kubernetes_cpu_usage

Containers experience CPU throttling (slow performance) even when node-level CPU utilization appears moderate, caused by CPU limits being set too low relative to actual burst requirements. This manifests as increased latency during traffic spikes despite available CPU capacity on the node.

Kubernetes nodes show low actual resource usage but cannot schedule new pods because resource requests have consumed most allocatable capacity. This causes cluster scaling when actual utilization is low, leading to wasted capacity and unnecessary costs.