Proxy Resource Exhaustion Under High Load
criticalLinkerd proxy sidecars have default CPU and memory limits that may be insufficient for high-throughput services. Proxy resource exhaustion manifests as increased latency, throttling, or connection failures without obvious application issues.
Monitor linkerd_process_cpu_seconds rate and linkerd_process_resident_memory approaching configured limits. Watch for file descriptor exhaustion via linkerd_process_open_fds approaching linkerd_process_max_fds. Check for GC pressure in JVM-based control plane components using linkerd_jvm_gc_cycles and linkerd_jvm_heap_used.
Increase proxy CPU/memory limits during injection using --proxy-cpu-limit and --proxy-memory-limit flags. Monitor resource usage patterns and set appropriate requests/limits. For control plane, tune JVM heap settings via linkerd_jvm_heap_max. Consider horizontal scaling of control plane components for high-load clusters.