etcd Is Your Kubernetes Database: What Breaks and What to Watch

etcd is the only component in your Kubernetes control plane that holds state. Not your API server. Not your scheduler. Not your controller manager. etcd. If etcd is slow, your cluster is slow. If etcd is inconsistent, your cluster is inconsistent. If etcd fails, your control plane doesn't degrade — it stops. Most teams don't think about this until the cluster starts behaving in ways they can't explain. What etcd Actually Does The API server is stateless. It validates your request, writes desired