This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kevin
How I Reduced Kubernetes GPU Monitoring API Calls by 75%
Managing GPU resources in large Kubernetes clusters? Your API server probably hates your monitoring queries. Here's how I fixed it.
The Problem
Monitoring 100+ GPU nodes was killing our API server:
- 3,000+ API requests per minute
- Query timeouts (5+ seconds)
- 80% CPU spikes during monitoring
- 25% infrastructure cost increase
The Issue: Naive Implementation
Most tools do this:
// Wrong: N×M API calls
for _, namespace := range namespaces {
for _, node := range gpuNodes {
pods := client.Pods(namespace).List(fieldSelector: node)
// Process pods...
}
}
// Result: 50 nodes × 20 namespaces = 1,000 API calls!
The Solution: Smart Batching
Instead, do this:
// Right: 1+M API calls
nodes := client.Nodes().List(labelSelector: "gpu=true") // 1 call
for _, namespace := range namespaces {
allPods := client.Pods(namespace).List() // M calls
// Filter client-side for GPU nodes
}
// Result: 1 + 20 = 21 API calls (95% reduction!)
Results
Before: 1,000 API calls, 60 seconds, 400MB memory
After: 21 API calls, 5 seconds, 50MB memory
Performance gains:
- 97% fewer API calls
- 90% faster execution
- 75% less memory usage
Open Source Tool
I built k8s-gpu-analyzer to solve this:
wget https://github.com/Kevinz857/k8s-gpu-analyzer/releases/latest/download/k8s-gpu-analyzer-linux-amd64
chmod +x k8s-gpu-analyzer-linux-amd64
./k8s-gpu-analyzer --node-labels "gpu=true"
Features:
- Multi-platform binaries
- Flexible filtering
- Zero dependencies
- Production-ready
Key Takeaways
- Batch API calls whenever possible
- Use server-side filtering (label selectors)
- Move computation to client-side
- Design for 10x scale from day one
Try It!
GitHub: https://github.com/Kevinz857/k8s-gpu-analyzer
What's your biggest K8s performance challenge? 👇
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Kevin
Kevin | Sciencx (2025-06-14T16:25:44+00:00) How I Reduced Kubernetes GPU Monitoring API Calls by 75%. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/06/14/how-i-reduced-kubernetes-gpu-monitoring-api-calls-by-75/
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