kubernetes/kops · error

error creating forwarding rule: %v

Error message

error creating forwarding rule: %v

What it means

The ForwardingRules.Insert API call succeeded, but the subsequent WaitForOp failed — the GCE operation to create the forwarding rule completed with an error. kOps reports it as 'error creating forwarding rule' with the operation's error embedded.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/gcetasks/forwardingrule.go:234

	if e.Subnetwork != nil {
		project := t.Cloud.Project()
		if e.Network.Project != nil {
			project = *e.Network.Project
		}
		o.Subnetwork = e.Subnetwork.URL(project, t.Cloud.Region())
	}

	if a == nil {
		klog.V(4).Infof("Creating ForwardingRule %q", o.Name)

		op, err := t.Cloud.Compute().ForwardingRules().Insert(ctx, t.Cloud.Project(), t.Cloud.Region(), o)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating ForwardingRule %q: %v", o.Name, err)
		}

		if err := t.Cloud.WaitForOp(op); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating forwarding rule: %v", err)
		}

		if e.Labels != nil {
			// We can't set labels on creation; we have to read the object to get the fingerprint
			// TODO: We could get it from the operation!
			r, err := t.Cloud.Compute().ForwardingRules().Get(ctx, t.Cloud.Project(), t.Cloud.Region(), name)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("reading created ForwardingRule %q: %v", name, err)
			}

			req := compute.RegionSetLabelsRequest{
				LabelFingerprint: r.LabelFingerprint,
				Labels:           e.Labels,
			}
			op, err := t.Cloud.Compute().ForwardingRules().SetLabels(ctx, t.Cloud.Project(), t.Cloud.Region(), o.Name, &req)
			if err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("setting ForwardingRule labels: %w", err)
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Inspect the wrapped operation error for the operation-level cause
2. Re-run kops update — a failed create leaves no resource, so the next run retries the insert cleanly
3. Check GCE operation logs in Cloud Console (Compute Engine > Operations) for details
4. If timeouts recur, increase WaitForOp tolerance or investigate GCE service health

Example fix

null

null

if err := cloud.WaitForOp(op); err != nil {
    klog.Warningf("forwarding rule create op failed: %v; will retry on next run", err)
    return err // safe: insert is idempotent — next run recreates since no resource exists
}

When it happens

Trigger: Insert returned an operation, then t.Cloud.WaitForOp(op) returned non-nil because the operation finished with status DONE and an error (e.g. conditionNotMet, resource exhausted during provisioning).

Common situations: Concurrent modification of the same region by another controller; target pool/backend deleted between insert and completion; transient GCE service disruption; operation timeout if WaitForOp hits its deadline.

Related errors

• error creating ForwardingRule %q: %v
• setting ForwardRule labels: %w
• error parsing operation URL %q: %v
• Specified both IP Address and rule-managed IP address: %v, %
• reading created ForwardingRule %q: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4b6805a9c0e9f4b6. Report an issue: GitHub.