, such as Pods and Services are objects that can be read and modified through the Kubernetes API server.

A Container can exceed its memory request if the Node has memory available. But a Container is not allowed to use more than its memory limit. If a Container allocates more memory than its limit, the Container becomes a candidate for termination. If the Container continues to consume memory beyond its limit, the Container is terminated. If a terminated Container can be restarted, the kubelet restarts it, as with any other type of runtime failure.

Containers & Pod

Memory requests and limits are associated with Containers, but it is useful to think of a Pod as having a memory request and limit. The memory request for the Pod is the sum of the memory requests for all the Containers in the Pod. Likewise, the memory limit for the Pod is the sum of the limits of all the Containers in the Pod.

If you do not specify a memory limit

If you do not specify a memory limit for a Container, one of the following situations applies:

• The Container has no upper bound on the amount of memory it uses. The Container could use all of the memory available on the Node where it is running which in turn could invoke the OOM Killer. Further, in case of an OOM Kill, a container with no resource limits will have a greater chance of being killed.

• The Container is running in a namespace that has a default memory limit, and the Container is automatically assigned the default limit. Cluster administrators can use a LimitRange to specify a default value for the memory limit.

If you do not specify a CPU limit

If you do not specify a CPU limit for a Container, then one of these situations applies:

• The Container has no upper bound on the CPU resources it can use. The Container could use all of the CPU resources available on the Node where it is running.

• The Container is running in a namespace that has a default CPU limit, and the Container is automatically assigned the default limit. Cluster administrators can use a LimitRange to specify a default value for the CPU limit.