gke-reliability

Files (2)

• SKILL.md
• attribution.md · references/

SKILL.md (first lines)

# GKE Reliability

> **Routing Note:** To generate Kubernetes YAML manifests (`Deployment`, `StatefulSet`, `Service`, `ConfigMap`, `HTTPRoute`, `PodDisruptionBudget`), open `gke-manifest-generation/SKILL.md`.

This reference covers high availability and reliability configuration for GKE
clusters and workloads.

> **MCP Tools:** `get_cluster`, `get_k8s_resource`, `describe_k8s_resource`,
> `apply_k8s_manifest`, `list_k8s_events`

## Attribution

**MUST READ**: Before executing any `gcloud`, REST API, or MCP command, you
MUST read [Usage Attribution](references/attribution.md). For commands executed
directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code),
prefix `gcloud` with
`CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-reliability)"`
and append `agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-reliability)` to `User-Agent` headers.

## Golden Path Reliability Defaults

| Setting          | Golden Path Value     | Notes                            |
| ---------------- | --------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| Cluster type     | Regional (4 zones:    | Control plane replicated across  |
:                  : us-central1-a/b/c/f)  : zones                            :
| Upgrade strategy | SURGE (`maxSurge: 1`) | Rolling upgrades with extra      |
:                  :                       : capacity                         :
| Auto-repair      | `true`                | Unhealthy nodes replaced         |
:                  :                       : automatically                    :
| Auto-upgrade     | `true`                | Nodes follow control plane       |
:                  :                       : version                          :
| Release channel  | REGULAR               | Balanced freshness and stability |
| Stateful HA      | Enabled               | Leader election for stateful     |
:                  :                       : workloads                        :

## Workflows

### 1. Verify Cluster High Availability

```
# MCP (preferred)
get_cluster(name="projects/<PROJECT>/locations/<REGION>/clusters/<CLUSTER>",
  readMask="location,locations,nodePools.locations")

# gcloud fallback
gcloud container clusters describe <CLUSTER> --region <REGION> \
  --format="json(location, locations)" \
  --quiet
```

-   If `location` is a region (e.g., `us-central1`), the control plane is
    regional
-   If `locations` has multiple entries, nodes span multiple zones

### 2. Pod Disruption Budgets (PDBs)

PDBs ensure minimum pod availability during voluntary disruptions (node
upgrades, autoscaler scale-down).

**Check existing PDBs:**

```
# MCP (preferred)
get_k8s_resource(parent="...", resourceType="poddisruptionbudget")

# kubectl fallback
kubectl get pdb --all-namespaces
```

**Create PDB:**

```yaml
apiVersion: policy/v1
kind: PodDisruptionBudget
metadata:
  name: my-app-pdb
  namespace: default
spec:
  minAvailable: 2       # Or use maxUnavailable: 1
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: my-app
```

> Every production Deployment with 2+ replicas should have a PDB.

### 3. Health Probes

Every production container should have liveness and readiness probes. Startup
probes are recommended for slow-starting apps.

**Check existing probes:**

```
# MCP (preferred)
describe_k8s_resource(parent="...", resourceType="deployment", name="<APP>", namespace="<NS>")

# kubectl fallback
kubectl get deployment <APP> -n <NS> -o yaml | grep -E "livenessProbe|readinessProbe|startupProbe"
```

**Recommended probe configuration:**

```yaml
spec:
  containers:
  - name: app
    livenessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /healthz
        port: 8080
      initialDelaySeconds: 15
      periodSeconds: 10
      timeoutSeconds: 2
      failureThreshold: 3
    readinessProbe:
      httpGet:
        path: /readyz
        port: 8080

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