The Stale Reads Issue in Kubernetes

The podcast discusses the stale reads issue in Kubernetes. When a node goes down in a highly available Kubernetes cluster, it can result in reading from a stale cache, leading to potential data inconsistencies. This issue is rare and requires specific conditions to occur, but it can be challenging to reproduce and debug. The podcast also highlights the cap theorem, which states that in a distributed system, you can have consistency, availability, or partition tolerance, but not all three simultaneously. The podcast mentions ongoing efforts within the Kubernetes community to address the stale reads issue, including the introduction of consistent reads from cache and vote next caps, which aim to reduce the occurrence of stale reads by checking the freshness of data in the cache before serving a request. These caps are currently in beta and alpha stages, respectively, and provide a potential solution to mitigate the stale reads problem.