Understanding Kubernetes: Part 31 Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA)

📢 If you’ve been following our Kubernetes series 2025, welcome back! For new readers, check out Part 30 Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA)

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What is a Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA)?

A Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA) automatically adjusts the CPU and memory resource requests/limits of a pod based on real-time usage. Unlike Horizontal Pod Autoscaler (HPA), which scales the number of pods, VPA scales pod resources while keeping the replica count unchanged.

How VPA Works

1. Monitors resource usage of running pods.
2. Recommends or applies changes to CPU and memory requests/limits.
3. Evicts and recreates pods with updated resource requests if necessary.

VPA requires the Metrics Server or external monitoring systems like Prometheus to collect usage data.

Use Cases

1. Automatic Resource Optimization

Ensures pods always have the right CPU and memory allocation, avoiding under or over-provisioning.

2. Preventing…