Kubernetes Readiness Probe – Guide & Examples

Readiness probes in Kubernetes are health checks that determine if a container is ready to receive traffic based on specific conditions, such as successful HTTP or TCP requests. They play an essential role in ensuring the availability and stability of applications running in a cluster by preventing traffic from being directed to containers that are not fully prepared to handle requests. Common types of readiness probes include HTTP, TCP, and Command probes, each with its own configuration parameters. Properly configuring readiness probes can help manage resource constraints, deal with application bugs or issues, and prevent competing or conflicting liveness & readiness probes. Some best practices for using readiness probes include defining them for all containers in your pods, choosing the right probe type, properly configuring parameters, creating lightweight dedicated endpoints, and performing regular reviews of your configuration.