Maintenance on Support Tools

Pod Disruption Budgets in Practice: Ensuring Kubernetes Application Availability

Sat, 05 Sep 2026 00:00:00 -0500

Pod Disruption Budgets (PDBs) protect application availability during voluntary disruptions by limiting the number of pods that can be simultaneously unavailable. This guide covers PDB design patterns, best practices, integration with autoscaling, and troubleshooting strategies for production environments.

CKA Prep: Part 7 – Cluster Maintenance

Fri, 04 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Cluster Maintenance Overview

Cluster maintenance is a critical aspect of Kubernetes administration and a significant part of the CKA exam. This section covers key maintenance activities including node management, upgrades, and backup/restore procedures.

Node Maintenance

Cordoning and Draining Nodes

When performing maintenance on a node, you need to safely move workloads away from it:

Cordoning a Node

Cordoning marks a node as unschedulable, preventing new pods from being scheduled on it.

Longhorn Monitoring and Maintenance

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0500

This guide covers monitoring and maintenance strategies for Longhorn storage, including metrics collection, alerting, and routine maintenance procedures.

Upgrading Kubernetes: A Practical Guide

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 17:30:00 -0500

By Matthew Mattox
Contact: mmattox@support.tools

Upgrading Kubernetes clusters can be intimidating, especially if you’ve inherited a legacy environment. But with proper planning and execution, it doesn’t have to be a nightmare. This guide offers practical advice for keeping your Kubernetes clusters updated and running smoothly, covering everything from version policies to specific upgrade workflows.

Kubernetes Double Jump Upgrades: Skipping Versions Safely

Fri, 29 Nov 2024 12:30:00 -0500

Upgrading a Kubernetes cluster can be challenging, especially with its fast release cycle. However, double jump upgrades, where you skip intermediate versions, can help reduce downtime and effort—if done correctly. This guide explains Kubernetes’ version skew policy, API deprecation rules, and the steps to safely perform double jump upgrades.