Kubernetes v1.34 makes NodeSwap official. For the first time, swap on Linux nodes is fully supported—breaking with the old norm of just turning it off.

Why it matters: NodeSwap gives the kubelet a pressure valve. Instead of firing off OOM kills, it can push some memory to disk. But this isn’t a free win. Swapping right takes real tuning. Think swappiness, min_free_kbytes, and watermark_scale_factor. Miss the mark, and your node stability takes the hit.

Big picture: This is a serious shift in Kubernetes memory management. More headroom, more nuance. Worth it—if your ops game is sharp.