#Cluster Lifecycle

#Creation

A managed Kubernetes cluster is more than its initial installation. OSC manages the cluster from creation to retirement and continuously reconciles it against the desired configuration.

When a customer creates a Shoot, Gardener provisions the control plane, creates the required worker machines, connects networking and storage, and installs the selected platform integrations. Once the cluster is ready, the customer receives access through the Kubernetes API and the OSC Console.

#Operation

During normal operation, Gardener monitors the declared state of the Shoot. If a managed component differs from that state, the platform attempts to restore it. Worker pools can be scaled, configuration can be adjusted and supported extensions can be enabled without rebuilding the entire environment.

#Hibernation

The cluster can also be hibernated when this is supported by the selected configuration. Hibernation stops most compute resources while preserving the cluster definition and persistent data. It is useful for non-production environments that are not needed continuously.

#Deletion

Deleting a Shoot removes the managed cluster and the infrastructure resources owned by it. Application data should therefore be exported, backed up or retained according to the storage and backup design before deletion.

OSC manages the platform lifecycle, but application lifecycle remains with the customer. Deployments, services, policies, secrets, backup concepts and application updates inside the Shoot are not changed automatically by the managed Kubernetes service.