Gang Scheduling

FEATURE STATE: Kubernetes v1.35 [alpha](disabled by default)

Gang scheduling ensures that a group of Pods are scheduled on an "all-or-nothing" basis. If the cluster cannot accommodate the entire group (or a defined minimum number of Pods), none of the Pods are bound to a node.

This feature depends on the Workload API. Ensure the GenericWorkload feature gate and the scheduling.k8s.io/v1alpha1 API group are enabled in the cluster.

How it works

When the GangScheduling plugin is enabled, the scheduler alters the lifecycle for Pods belonging to a gang pod group policy within a Workload. The process follows these steps independently for each pod group and its replica key:

  1. The scheduler holds Pods in the PreEnqueue phase until:

    • The referenced Workload object is created.
    • The referenced pod group exists in a Workload.
    • The number of Pods that have been created for the specific group is at least equal to the minCount.

    Pods do not enter the active scheduling queue until all of these conditions are met.

  2. Once the quorum is met, the scheduler attempts to find placements for all Pods in the group. It utilizes the PodGroup scheduling cycle to make a single, atomic scheduling decision. GangScheduling plugin implements a Permit extension point that is evaluated for each schedulable Pod during the cycle. This is used to determine whether the minCount constraint is satisfied, by comparing the number of successfully placed pods against the minCount value.

  3. If the scheduler finds valid placements for at least the minCount number of Pods, it allows those successfully placed Pods to be bound to their assigned nodes. If it cannot find enough placements to satisfy the minCount requirement, none of the Pods are scheduled. Instead, they are moved to the unschedulable queue to wait for cluster resources to free up, allowing other workloads to be scheduled in the meantime.

What's next


Last modified February 25, 2026 at 1:49 PM PST: KEP-4671: Update scheduler docs for PodGroup scheduling (4e741f873d)