Degraded State in IBM Cloud Satellite Local Control Plane

IBM Cloud Satellite relies on a secure Satellite Link to synchronize state between the regional control plane and the local control plane. When a local agent upgrade fails or connectivity is interrupted, the site may enter a Degraded state. In this condition, existing workloads typically remain operational, but the local plane cannot receive new configuration updates from the regional manager.

A critical uncertainty exists regarding the synchronization sequence of Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) when the Satellite Link is restored after a prolonged outage or a failed upgrade recovery. It is unclear if the regional control plane enforces a strict linear reconciliation of all pending changes or if specific resource types take precedence during the reconnection phase.

Technical Uncertainties

• Does the synchronization process prioritize CRD schema updates before applying object state changes?
• How does the system resolve conflicts if local manual interventions occurred during the degraded state?