etcd in Kubernetes: What is it and Why is it Important?
A Comprehensive Guide for SREs Build Foundational Knowledge on How etcd fits into the Kubernetes Ecosystem etcd is the single source-of-truth data store for the Kubernetes cluster. As a Key-Value store with advanced features, etcd stores mission-critical Kubernetes data: configuration data, the cluster state and metadata. This information is key for the Kubernetes cluster to scale and self-heal. If etcd malfunctions, it can cause failures on the Kubernetes cluster.