Node Warmup
Proactive node pre-provisioning with parallel image pre-caching — reduce first pod startup from 31s to 3s (10x faster)
Overview
Node Warmup proactively provisions standby nodes before workload demand arrives. When no existing node can fit the largest pod in a NodePool, Wave triggers a warmup pod to create a new node, then pre-pulls container images in parallel.
This eliminates cold start delays: the new node is already running with images cached by the time the real workload arrives. Protected with do-not-disrupt annotations to prevent premature consolidation. EKS-only feature.
Why Better Than Reactive Node Provisioning
| Vanilla Karpenter | Wave Node Warmup | |
|---|---|---|
| Startup Time | Cold start: 31s for node + image pull | Proactive warmup: 3s for real pod (10x faster) |
| Image Readiness | Serial image pull after node ready | Parallel image pre-pull on warmed node |
| Node Protection | Warmed node may be consolidated prematurely | do-not-disrupt annotation prevents early termination |
Key Outcomes & Benefits
Standby node ready before demand — 31s to 3s
Container images pre-pulled in parallel on warmed nodes
do-not-disrupt annotation prevents premature consolidation
How It Works
Capacity Monitoring
Continuously tracks the largest pod in each NodePool and available node capacity
Proactive Provisioning
When no node can fit the max pod, triggers a warmup pod sized to max + buffer
Image Pre-pull
Creates parallel pods to pre-pull container images on the warmed node
Node Protection
Annotates warmed node with do-not-disrupt to prevent consolidation until workloads arrive
Ready to Eliminate Cold Starts?
Get 10x faster pod startup with proactive node warming for your EKS clusters.
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