intermediate~4h

Scheduling: Affinity, Taints & Topology Spread

Real clusters use four mechanisms to influence Pod placement: Node Affinity, Pod Affinity/Anti-Affinity, Taints and Tolerations, and Topology Spread Constraints. Each solves a distinct placement probl

Learning objectives

  • Distinguish node affinity, Pod affinity, and Pod anti-affinity by what each one actually compares a Pod against.
  • Explain what a taint and its matching toleration actually do together, and why they're a two-sided mechanism.
  • Design a topology spread constraint that keeps replicas genuinely distributed across failure domains.

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Scheduling: Affinity, Taints & Topology Spread

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