Kubernetes
Practical
By Samson Tanimawo, PhD
Published Dec 26, 2025
4 min read
Liveness Probe Restart Loops
Bad liveness causes restart loops. The pattern.
Live workflow · 3 working · 1 queuedLive
Signal · gather Working
Decide · pick action Working
Apply · with verify Working
Learn · update playbook Queued
Symptoms
Pod restarts repeatedly. Logs show same startup sequence.
CrashLoopBackOff.
Cause
Liveness fails before startup completes.
Or downstream check that's always failing.
Fix
Add startup probe. Increase liveness initial delay.
Disable liveness if startup is the only issue.