We have many guards making sure that there are always at least two instances of the kube-apiserver. If we ever reach a single kube-apiserver and it causes disruption for the clients, other alerts such as KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn will fire.
KubeAPIDown is here to make sure that Prometheus and really any client can reach the kube-apiserver, which they can even when there is only one instance of kube-apiserver running. If they can't or that availability is disrupted, `KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn` will fire.
Comment 23058588 by Marcel Härri at 2023-09-19T06:57:07.949+0000

Mar 12 18:52:24.937 - 58s E namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/firing severity/critical ALERTS
{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="firing", long="1h", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="critical", short="5m"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 28s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 28s, firing for 0s:
May 14 13:43:03.493 - 28s   I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 7m54s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 7m54s, firing for 0s:
May 13 13:54:35.638 - 446s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}
May 13 13:56:47.638 - 28s   I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="1d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="2h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 4m18s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 4m18s, firing for 0s:
May 10 13:41:50.171 - 258s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 5m18s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 5m18s, firing for 0s:
May 09 13:45:40.676 - 318s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 7m6s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 7m6s, firing for 0s:
May 08 13:38:08.182 - 38s   I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}
May 08 13:39:18.182 - 360s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}
May 08 13:40:48.182 - 28s   I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="1d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="2h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 7m48s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 7m48s, firing for 0s:
May 02 13:40:35.306 - 468s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 58s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 58s, firing for 0s:
May 01 13:50:42.834 - 58s   I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}

# [bz-kube-apiserver][invariant] alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn should not be at or above pending
KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn was at or above pending for at least 34m20s on platformidentification.JobType{Release:"4.16", FromRelease:"", Platform:"libvirt", Architecture:"s390x", Network:"ovn", Topology:"ha"} (maxAllowed=0s): pending for 34m20s, firing for 0s:
May 06 13:39:48.010 - 1282s I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="3d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="6h"}
May 06 13:40:18.010 - 778s  I namespace/openshift-kube-apiserver alert/KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn alertstate/pending severity/warning ALERTS{alertname="KubeAPIErrorBudgetBurn", alertstate="pending", long="1d", namespace="openshift-kube-apiserver", prometheus="openshift-monitoring/k8s", severity="warning", short="2h"}