kubernetes/kops · error

error listing ASG Lifecycle Hooks: %v

Error message

error listing ASG Lifecycle Hooks: %v

What it means

Wraps any AWS SDK error returned when calling DescribeLifecycleHooks for an Auto Scaling Group lifecycle hook task. kOps calls this during Find to reconcile the desired hook with actual AWS state; if the AWS API call itself fails, the underlying error is wrapped and returned.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awstasks/autoscalinglifecyclehook.go:68

var _ fi.CompareWithID = (*AutoscalingLifecycleHook)(nil)

func (h *AutoscalingLifecycleHook) CompareWithID() *string {
	return h.Name
}

func (h *AutoscalingLifecycleHook) Find(c *fi.CloudupContext) (*AutoscalingLifecycleHook, error) {
	ctx := c.Context()
	cloud := awsup.GetCloud(c)

	request := &autoscaling.DescribeLifecycleHooksInput{
		AutoScalingGroupName: h.AutoscalingGroup.Name,
		LifecycleHookNames:   []string{aws.ToString(h.GetHookName())},
	}

	response, err := cloud.Autoscaling().DescribeLifecycleHooks(ctx, request)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing ASG Lifecycle Hooks: %v", err)
	}
	if response == nil || len(response.LifecycleHooks) == 0 {
		if !fi.ValueOf(h.Enabled) {
			return h, nil
		}

		return nil, nil
	}
	if len(response.LifecycleHooks) > 1 {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("found multiple ASG Lifecycle Hooks with the same name")
	}

	hook := response.LifecycleHooks[0]
	actual := &AutoscalingLifecycleHook{
		ID:                  h.Name,
		Name:                h.Name,
		HookName:            h.HookName,
		Lifecycle:           h.Lifecycle,

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped AWS error in the message for the root cause (access denied, throttling, not found)
2. Verify the IAM policy used by the kOps controller grants autoscaling:DescribeLifecycleHooks on the ASG
3. Confirm the AutoscalingGroup name in the task actually exists in the target region/account
4. Retry if the wrapped error is throttling or a transient network failure

Example fix

// before: IAM policy missing describe
{"Effect":"Deny","Action":"autoscaling:*","Resource":"*"}
// after: allow the needed call
{"Effect":"Allow","Action":["autoscaling:DescribeLifecycleHooks"],"Resource":"*"}

// verify IAM + ASG existence before apply
const asg = await autoscaling.describeAutoScalingGroups({AutoScalingGroupNames:[asgName]}).promise();
if (!asg.AutoScalingGroups.length) throw new Error(`ASG ${asgName} not found`);

function isAwsErr(err) { return err instanceof Error && 'code' in err; }

try {
  await findLifecycleHook(ctx, hook);
} catch (err) {
  if (awsup.AWSErrorCode(err) === 'Throttling') return retryWithBackoff();
  throw new Error(`error listing ASG Lifecycle Hooks: ${err.message}`);
}

When it happens

Trigger: The Autoscaling().DescribeLifecycleHooks(ctx, request) call fails: IAM permissions missing (autoscaling:DescribeLifecycleHooks), invalid/unavailable AutoScalingGroupName, throttling, or network/endpoint issues.

Common situations: Clusters created before the lifecycle-hook task existed with restricted IAM policies; hooks referencing an ASG name that no longer exists or was renamed; transient AWS API throttling during reconcile.

Related errors

• error deleting autoscaling group %q: %v
• error listing AutoScalingGroups: %v
• error creating AutoScalingGroup: %s
• found multiple ASG Lifecycle Hooks with the same name
• error describing autoScalingGroups: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1dd35d5a58f9229e. Report an issue: GitHub.