Kubernetes v1.37: Introducing Node Lifecycle Conditions

Kubernetes has many ways to describe what is happening on a Node. Readiness, taints, Pod state, labels, annotations, and provider-specific APIs each expose part of the picture. What has been missing is a shared, Kubernetes-owned way to say that a Node is draining, undergoing maintenance, or undergoing Graceful Node Shutdown. Kubernetes v1.37 introduces five well-known Node conditions that provide that description: DrainInProgress Drained MaintenancePlanned MaintenanceInProgress GracefulNodeShutdownInProgress