A liveness probe checks whether a running container is still healthy. Repeated failures cause Kubernetes to restart the container, helping an application recover instead of remaining stuck. section 15.3
Liveness check
A liveness probe is a Kubernetes container probe that determines whether a container should be restarted.
How Learn Docker in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition covers it
- How deep it goes
- Defines HTTP checking, intervals, and restart effects without detailing failure thresholds or probe internals.
- Examples
- Uses an HTTP GET request to /healthz every 20 seconds in a numbers-api Deployment.
- What it assumes
- Assumes familiarity with Kubernetes containers, Pods, Deployments, and kubectl, while demonstrating the probe configuration directly.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure Kubernetes Deployments with an HTTP liveness probe and verify Pod restarts using kubectl.
- How it connects
- Connects container probes with readiness probes, Pods, Deployments, Services, and high availability.
Also explained in
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Kubernetes in Action, Second EditionA liveness probe is a Kubernetes health check that determines whether a container's application is functioning and can trigger container termination after failure.
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Kubernetes for DevelopersA liveness probe is a Kubernetes health check that determines whether a running container is still functioning and should be allowed to continue running.
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Machine Learning Platform EngineeringA periodic check that determines whether a running workload should be restarted because its process is no longer healthy.
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Quarkus in ActionA Kubernetes liveness probe periodically determines whether a container should be restarted because its application is no longer recoverable.
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Spring in Action, Sixth EditionA liveness probe is a health indicator that tells an orchestrator whether an application is healthy enough to continue running without being restarted.
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Bootstrapping Microservices, Second Edition: With Docker, Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, and TerraformA liveness probe is a Kubernetes health-check configuration that determines whether a container or pod is still functioning and should continue running.
Compare how 7 books explain liveness check →
Related concepts
- health checkkind of · A health check is an assessment or probe that determines whether a system, service, or component is functioning acceptably according to defined criteria.
- Kubernetesused by · Kubernetes is an open-source platform for orchestrating and automating the deployment, scaling, and management of containerized workloads across computing clusters.
- readiness checkcontrasts with · A readiness check is a health probe that determines whether a running service or workload is prepared to receive requests or traffic.
- exec probeincludes · An exec probe is a Kubernetes probe that runs a command inside a container and evaluates whether it exits successfully.
- health check endpointuses · A health check endpoint is an API endpoint that reports whether an application or service is operating correctly or ready to handle requests.
This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Learn Docker in a Month of Lunches, Second Edition. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.