<p>Following the documentation <a href="https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/configure-pod-container/configure-liveness-readiness-startup-probes/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, I could set the threshold for container startup like so:</p>

<pre><code>startupProbe:
  httpGet:
    path: /healthz
    port: liveness-port
  failureThreshold: 30
  periodSeconds: 10
</code></pre>

<p>Unfortunately, it seems like <code>startupProbe.failureThreshold</code> is not compatible with our current k8s version (1.12.1):</p>

<pre><code>unknown field "startupProbe" in io.k8s.api.core.v1.Container; if you choose to ignore these errors, turn validation off with --validate=false
</code></pre>

<p>Is there a workaround for this? I'd like to give a container a chance of ~40+ minutes to start.</p>

<p>Yes, <code>startupProbe</code> was <a href="https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/950" rel="noreferrer">introduced with 1.16</a> - so you cannot use it with Kubernetes 1.12.</p>

<p>I am guessing you are defining a <code>livenessProbe</code> - so the easiest way to get around your problem is to remove the <code>livenessProbe</code>. Most applications won't need one (some won't even need a <code>readinessProbe</code>). See also this excellent article: <a href="https://srcco.de/posts/kubernetes-liveness-probes-are-dangerous.html" rel="noreferrer">Liveness Probes are Dangerous</a>.</p>
