What should you do if a Go-based application in GKE experiences increased heap usage leading to restarts when a new version is released?

When a Go-based application in Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) experiences increased heap usage that leads to restarts upon the release of a new version, increasing the memory limit in the application deployment is the most appropriate action.

Go applications typically use garbage collection to manage memory, and if the application encounters a memory demand that exceeds the specified memory limit, it risks being terminated by the Kubernetes scheduler when it runs out of memory. By increasing the memory limit, you are allowing the application more heap space to accommodate its operational needs, especially if the new version is consuming more resources. This adjustment helps prevent restarts caused by out-of-memory errors, providing stability for the application.

Other approaches may address the situation indirectly, but they do not directly resolve the root cause of the memory usage issue. Simply increasing CPU limits or adding higher memory compute nodes does not specifically address the memory constraints of the application itself. Furthermore, while adding Cloud Trace could help in diagnosing performance issues by providing insights into application behavior and memory usage patterns, it would not mitigate the immediate problem of excessive memory consumption or prevent the application from restarting. Thus, the most direct and effective solution is to increase the memory limit in the application deployment.