<p>I understand what a readinessProbe does, but I don't see why it should have a periodSeconds. Once it's determined that the pod is ready, it should stop checking. Wouldn't checking periodically then be up to the livenessProbe? Or am I missing something?</p>

sffortytwo
<p>ReadinesProbe and livenessProbe serve for different purposes.</p>
<p>ReadinessProbe checks if a service is ready to serve requests. If the readinessProbe fails, the container will be taken out of service for as long as the probe fails. If the readinessProbe reports up again, the container will be taken back into service again and receive requests.</p>
<p>In contrast, if the livenessProbe fails, it will be considered as not recoverable and the container will be terminated and restarted.</p>
<p>For both, periodSeconds makes sense. Even for the livenessProbe, when failure is considered only after X consecutive failed checks.</p>
