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Understanding Kubernetes: Part 30 Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA)
📢 If you’ve been following our Kubernetes series 2025, welcome back! For new readers, check out Part 29 Service Account
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What is a Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA)?
A Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA) is a Kubernetes resource that automatically scales the number of pod replicas in a deployment, replica set, or stateful set based on CPU, memory, or custom metrics. It ensures optimal resource utilization and cost efficiency by adjusting the number of pods dynamically.
How HPA Works
HPA continuously monitors specified metrics (e.g., CPU or memory usage) and increases or decreases the number of pods to maintain a target threshold. The scaling decision is based on data collected from the Metrics Server or external monitoring systems like Prometheus.
Use Cases
1. Auto-Scaling Based on CPU Usage
Ensuring that applications scale up when CPU load increases and scale down when demand drops.
