kubernetes/kops · error

can't build elastigroup while nodeTerminationHandler flag is

Error message

can't build elastigroup while nodeTerminationHandler flag is on. using nodeTerminationHandler will interfere with Ocean Kubernetes controller .
Please add the following configuration to cluster config 
 nodeTerminationHandler:
   enabled: false 

What it means

Error "can't build elastigroup while nodeTerminationHandler flag is on. using nodeTerminationHandler will interfere with Ocean Kubernetes controller . Please add the following configuration to cluster config nodeTerminationHandler: enabled: false " thrown in kubernetes/kops.

Source

Thrown at pkg/model/awsmodel/spotinst.go:227

func (b *SpotInstanceGroupModelBuilder) buildElastigroup(c *fi.CloudupModelBuilderContext, ig *kops.InstanceGroup) (err error) {
	klog.V(4).Infof("Building instance group as Elastigroup: %q", b.AutoscalingGroupName(ig))
	group := &spotinsttasks.Elastigroup{
		Lifecycle:            b.Lifecycle,
		Name:                 new(b.AutoscalingGroupName(ig)),
		Region:               new(b.Region),
		ImageID:              new(ig.Spec.Image),
		OnDemandInstanceType: new(strings.Split(ig.Spec.MachineType, ",")[0]),
		SpotInstanceTypes:    strings.Split(ig.Spec.MachineType, ","),
	}

	// Cloud config.
	if aws := b.Cluster.Spec.CloudProvider.AWS; aws != nil {
		group.Product = aws.SpotinstProduct
		group.Orientation = aws.SpotinstOrientation
		nth := aws.NodeTerminationHandler
		if nth != nil && nth.Enabled != nil && *nth.Enabled {
			return fmt.Errorf("can't build elastigroup while nodeTerminationHandler flag is on. " +
				"using nodeTerminationHandler will interfere with Ocean Kubernetes controller .\n" +
				"Please add the following configuration to cluster config \n nodeTerminationHandler:\n   enabled: false ")
		}
	}

	// Strategy.
	for k, v := range ig.ObjectMeta.Labels {
		switch k {
		case SpotInstanceGroupLabelSpotPercentage:
			group.SpotPercentage, err = parseFloat(v)
			if err != nil {
				return err
			}

		case SpotInstanceGroupLabelOrientation:
			group.Orientation = new(v)

		case SpotInstanceGroupLabelUtilizeReservedInstances:

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Disable the node termination handler: set nodeTerminationHandler.enabled=false under cloudProvider.aws in the cluster config
2. Alternatively disable the SpotInst Ocean feature flag if the node termination handler is required
3. Apply with kops update cluster and a rolling update

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/model/awsmodel/spotinst.go:227 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2073f95092ef63c8. Report an issue: GitHub.