---
title: HPA targeted deployments with configured replica count
description: Datadog, the leading service for cloud-scale monitoring.
breadcrumbs: >-
  Docs > Datadog Security > Code Security > Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
  Security > IaC Security Rules > HPA targeted deployments with configured
  replica count
---

# HPA targeted deployments with configured replica count

{% callout %}
# Important note for users on the following Datadog sites: app.ddog-gov.com, us2.ddog-gov.com

{% alert level="danger" %}
This product is not supported for your selected [Datadog site](https://docs.datadoghq.com/getting_started/site.md). ({% placeholder "user-datadog-site-name" /%}).
{% /alert %}

{% /callout %}

## Metadata{% #metadata %}

**Id:** `kubernetes-hpa-targeted-deployments-with-configured-replica-count` 

**Platform:** Kubernetes

**Severity:** Low

**Category:** Availability

#### Learn More{% #learn-more %}

- [Provider Reference](https://kubernetes.io/docs/tasks/run-application/horizontal-pod-autoscale-walkthrough/)

### Description{% #description %}

Deployments targeted by HorizontalPodAutoscaler should not include a statically configured replica count. This rule flags Deployments referenced by an HPA via the `scaleTargetRef` when the Deployment's `spec.replicas` field is defined. A defined `spec.replicas` can conflict with the HPA's scaling decisions and should be undefined so the HorizontalPodAutoscaler can manage replica count.

## Compliant Code Examples{% #compliant-code-examples %}

```yaml
#this code is a correct code for which the query should not find any result
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: php-apache
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: php-apache
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        run: php-apache
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: php-apache
        image: k8s.gcr.io/hpa-example
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
        resources:
          limits:
            cpu: 500m
          requests:
            cpu: 200m
```

## Non-Compliant Code Examples{% #non-compliant-code-examples %}

```yaml
#this is a problematic code where the query should report a result(s)
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: php-apache-1
spec:
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      run: php-apache
  replicas: 1
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        run: php-apache
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: php-apache
        image: k8s.gcr.io/hpa-example
        ports:
        - containerPort: 80
        resources:
          limits:
            cpu: 500m
          requests:
            cpu: 200m
---
apiVersion: autoscaling/v2beta2
kind: HorizontalPodAutoscaler
metadata:
  name: php-apache
spec:
  scaleTargetRef:
    apiVersion: apps/v1
    kind: Deployment
    name: php-apache-1
  minReplicas: 1
  maxReplicas: 10
  metrics:
  - type: Resource
    resource:
      name: cpu
      target:
        type: Utilization
        averageUtilization: 50
```