Overview About K8s Optimizer

Pulse uses a safe overcommit approach to reuse unused requested capacity without changing how users specify resources.

What happens in the cluster:

• Pods request CPU and memory as usual.

• Pulse continuously detects unused CPU/memory (the difference between requested and actual usage).

• Pulse exposes this reclaimable capacity to Kubernetes using Kubernetes extended resources:

  • pulse-cpu
  • pulse-memory

• New pods can then consume these extended resources, improving packing and utilization.

Key Components

• Optimizer calculator

  • Continuously computes real-time resource waste.
  • Publishes reclaimable capacity back to nodes as pulse-cpu and pulse-memory.
  • For details about the configuration, see Configure the Kubernetes Optimizer Calculator.

• Admission webhook

  • Intercepts incoming pod specs before scheduling.

  • Transparently maps user requests:

    • CPU request → pulse-cpu
    • Memory request → pulse-memory

  • For details about the configuration, see Configure a Webhook