Restart policy
A restart policy is a configuration rule specifying whether and when a container or workload is automatically restarted after termination or failure.
Kubernetes in Action, Second Edition
The OnFailure restart policy directs Kubernetes to restart containers when they terminate unsuccessfully.
- How it is used
- Controls whether exited pod containers are replaced and whether a failed Job task is retried inside its pod.
- How deep it goes
- Defines all three policies and traces container recreation, retry delays, init-container failures, and Job-level failure handling.
- Examples
- Uses a Job manifest with `restartPolicy: OnFailure` and contrasts same-pod retries with replacement pods under `Never`.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure it by choosing a Job pod’s restart policy and identifying whether failed work retries in its pod or a replacement pod.
Read how Kubernetes in Action, Second Edition explains restart policy →
Kubernetes for Developers
A restart policy is a Pod setting that determines whether workloads are restarted after termination or failure.
- How it is used
- Configures how Kubernetes handles container exits inside Pods, especially terminating workloads managed by Jobs.
- How deep it goes
- Explains OnFailure, Never, and Always through Job behavior, but defers broader Pod lifecycle details.
- Examples
- Uses one-off task Jobs and parallel Redis queue workers configured with Never or OnFailure.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure Jobs with a restart policy matched to failure recovery, debugging, or successful termination.
Read how Kubernetes for Developers explains restart policy →
Build and Orchestrator in Go (From Scratch)
container.RestartPolicy is a Docker API configuration structure specifying how a container is handled after termination or failure.
- How it is used
- Specifies how the Docker daemon handles a container after termination, providing a resilience mechanism in task configuration.
- How deep it goes
- Defines four policy values and their exit or stop behavior, then examines failure ownership in orchestrated systems.
- Examples
- Uses a Config struct and docker run --restart=on-failure:1 for an echo-server container.
- What you can do after
- Operate/configure Docker containers with no, on-failure, always, or unless-stopped restart behavior.
Read how Build and Orchestrator in Go (From Scratch) explains restart policy →
Related concepts
- jobconfigures · A Kubernetes Job is a workload resource that runs Pods for a finite task and tracks execution until the required successful completions are reached.
- Dockerused by · Docker is a platform and ecosystem for building, distributing, and running applications in containers.
- Docker daemonconfigures · The Docker daemon is a background service that manages Docker images, containers, networks, storage, and container operations on behalf of clients.
- init containerconfigures · An init container is a Kubernetes Pod container that performs initialization work to completion before the Pod’s application containers start.
- podman runconfigured by · podman run is a Podman command that creates and starts a new container from an image.
- agent orchestrationcontrasts with · Orchestration is the coordination and sequencing of agents, services, tasks, or components to carry out a larger workflow or objective.
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