Note: This is the second of a five-part series covering Kubernetes resource management and optimization. In this article, we explain Kubernetes requests and limits. You can check out part one explaining Kubernetes resource types.

Kubernetes provides a shared pool of resources that it allocates based on how we configure our containerized applications. The allocation process occurs when a scheduler places pods on nodes. After checking the container’s resource configuration, the scheduler selects a node that can guarantee the availability of the resources specified by the container configuration. It then places the container’s pod on the suitable node. Typically, this ensures that the deployed microservice will not encounter a resource shortage.