kubernetes/kops · error

error generating Akamai (Linode) instance label for group %q

Error message

error generating Akamai (Linode) instance label for group %q: %w

What it means

For each instance to create, RenderLinode calls buildLinodeInstanceLabel to generate a unique <=64-char label. This error wraps a failure of that label generation (cryptorand.Read failing) and identifies which instance group it occurred for.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/linodetasks/instance.go:228

	if err != nil {
		return err
	}

	userDataBytes, err := fi.ResourceAsBytes(expected.UserData)
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	userDataHash := generateUserDataHash(string(userDataBytes))
	instanceTags := append([]string{}, expected.Tags...)
	instanceTags = append(instanceTags, fmt.Sprintf("%s:%s", linode.TagKubernetesInstanceUserData, userDataHash))
	encodedUserData := base64.StdEncoding.EncodeToString(userDataBytes)

	interfaces := buildLinodeInterfaces(fi.ValueOf(expected.Subnet.ID), fi.ValueOf(expected.RequirePublicInterface))
	toCreate := expected.Count - actualCount
	for range toCreate {
		label, err := buildLinodeInstanceLabel(fi.ValueOf(expected.Name))
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error generating Akamai (Linode) instance label for group %q: %w", fi.ValueOf(expected.Name), err)
		}
		_, err = t.Cloud.Client().CreateInstance(context.Background(), linodego.InstanceCreateOptions{
			Region:              expected.Region,
			Type:                expected.Type,
			Label:               label,
			Image:               expected.Image,
			AuthorizedKeys:      authorizedKeys,
			Tags:                instanceTags,
			Metadata:            &linodego.InstanceMetadataOptions{UserData: encodedUserData},
			InterfaceGeneration: linodego.GenerationLinode,
			LinodeInterfaces:    interfaces,
		})
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error creating Akamai (Linode) instance for group %q: %w", fi.ValueOf(expected.Name), err)
		}
	}

	return nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Fix the host's random source (ensure /dev/urandom is accessible)
2. Re-run kops update once entropy works
3. If persistent, run on a host/kernel without entropy restrictions

label, err := buildLinodeInstanceLabel(name)
if err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("error generating Akamai (Linode) instance label for group %q: %w", name, err)
} // investigate host entropy (/dev/urandom) when this fires

When it happens

Trigger: buildLinodeInstanceLabel returns an error — practically only when crypto/rand cannot read random bytes (depleted/failed system entropy) — during the create loop in RenderLinode.

Common situations: Running kops inside a hardened container with restricted random device access; broken kernel entropy on a VM.

Related errors

• error generating random label suffix: %w
• error getting random data: %w
• error building linode node identifier: %w
• error disabling swap: %v
• failed to read %s: %w

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/eeccfbe8355d55e3. Report an issue: GitHub.