📈 HPA monitor

An HPA (Horizontal Pod Autoscaler) changes the number of Pods when load changes. This monitor alerts only when scaling is failing and the HPA stays at its maximum for a sustained period.

Watches for HorizontalPodAutoscalers that are stuck at max replicas for a sustained period with scaling errors.

How detection works

1. kwatch lists all HPAs in watched namespaces
2. Checks if status.currentReplicas ≥ spec.maxReplicas (at max capacity)
3. Checks if scaling is blocked or failing (e.g. resource metrics unavailable)
4. Only alerts if the condition persists beyond sustainedMinutes
5. Resolves when the HPA scales down or scaling errors clear

Configuration

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
hpaMonitor.enabled	bool	true	Enable HPA monitoring.
hpaMonitor.sustainedMinutes	int	20	Minutes the HPA must be at max replicas before alerting.

Configuration fragment

Add this fragment through kwatch.sh's Configure settings flow, or merge it into the configuration file used by your existing supported installation:

hpaMonitor:
  enabled: true
  sustainedMinutes: 20

What triggers an alert

• HPA at maxReplicas with scaling failures (resource metrics unavailable, timeout, etc.)
• Sustained for sustainedMinutes (default 20 min) — avoids noise from temporary spikes

What does NOT trigger an alert

• HPA at maxReplicas with no scaling errors (normal — you've reached your max, that's expected)
• HPA scaling up successfully (kwatch only alerts on failures)