Question

An HPA managing a Deployment is configured with a target CPU utilization of 60%. During a short traffic spike the HPA scaled the workload from 3 to 10 replicas. After the spike ended, the pod count dropped back to 3 within about 15 seconds, but a follow-up spike a minute later caused rapid re-scaling, producing noticeable 'flapping' of replica counts. Which change to the HPA best prevents the aggressive scale-down and resulting oscillation?

Accepted Answer

Set spec.behavior.scaleDown.stabilizationWindowSeconds to a higher value (e.g., 300) so scale-down decisions consider the highest recommendation over that window

Answer

Lower the target CPU utilization to 40% so the HPA keeps more replicas running at all times

Answer

Set spec.behavior.scaleUp.stabilizationWindowSeconds to 300 to slow down how quickly new pods are added

Answer

Increase the Deployment's minReadySeconds so pods take longer to become Ready and reduce scaling churn