Design burn-rate alerts with Kubernetes PSI before latency pages anyone

Combine Prometheus, Grafana, and Pressure Stall Information so pages fire on real impact, not every saturation spike.

A practical guide to turning burn-rate alerts into actionable signals: clear SLOs, multiple windows, PSI as context, promtool tests, and gradual rollout.

Created: June 24, 2026

Published: June 24, 2026

Estimated time35 min

LevelIntermediate

Before you startPrometheus or Prometheus Operator with PrometheusRule support

PlatformsLinux

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Linux

Workflow for a Kubernetes cluster with Prometheus Operator, node-exporter/kubelet PSI metrics, and versioned alert rules in Git.

kubectlpromtoolread access to Prometheusalert rules repository

Validate rules locally

promtool check rules slo-burn-psi.rules.yml && promtool test rules slo-burn-psi.test.yml

Apply the rule as a canary

kubectl -n monitoring apply -f slo-burn-psi.rules.yml --server-side

Watch rollout status

kubectl -n monitoring rollout status deploy/prometheus-rule-sync

Also available inDiseñar alertas de burn rate con Kubernetes PSI antes de que la latencia despierte a nadie

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