kubernetes/kops · error

error deleting Route %s: %v

Error message

error deleting Route %s: %v

What it means

Wraps a failure from Compute Routes().Delete in deleteRoute during cluster teardown. NotFound is treated as already-deleted success; other failures — most notably 412 conflict when the route is still assigned to an instance (kOps routes are per-instance and held by VM network interfaces) — surface here with the route SelfLink and raw error.

Source

Thrown at pkg/resources/gce/gce.go:821

}

func deleteRoute(cloud fi.Cloud, r *resources.Resource) error {
	c := cloud.(gce.GCECloud)
	t := r.Obj.(*compute.Route)

	klog.V(2).Infof("Deleting GCE Route %s", t.SelfLink)
	u, err := gce.ParseGoogleCloudURL(t.SelfLink)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	op, err := c.Compute().Routes().Delete(u.Project, u.Name)
	if err != nil {
		if gce.IsNotFound(err) {
			klog.Infof("Route not found, assuming deleted: %q", t.SelfLink)
			return nil
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("error deleting Route %s: %v", t.SelfLink, err)
	}

	return c.WaitForOp(op)
}

func (d *clusterDiscoveryGCE) listAddresses() ([]*resources.Resource, error) {
	c := d.gceCloud

	var resourceTrackers []*resources.Resource

	ctx := context.Background()

	addrs, err := c.Compute().Addresses().List(ctx, c.Project(), c.Region())
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing Addresses: %v", err)
	}

	for _, a := range addrs {

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Ensure instances/instance groups are deleted before routes — re-run teardown so VMs are removed first, freeing the routes.
2. Wait for the holding VM to be deleted, then retry kops delete cluster (deletes are resumable).
3. Check compute.routes.delete IAM permission, especially on shared VPC host projects.
4. If the VM is already gone in the console but GCP still holds the route, wait a few minutes for propagation and retry.
5. Force-delete orphaned VMs in the console, then re-run.

// check whether any instance still uses this route (412 prevention)
route, err := computeService.Routes.Get(project, routeName).Do()
if err == nil && route.NextHopInstance != "" {
    inst := lastComponent(route.NextHopInstance)
    if _, err := computeService.Instances.Get(project, zone, inst).Do(); err == nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("instance %s still holds route %s; delete instances first", inst, routeName)
    }
}

func isGCEAPIError(err error) (*googleapi.Error, bool) {
    var gerr *googleapi.Error
    return gerr, errors.As(err, &gerr)
}

err := deleteRoute(t)
var gerr *googleapi.Error
if err != nil {
    if errors.As(err, &gerr) && gerr.Code == 404 { return nil }
    if errors.As(err, &gerr) && (gerr.Code == 412 || gerr.Code == 429 || gerr.Code >= 500) {
        // wait for VMs to drain / backoff, then retry
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: c.Compute().Routes().Delete(u.Project, u.Name) returns 412 'route is being used by an instance', 403 permission denied, 429 rate limit, or 5xx. The 412 in-use case is characteristic: kOps routes stay in use while the instance still exists.

Common situations: Deleting a cluster while instances are still running (route held by the VM's NIC); instance group manager deletion failed earlier leaving VMs behind; shared VPC permission gaps; concurrent teardown runs.

Related errors

• error deleting HTTP HealthCheck %s: %v
• error deleting FirewallRule %s: %v
• error deleting Address %s: %v
• error listing Routes: %w
• creating gce IPAM controller: %w

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a197b57850d07398. Report an issue: GitHub.