<p>Given:  </p>

<ol>
<li>My application (call it <code>root</code>) is considered 'ready' when certain number of other PODs connects to it.  </li>
<li>I would like to rely on the fact the <code>root</code> application is 'ready' because transition from POD creation to 'readiness' takes considerable amount of time.  </li>
</ol>

<p>Thus I wanted to create <code>readinessProbe</code>, but as it initially fails (waiting for my other PODs to connect), the kubelet blocks all of the requests coming to that <code>root</code> POD making it impossible to fulfill my 'ready' condition.  </p>

<p>I managed to handle the situation by adding <code>readinessProbe</code> to all other PODs and thus considering the <code>root</code> POD ready when all other PODs are ready.</p>

<p>Question:<br>
Is it possible to inform kubernetes that even though the <code>readinessProbe</code> fails, the service for that <code>root</code> POD should still accept traffic (from small group of pods at least)?<br>
And more broadly speaking: is it possible to have <code>readinessProbe</code> on <code>kind: Deployment</code> level?</p>

lakier
<p>There is no way to do that, by design service that is not ready won't receive traffic.</p>

<p>If you elaborate on your design I can try and give you more tips but generally, looks like you might want your <code>root</code> to connect to the other pods and not the other way around.</p>
