Deploying to GKE: app scales horizontally; each instance requires a stable network identity and its own persistent disk. Which Kubernetes object should you use?

StatefulSet is the correct choice because it's designed for stateful applications that require stable, unique network identifiers and persistent storage. Each pod in a StatefulSet gets a unique, stable hostname and an associated PersistentVolumeClaim, ensuring data persistence and consistent identity across restarts or rescheduling. Deployment, ReplicaSet, and ReplicaController are primarily used for stateless applications. While they can manage multiple pod replicas, they do not guarantee stable network identities or persistent storage for individual pods. Pods managed by these objects are considered interchangeable and ephemeral.