In our k8s clusters we generally set both requests and limits on CPU and memory. We haven't noticed many problems, except for when some apps didn't even have CP

In our k8s clusters we generally set both requests and limits on CPU and memory. We haven't noticed many problems, except for when some apps didn't even have CPU requests and dominated all the CPU on a cluster (which didn't even autoscale because the scheduler doesn't know about the problem). I think CPU limits (and also, choosing to set memory limits equal to the requests or higher) depends on your goal. If you want to get the best use out of your hardware, set low requests and high limits and you'll be able to minimize "wasted" scaling. But if your goal is consistent performance and availability, setting high requests and high limits (usually equal to each other) save you from a whole host of problems. Just my take. I have a fair bit of experience but am far from an expert on the topic. And my experience is only on the scale of dozens of applications/dozens of nodes...people with higher scale experience may feel differently.