kubernetes/kops · error

error dumping %q: %v

Error message

error dumping %q: %v

What it means

BuildDump iterates registered resource dumpers and calls each resource's Dumper function; if any dumper returns an error the whole dump fails with 'error dumping %q: %v', where %q is the resource type key. It is a wrapper that aggregates per-resource dump failures (SSH failures, API errors inside the provider dumper, etc.) produced during 'kops toolbox dump'.

Source

Thrown at pkg/resources/dump.go:60

// BuildDump gathers information about the cluster and returns an object for dumping
func BuildDump(ctx context.Context, cloud fi.Cloud, resources map[string]*Resource) (*Dump, error) {
	dump := &Dump{}
	op := &DumpOperation{
		Context: ctx,
		Cloud:   cloud,
		Dump:    dump,
	}

	for k, r := range resources {
		if r.Dumper == nil {
			klog.V(8).Infof("skipping dump of %q (does not have Dumper)", k)
			continue
		}

		err := r.Dumper(op, r)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error dumping %q: %v", k, err)
		}
	}

	sort.SliceStable(dump.Instances, func(i, j int) bool { return dump.Instances[i].Name < dump.Instances[j].Name })

	return dump, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped %v message to identify which resource type (k) and underlying cause failed; address that specific cause.
2. Re-run toolbox dump with -v8 logging to see which resource is being processed when it fails.
3. Fix connectivity/credentials for the failing resource type (SSH keys/bastion for nodes, cloud API creds for provider dumpers).
4. If a single broken resource blocks the dump, delete or repair that resource in the cloud console, then retry.

Example fix

// before
err := r.Dumper(op, r)
if err != nil {
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("error dumping %q: %v", k, err)
}
// after
err := r.Dumper(op, r)
if err != nil {
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("error dumping %q: %w", k, err)
}

// before dumping, confirm each registered resource has a dumper and the cluster is reachable
for k, r := range resources {
	if r.Dumper == nil {
		klog.V(8).Infof("skipping %q: no dumper", k)
	}
}

func hasDumper(r *resources.Resource) bool { return r != nil && r.Dumper != nil }

dump, err := resources.BuildDump(op, cluster)
if err != nil {
	klog.Errorf("toolbox dump failed: %v", err)
	// parse which resource key failed and address that resource (SSH/API) before retrying
	return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any registered dumper (e.g. instance, VPC, load balancer dumpers) returns non-nil: SSH to a node fails, cloud API listing fails inside the dumper, or the resource object is in an unexpected state (e.g. instance has no resolvable address).

Common situations: 'kops toolbox dump <cluster>' run when a node is unhealthy/shut down (SSH unreachable), cloud credentials expired so the provider dumper's API calls fail, or partially deleted cluster leaving dangling resources.

Related errors

• error creating pod log dumper: %w
• error marshaling yaml: %v
• error writing to stdout: %v
• error marshaling json: %v
• unsupported output format: %q

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c765867c31d3798c. Report an issue: GitHub.