preferred, the Topology Manager will reject this pod from the node. This will result in a pod entering a
`Terminated` state with a pod admission failure.

Once the pod is in a `Terminated` state, the Kubernetes scheduler will **not** attempt to
reschedule the pod. It is recommended to use a ReplicaSet or Deployment to trigger a redeployment of
the pod. An external control loop could be also implemented to trigger a redeployment of pods that
have the `Topology Affinity` error.

If the pod is admitted, the *Hint Providers* can then use this information when making the
resource allocation decision.

### `single-numa-node` policy {#policy-single-numa-node}

For each container in a Pod, the kubelet, with `single-numa-node` topology management policy,
calls each Hint Provider to discover their resource availability. Using this information, the
Topology Manager determines if a single NUMA Node affinity is possible. If it is, Topology
Manager will store this and the *Hint Providers* can then use this information when making the
resource allocation decision. If, however, this is not possible then the Topology Manager will
reject the pod from the node. This will result in a pod in a `Terminated` state with a pod
admission failure.

Once the pod is in a `Terminated` state, the Kubernetes scheduler will **not** attempt to
reschedule the pod. It is recommended to use a Deployment with replicas to trigger a redeployment of
the Pod. An external control loop could be also implemented to trigger a redeployment of pods
that have the `Topology Affinity` error.

## Topology manager policy options

Support for the Topology Manager policy options requires `TopologyManagerPolicyOptions`
[feature gate](/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/feature-gates/) to be enabled
(it is enabled by default).

You can toggle groups of options on and off based upon their maturity level using the following feature gates:

* `TopologyManagerPolicyBetaOptions` default enabled. Enable to show beta-level options.
* `TopologyManagerPolicyAlphaOptions` default disabled. Enable to show alpha-level options.

You will still have to enable each option using the `TopologyManagerPolicyOptions` kubelet option.

### `prefer-closest-numa-nodes` {#policy-option-prefer-closest-numa-nodes}

The `prefer-closest-numa-nodes` option is GA since Kubernetes 1.32. In Kubernetes {{< skew currentVersion >}}
this policy option is visible by default provided that the `TopologyManagerPolicyOptions`
[feature gate](/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/feature-gates/) is enabled.

The Topology Manager is not aware by default of NUMA distances, and does not take them into account when making
Pod admission decisions. This limitation surfaces in multi-socket, as well as single-socket multi NUMA systems,
and can cause significant performance degradation in latency-critical execution and high-throughput applications
if the Topology Manager decides to align resources on non-adjacent NUMA nodes.

If you specify the `prefer-closest-numa-nodes` policy option, the `best-effort` and `restricted`
policies favor sets of NUMA nodes with shorter distance between them when making admission decisions.

You can enable this option by adding `prefer-closest-numa-nodes=true` to the Topology Manager policy options.

By default (without this option), the Topology Manager aligns resources on either a single NUMA node or,
in the case where more than one NUMA node is required, using the minimum number of NUMA nodes.

### `max-allowable-numa-nodes` (beta) {#policy-option-max-allowable-numa-nodes}

The `max-allowable-numa-nodes` option is beta since Kubernetes 1.31. In Kubernetes {{< skew currentVersion >}},
this policy option is visible by default provided that the `TopologyManagerPolicyOptions` and
`TopologyManagerPolicyBetaOptions` [feature gates](/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/feature-gates/)
are enabled.

The time to admit a pod is tied to the number of NUMA nodes on the physical machine.
By default, Kubernetes does not run a kubelet with the Topology Manager enabled, on any (Kubernetes) node where