# K8S Deploy > Safe Kubernetes deployment practices and rollback procedures - Skill: `agenticdevops/k8s-deploy` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add agenticdevops/k8s-deploy` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/agenticdevops/k8s-deploy/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: DevOps & Infra - Author: agenticdevops (https://skillmd.com/u/agenticdevops) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/agenticdevops/k8s-deploy --- # Kubernetes Deployment Safe deployment practices, rollout strategies, and rollback procedures. ## When to Use This Skill Use this skill when: - Deploying new application versions - Rolling back failed deployments - Scaling applications - Managing deployment strategies ## Pre-Deployment Checklist ### 1. Cluster Health Check ```bash # Nodes ready? kubectl get nodes # Any problematic pods? kubectl get pods -A | grep -v Running | grep -v Completed # Resource availability kubectl top nodes ``` ### 2. Image Verification ```bash # Verify image exists (example with Docker Hub) docker manifest inspect : # Check current image kubectl get deployment -o jsonpath='{.spec.template.spec.containers[0].image}' ``` ### 3. Current State Backup ```bash # Save current deployment spec kubectl get deployment -o yaml > deployment-backup.yaml # Note current revision kubectl rollout history deployment/ ``` ## Deployment Methods ### Update Image (Most Common) ```bash # Update container image kubectl set image deployment/ =: # Example kubectl set image deployment/nginx nginx=nginx:1.25 # Watch rollout kubectl rollout status deployment/ ``` ### Apply Manifest ```bash # Dry-run first (ALWAYS) kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml --dry-run=client # Show diff kubectl diff -f deployment.yaml # Apply kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml # Watch kubectl rollout status deployment/ ``` ### Patch Deployment ```bash # Strategic merge patch kubectl patch deployment -p '{"spec":{"replicas":5}}' # JSON patch kubectl patch deployment --type='json' \ -p='[{"op":"replace","path":"/spec/replicas","value":5}]' ``` ## Rollout Management ### Check Rollout Status ```bash # Status kubectl rollout status deployment/ # History kubectl rollout history deployment/ # Specific revision details kubectl rollout history deployment/ --revision=2 ``` ### Pause/Resume Rollout ```bash # Pause (for canary-style manual control) kubectl rollout pause deployment/ # Resume kubectl rollout resume deployment/ ``` ### Rollback ```bash # Rollback to previous version kubectl rollout undo deployment/ # Rollback to specific revision kubectl rollout undo deployment/ --to-revision=2 # Verify rollback kubectl rollout status deployment/ ``` ## Scaling ### Manual Scaling ```bash # Scale replicas kubectl scale deployment/ --replicas=5 # Scale multiple kubectl scale deployment/ deployment/ --replicas=3 ``` ### Autoscaling (HPA) ```bash # Create HPA kubectl autoscale deployment/ --min=2 --max=10 --cpu-percent=80 # Check HPA status kubectl get hpa # Describe HPA kubectl describe hpa ``` ## Deployment Strategies ### Rolling Update (Default) ```yaml spec: strategy: type: RollingUpdate rollingUpdate: maxSurge: 25% # Max pods over desired maxUnavailable: 25% # Max pods unavailable ``` ```bash # Check current strategy kubectl get deployment -o jsonpath='{.spec.strategy}' ``` ### Recreate ```yaml spec: strategy: type: Recreate # Kill all, then create new ``` ### Blue-Green (Manual) ```bash # Deploy new version with different label kubectl apply -f deployment-v2.yaml # Verify v2 is healthy kubectl get pods -l version=v2 # Switch service to v2 kubectl patch service -p '{"spec":{"selector":{"version":"v2"}}}' # Rollback: switch back to v1 kubectl patch service -p '{"spec":{"selector":{"version":"v1"}}}' ``` ### Canary (Manual) ```bash # Scale down main, scale up canary kubectl scale deployment/-main --replicas=9 kubectl scale deployment/-canary --replicas=1 # Monitor canary metrics, then promote or rollback ``` ## Post-Deployment Verification ### Health Checks ```bash # Pods running? kubectl get pods -l app= # Ready and healthy? kubectl get deployment # Events (errors?) kubectl get events --field-selector involvedObject.name= --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' ``` ### Smoke Tests ```bash # Port-forward and test kubectl port-forward deployment/ 8080:80 & curl localhost:8080/health # Or exec into pod kubectl exec -it deployment/ -- curl localhost/health ``` ### Compare Metrics ```bash # Check resource usage kubectl top pods -l app= # Compare with previous # (Use your monitoring: Prometheus, Datadog, etc.) ``` ## Troubleshooting Failed Deployments ### Deployment Stuck ```bash # Check rollout status kubectl rollout status deployment/ # Check events kubectl describe deployment # Check pod issues kubectl get pods -l app= kubectl describe pod ``` ### Common Issues | Symptom | Check | Fix | |---------|-------|-----| | ImagePullBackOff | Image name/tag, registry auth | Fix image reference | | CrashLoopBackOff | Pod logs | Fix application error | | Pending pods | Node resources, PVC | Scale cluster or fix storage | | Readiness probe failing | App startup time | Adjust probe timing | ### Emergency Rollback ```bash # Immediate rollback kubectl rollout undo deployment/ # If that fails, scale to zero then restore from backup kubectl scale deployment/ --replicas=0 kubectl apply -f deployment-backup.yaml ``` ## Safe Deployment Workflow ```bash # 1. Pre-flight kubectl get nodes && kubectl top nodes # 2. Backup current state kubectl get deployment -o yaml > backup.yaml # 3. Dry-run kubectl apply -f new-deployment.yaml --dry-run=client # 4. Show diff kubectl diff -f new-deployment.yaml # 5. Apply with record kubectl apply -f new-deployment.yaml # 6. Watch rollout kubectl rollout status deployment/ --timeout=5m # 7. Verify health kubectl get pods -l app= kubectl logs -l app= --tail=20 # 8. If issues: rollback kubectl rollout undo deployment/ ``` ## Related Skills - **k8s-debug**: For troubleshooting deployment issues - **argocd-gitops**: For GitOps-based deployments - **incident-response**: When deployments cause incidents