Add NodePool CRD docs and Kubernetes lifecycle management nav (#1667)

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: JakeSCahill <jake@redpanda.com>
Co-authored-by: Jake Cahill <45230295+JakeSCahill@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: micheleRP <michele@redpanda.com>

Author: 4 people

modules/ROOT/nav.adoc

@@ -148,13 +148,15 @@
 **** xref:manage:kubernetes/shadowing/k-failover-runbook.adoc[Failover Runbook]
 *** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-manage-resources.adoc[Manage Pod Resources]
 *** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-scale-redpanda.adoc[Scale]
-*** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-nodewatcher.adoc[]
-*** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-decommission-brokers.adoc[Decommission Brokers]
-*** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-recovery-mode.adoc[Recovery Mode]
+*** xref:manage:kubernetes/lifecycle/index.adoc[Cluster Maintenance]
+**** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-node-pools.adoc[Node Pools]
+**** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-nodewatcher.adoc[]
+**** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-decommission-brokers.adoc[Decommission Brokers]
+**** xref:manage:kubernetes/tiered-storage/k-recovery-mode.adoc[Recovery Mode]
+**** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-rolling-restart.adoc[Rolling Restart]
 *** xref:manage:kubernetes/monitoring/index.adoc[Monitor]
 **** xref:manage:kubernetes/monitoring/k-monitor-redpanda.adoc[Redpanda]
 **** xref:manage:kubernetes/monitoring/k-monitor-connectors.adoc[Kafka Connect]
-*** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-rolling-restart.adoc[Rolling Restart]
 *** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-resilience-testing.adoc[Resilience Testing]
 ** xref:manage:cluster-maintenance/index.adoc[Cluster Maintenance]
 *** xref:manage:cluster-maintenance/cluster-property-configuration.adoc[]
@@ -242,7 +244,8 @@
 ** xref:upgrade:k-rolling-upgrade.adoc[Upgrade Redpanda in Kubernetes]
 ** xref:upgrade:k-upgrade-operator.adoc[Upgrade the Redpanda Operator]
 ** xref:upgrade:k-compatibility.adoc[]
-** xref:manage:kubernetes/k-upgrade-kubernetes.adoc[Migrate Node Pools]
+** xref:upgrade:k-migrate-node-pools.adoc[]
+** xref:upgrade:k-migrate-node-pools-manually.adoc[Migrate Node Pools Manually]
 ** xref:upgrade:deprecated/index.adoc[Deprecated Features]
 ** xref:upgrade:iceberg-schema-changes-and-migration-guide.adoc[Iceberg Schema Changes in v25.3]
 * xref:migrate:index.adoc[Migrate]

modules/deploy/partials/requirements.adoc

@@ -81,7 +81,7 @@ To prevent managed Kubernetes services from automatically rebooting or upgrading
 ** **Google GKE**: https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/how-to/node-auto-upgrades[Disable GKE auto-upgrades for node pools^].
 ** **Amazon EKS**: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/automode.html[Disable EKS node auto-upgrades^].
 
-See also: xref:upgrade:k-upgrade-kubernetes.adoc[How to manually manage node upgrades].
+See also: xref:upgrade:k-migrate-node-pools-manually.adoc[How to manually manage node upgrades].
 endif::[]
 
 == CPU and memory

modules/get-started/pages/release-notes/operator.adoc

@@ -14,6 +14,21 @@ See also:
 
 link:https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda-operator/blob/release/v26.1.x/operator/CHANGELOG.md[Changelog^]
 
+=== NodePool CRD (beta)
+
+The Redpanda Operator introduces the NodePool custom resource, which lets you manage groups of Redpanda brokers as independent units within a single cluster. Each NodePool creates its own StatefulSet, giving you fine-grained control over broker placement, resources, and lifecycle.
+
+NodePools enable blue/green node pool migrations: you create a new NodePool on the target Kubernetes node pool, and the operator automatically replicates data and decommissions old brokers with zero downtime. This replaces the manual, broker-by-broker migration process.
+
+[NOTE]
+====
+The NodePool CRD is in beta. You must enable it with `crds.experimental: true` and the `--enable-v2-nodepools` operator flag.
+====
+
+* xref:manage:kubernetes/k-node-pools.adoc[Node Pools] -- Learn how NodePools work and how to enable them.
+* xref:upgrade:k-migrate-node-pools.adoc[Migrate Node Pools] -- Step-by-step blue/green migration using the NodePool CRD.
+* xref:manage:kubernetes/k-node-pools.adoc#migrate-to-nodepools[Migrate an existing cluster to NodePools] -- Transition from operator-managed replicas to NodePool-managed brokers.
+
 === Prometheus ServiceMonitor for Console
 
 The Console custom resource supports a `monitoring` configuration that deploys a Prometheus `ServiceMonitor` to automatically discover and scrape Console metrics. See xref:deploy:console/kubernetes/deploy.adoc#prometheus-servicemonitor[Prometheus ServiceMonitor].

modules/manage/pages/kubernetes/k-decommission-brokers.adoc

@@ -670,6 +670,8 @@ If you have rack awareness enabled, you may want to reassign the remaining broke
 
 include::shared:partial$suggested-reading.adoc[]
 
+- xref:manage:kubernetes/k-node-pools.adoc[Node Pools]
+
 - xref:reference:rpk/rpk-redpanda/rpk-redpanda-admin-brokers-decommission.adoc[`rpk-redpanda-admin-brokers-decommission`]
 
 - https://redpanda.com/blog/raft-protocol-reconfiguration-solution[Engineering a more robust Raft group reconfiguration^]