Related

Delete Deployment

kubernetes

Remove a deployment and all its managed pods.

Describe Deployment

kubernetes

Show detailed information about a specific deployment, including events and replica status.

Rolling Update

kubernetes

Perform rolling update of deployment

kubernetes/scale-deployment

Scale Deployment

Adjust the number of pod replicas in a deployment.

deployments
management

Command

kubectl scale deployment <deployment-name> --replicas=<n>

Explanation

The 'kubectl scale deployment' command modifies the number of pod replicas defined for a deployment. This is a quick way to handle load adjustments or maintenance. The change is applied immediately, updating the deployment’s replica set to match the desired count. It does not modify autoscaling configurations.

Common Use Cases

  • •Manually increase replicas during traffic spikes
  • •Temporarily reduce replicas during maintenance or debugging
  • •Test deployment behavior under different loads

Best Practices

  • ✓Use autoscaling for production workloads instead of manual scaling
  • ✓Verify scaling changes with 'kubectl get pods' after execution

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • ⚠Forgetting that manual scaling overrides HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler) temporarily
  • ⚠Using scale on a resource managed by an autoscaler without disabling it first

Troubleshooting

Problem: Deployment does not scale as expected

Solution: Ensure autoscaler is not overriding manual settings, and check for sufficient cluster resources.

Examples

Scale up to 5 replicas

kubectl scale deployment nginx-deploy --replicas=5

Scale down to a single replica

kubectl scale deployment nginx-deploy --replicas=1

More

Rollout Status

kubernetes

Check rollout status of deployment

Rollback Deployment

kubernetes

Rollback to previous deployment revision

Delete Pod

kubernetes

Delete a pod from the cluster.