kubernetes/kops · error

error creating InstanceTemplate: %v

Error message

error creating InstanceTemplate: %v

What it means

Wrapped error from InstanceTemplate.RenderGCE when the synchronous InstanceTemplates.Insert call fails while creating a new template (a == nil). GCE rejected the create — typical causes are invalid machine type, bad metadata/service-account fields, or permissions/quota.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/gcetasks/instancetemplate.go:537

func (_ *InstanceTemplate) RenderGCE(t *gce.GCEAPITarget, a, e, changes *InstanceTemplate) error {
	project := t.Cloud.Project()
	region := t.Cloud.Region()

	i, err := e.mapToGCE(project, region)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if a == nil {
		klog.V(4).Infof("Creating InstanceTemplate %v", i)

		name := fi.ValueOf(e.NamePrefix) + "-" + strconv.FormatInt(time.Now().Unix(), 10)
		e.ID = &name
		i.Name = name

		op, err := t.Cloud.Compute().InstanceTemplates().Insert(t.Cloud.Project(), i)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating InstanceTemplate: %v", err)
		}

		if err := t.Cloud.WaitForOp(op); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating InstanceTemplate: %v", err)
		}
	} else {
		return fmt.Errorf("Cannot apply changes to InstanceTemplate: %v", changes)
	}

	return nil
}

type terraformInstanceTemplate struct {
	Lifecycle             *terraform.Lifecycle                     `cty:"lifecycle"`
	NamePrefix            string                                   `cty:"name_prefix"`
	CanIPForward          bool                                     `cty:"can_ip_forward"`
	MachineType           string                                   `cty:"machine_type"`
	ServiceAccounts       []*terraformTemplateServiceAccount       `cty:"service_account"`

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped API error to find the rejected field
2. Verify machine type, service account, and image reference in the template spec
3. Fix permissions/quota and re-run the apply

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/gcetasks/instancetemplate.go:537 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/85d9551316ae459d. Report an issue: GitHub.