Pod-level resource specifications

Question

Kubernetes 1.32 introduced pod-level resource specifications. But it says it's enabled behind a alpha feature flag

https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/manage-resources-containers/#pod-level-resource-specification

Wondering if it's possible to use that in AKS? I'm using Kubernetes 1.33 nodes.

Answer 1

Hi ,

Thanks for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A.

1. No, you cannot use Pod level resource specifications in AKS at this time.
2. You must wait until this feature becomes beta or GA, likely in a future Kubernetes release.
3. Until then, stick to container-level resource limits for AKS workloads.

As of Kubernetes 1.32 Pod level resource specifications are indeed introduced but are still in alpha and require a feature gate to be explicitly enabled:

Feature Gate: PodResources must be enabled in the Kubernetes API server.

Node-level support: Kubelet must also support the feature.

Now regarding AKS and your Kubernetes 1.33 cluster:

1. Alpha features in AKS:

AKS does not allow enabling alpha features like PodResources because:

AKS is a managed service, and control plane configuration is not exposed to users.

• Microsoft only enables beta and GA features that are considered stable and safe for production workloads.

2. What this means for Pod-level resources in AKS:

Even though you are on Kubernetes 1.33, you cannot use pod-level resource requests/limits in AKS until the feature:

• Becomes beta or GA
• Is enabled by default in the control plane and node components (API server and kubelet).

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