Metrics server down breaks autoscaling
Your checkout service runs on Kubernetes with an HPA targeting 60% CPU. During a flash sale, latency climbs and pods start OOMKilling, but the HPA holds the deployment at its current 12 replicas and never scales up. `kubectl describe hpa` shows `unknown / 60%` for the CPU metric and an event `failed to get cpu utilization: unable to fetch metrics from resource metrics API`. The metrics-server pod restarted 6 minutes ago. The deployment has `maxReplicas: 80` and the cluster has spare nodes. How do you triage and get checkout scaling again?
What a strong answer looks like
Stop the bleeding first (mitigate), then form hypotheses from real signals. Separate root cause from symptom, communicate status as you go, and close with what prevents a repeat.
0:00 of about 40 min
Which questions mattered is sealed until you submit. Telling you now would just be handing over the edge cases.
Run or narrate your approach, then ask the coach.