Runbook Template Library

Runbook Template Library

A comprehensive library of 54 operational runbooks for Site Reliability Engineering teams, covering the most common infrastructure incidents and operational procedures.

What's Included

• 54 detailed runbooks organized into 7 categories (database, compute, network, deploy, storage, observability, security)
• Blank template (RUNBOOK_TEMPLATE.md) for creating your own runbooks
• Writing guide (WRITING_GUIDE.md) with best practices for authoring effective runbooks
• Complete index (INDEX.md) with severity ratings and quick-lookup tables

Every runbook follows a consistent 9-section structure: Symptoms → Severity → Detection/Alerts → Diagnosis → Mitigation → Resolution → Verification → Escalation → Prevention.

Features

• Real commands, not pseudocode — every diagnosis and mitigation step includes actual commands (kubectl, psql, curl, systemctl, etc.) that you can run immediately
• Consistent format — once your team learns one runbook's structure, they can navigate all of them
• Severity classification — clear escalation criteria so responders know when to call for help
• Multiple mitigation options — never just one path; always Plan A, Plan B, sometimes Plan C
• Risk and rollback — every mitigation tells you what could go wrong and how to undo it
• Prevention section — turns incidents into improvements, not just firefighting

File Structure

runbook-template-library/
├── README.md                    # This file
├── LICENSE                      # MIT License
├── INDEX.md                     # Complete catalog with links
├── RUNBOOK_TEMPLATE.md          # Blank template for new runbooks
├── WRITING_GUIDE.md             # How to write effective runbooks
├── database/                    # 9 runbooks
│   ├── replication-lag.md
│   ├── connection-pool-exhaustion.md
│   ├── slow-queries.md
│   ├── failover-procedure.md
│   ├── disk-full.md
│   ├── backup-failure.md
│   ├── deadlock-detection.md
│   ├── schema-migration-failure.md
│   └── index-corruption.md
├── compute/                     # 8 runbooks
│   ├── memory-leak.md
│   ├── cpu-saturation.md
│   ├── oom-kills.md
│   ├── restart-loops.md
│   ├── zombie-processes.md
│   ├── thread-pool-exhaustion.md
│   ├── disk-io-saturation.md
│   └── container-crash.md
├── network/                     # 8 runbooks
│   ├── dns-failure.md
│   ├── tls-cert-expiry.md
│   ├── load-balancer-issues.md

*... continues with setup instructions, usage examples, and more.*