Kyverno Resource Governance Templates

When to Use This Skill

Resource governance policies prevent overconsumption, enforce autoscaling requirements, and control storage allocation across your cluster.

Resource Limits Prevent Noisy Neighbors

Without resource limits, a single pod can consume all node capacity and starve other workloads. Enforce limits to guarantee fair resource allocation.

When to Apply

Scenario 1: Prevent Unbounded Resource Consumption

Require resource limits on all containers:

# Enforced by: limits.yaml
# Result: All containers must define resources.limits.cpu and resources.limits.memory
# Impact: Prevents single pod from consuming entire node capacity

Scenario 2: Mandate Autoscaling for Production

Require HPA for production Deployments:

# Enforced by: hpa.yaml
# Result: Deployments in prod-* namespaces must have corresponding HPA
# Impact: Ensures production services scale automatically under load

Scenario 3: Control Storage Costs

Restrict PVC size to prevent excessive allocations:

# Enforced by: storage.yaml
# Result: PVCs cannot exceed 100Gi in dev namespaces
# Impact: Prevents accidental provisioning of expensive storage volumes

Implementation

See the full implementation guide in the source documentation.

Techniques

Resource Management Patterns

Resource Quotas vs Limits

Use both mechanisms for defense in depth:

• ResourceQuota - Namespace-level caps (total CPU/memory across all pods)
• LimitRange - Default and max values for individual pods
• Kyverno Policies - Validation and enforcement of resource configuration

Kyverno policies complement quotas by validating workload-level configuration before admission.

Right-Sizing Workloads

Set appropriate resource values to balance cost and reliability:

• Requests too low → Pods scheduled on undersized nodes → OOMKilled
• Requests too high → Wasted capacity → Increased costs
• Limits too low → Pods throttled → Performance degradation
• Limits too high → Noisy neighbor problems → Node instability

Use Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA) recommendations to identify optimal values.

Autoscaling Strategies

Choose the right autoscaling mechanism for your workload:

• HPA (Horizontal) - Scale replicas based on CPU/memory/custom metrics
• VPA (Vertical) - Adjust resource requests/limits automatically
• Cluster Autoscaler - Add/remove nodes based on pending pods

Kyverno policies enforce HPA presence and configuration validity.

See reference.md for additional techniques and detailed examples.

Examples

See examples.md for code examples.

Full Reference

See reference.md for complete documentation.

Related Patterns

• Kyverno Templates Overview
• Kyverno Pod Security
• OPA Resource Governance

References

• Source Documentation
• AEL Enforce