kubernetes/kops · error

creating/updating disk: %w

Error message

creating/updating disk: %w

What it means

The DisksClient.CreateOrUpdate wrapper calls armcompute's BeginCreateOrUpdate to create or update a managed disk. Any error returned synchronously by the Azure Resource Manager API (before a polling future can be created) is wrapped as "creating/updating disk: %w". Typical wrapped causes are invalid request payload, authentication/authorization failures, or the resource group/subscription not resolving.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/azure/disk.go:45

)

// DisksClient is a client for managing disks.
type DisksClient interface {
	CreateOrUpdate(ctx context.Context, resourceGroupName, diskName string, parameters compute.Disk) (*compute.Disk, error)
	List(ctx context.Context, resourceGroupName string) ([]*compute.Disk, error)
	Delete(ctx context.Context, resourceGroupName, diskname string) error
}

type disksClientImpl struct {
	c *compute.DisksClient
}

var _ DisksClient = (*disksClientImpl)(nil)

func (c *disksClientImpl) CreateOrUpdate(ctx context.Context, resourceGroupName, diskName string, parameters compute.Disk) (*compute.Disk, error) {
	future, err := c.c.BeginCreateOrUpdate(ctx, resourceGroupName, diskName, parameters, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("creating/updating disk: %w", err)
	}
	resp, err := future.PollUntilDone(ctx, nil)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("waiting for disk create/update completion: %w", err)
	}
	return &resp.Disk, err
}

func (c *disksClientImpl) List(ctx context.Context, resourceGroupName string) ([]*compute.Disk, error) {
	if resourceGroupName == "" {
		return nil, nil
	}

	var l []*compute.Disk
	pager := c.c.NewListByResourceGroupPager(resourceGroupName, nil)
	for pager.More() {
		resp, err := pager.NextPage(ctx)
		if err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Unwrap the error and inspect the *azcore.ResponseError StatusCode/ErrorCode to identify the actual ARM failure (401/403 auth, 404 resource group, 409 conflict/quota, 429 throttling).
2. Verify the Azure identity has Microsoft.Compute/disks/write permission on the target resource group.
3. Confirm resourceGroupName and subscriptionID match the cluster (cluster resource group vs node resource group).
4. Validate the compute.Disk parameters (Location, SKU name, DiskSizeGB, Zone) against the target region's supported values.
5. If throttled (429), retry with backoff; if auth failed, refresh credentials (az login / managed identity).

Example fix

var respErr *azcore.ResponseError
if errors.As(err, &respErr) {
    klog.Infof("disk create failed: %s %d %s", respErr.ErrorCode, respErr.StatusCode, respErr.Error())
    if respErr.StatusCode == 429 {
        // retry after backoff
    }
}

var respErr *azcore.ResponseError
if errors.As(err, &respErr) && respErr.StatusCode == 404 {
    return nil, fmt.Errorf("resource group %q not found: check subscription/rg names", resourceGroupName)
}

func isAzureResponseError(err error) (*azcore.ResponseError, bool) {
    var re *azcore.ResponseError
    ok := errors.As(err, &re)
    return re, ok
}

if err != nil {
    var respErr *azcore.ResponseError
    switch {
    case errors.As(err, &respErr) && respErr.StatusCode == 429:
        // backoff and retry
    case errors.As(err, &respErr) && (respErr.StatusCode == 401 || respErr.StatusCode == 403):
        return fmt.Errorf("insufficient Azure permissions or bad credentials: %w", err)
    default:
        return fmt.Errorf("disk create/update failed: %w", err)
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling DisksClient.CreateOrUpdate when the ARM API rejects the initial request: invalid compute.Disk parameters (bad SKU, invalid diskSizeGB), missing/insufficient RBAC (Microsoft.Compute/disks/write denied), nonexistent resource group, wrong subscription ID, expired or missing Azure credentials, or throttling (429) at request submission time.

Common situations: Deploying a cluster with a service principal whose scope does not cover the node resource group; typos in resourceGroupName; quota exceeded in the region; azidentity credentials not available (no managed identity / az login); SDK version mismatch producing an invalid parameters struct.

Related errors

• deleting disk: %w
• DNS not implemented on azureCloud
• cluster is not an Azure cluster
• waiting for disk create/update completion: %w
• listing disks: %w

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/32abcb272b467772. Report an issue: GitHub.