Scenario
One shard keeps firing an old alert expression even after a successful Prometheus rule reload.
A Prometheus rule reload reports success and one alert stays old because the sidecar symlink points at the previous config shard
Rule files were updated, but one reloader container still mounts a symlink to yesterday's generated shard path.
What to check first
- Identify the primary failure signal in the The Reloader Nodded Yes and the Sidecar Opened the Folder It Had Loved Since Yesterday scenario.
- Separate visible symptoms from the underlying technical dependency.
- Describe the safest recovery path and the follow-up prevention work.
Checking checklist
- Summarize the current impact and the last known change.
- Collect direct evidence from logs, runtime state, and configuration before changing anything.
- Separate immediate recovery from permanent prevention work.
Recovery and prevention
Inspect generated rule symlinks before restarting the whole monitoring stack.
Questions worth viewing together
No. Keep commands, logs, file names, APIs, and product names unchanged, then explain the reasoning in the selected UI language.
State the root cause, the evidence that supports it, and the safest recovery direction.
The source scenario is treated as an incident artifact. Guidance, checklist, hints, and explanations can be localized around it.
Similar cases seen in the field