# Handling retriable and non-retriable pod failures with Pod failure policy — Using Pod Failure Policy to avoid unnecessary Pod retries per index

> To avoid unnecessary Pod restarts per index, you can use the _Pod failure policy_ and _backoff limit per index_ features.

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-kubernetes-6382d19372b041780e35>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.487182+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `kubernetes`, `tasks`, `job`, `handling`, `retriable`, `non-retriable`, `pod`, `failures`, `failure`, `policy`, `using`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/kubernetes/website/blob/6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3/content/en/docs/tasks/job/pod-failure-policy.md>
- Source name: Kubernetes Documentation
- Source revision: `6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3`
- Source license: `CC-BY-4.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

To avoid unnecessary Pod restarts per index, you can use the _Pod failure policy_ and _backoff limit per index_ features. This section of the page shows how to use these features together.

Examine the following manifest

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```sh
   kubectl create -f https://k8s.io/examples/controllers/job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex.yaml
```

After around 15 seconds, inspect the status of the Pods for the Job. You can do that by running

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
   kubectl get pods -l job-name=job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex -o yaml
```

You will see output similar to this

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```none
   NAME                                            READY   STATUS      RESTARTS   AGE
   job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex-0-4g4cm   0/1     Error       0          4s
   job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex-0-fkdzq   0/1     Error       0          15s
   job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex-1-2bgdj   0/1     Error       0          15s
   job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex-2-vs6lt   0/1     Completed   0          11s
   job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex-3-s7s47   0/1     Completed   0          6s
```

Note that the output shows the following

Two Pods have index 0, because of the backoff limit allowed for one retry of the index. Only one Pod has index 1, because the exit code of the failed Pod matched the Pod failure policy with the FailIndex action.

Inspect the status of the Job by running

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```sh
   kubectl get jobs -l job-name=job-backoff-limit-per-index-failindex -o yaml
```

In the Job status, see that the failedIndexes field shows "0,1", because both indexes failed. Because the index 1 was not retried the number of failed Pods, indicated by the status field "failed" equals 3.

Attribution: Adapted from Kubernetes Documentation under CC-BY-4.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.