kubernetes/kops · error

error listing AutoScaling LaunchTemplates

Error message

error listing AutoScaling LaunchTemplates: %v

What it means

findAllLaunchTemplates pages through ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplates to collect all kOps-managed launch templates, and wraps any paginator error in this message. It is thrown from FindDeletions when the AWS API call itself fails, so the list of orphaned launch templates cannot be computed.

Solutions

1. Check the wrapped %v error for the exact AWS error code
2. Grant ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplates to the kOps IAM role/policy
3. Retry the operation; throttling errors are transient
4. Verify AWS credentials and region configuration (aws sts get-caller-identity)

// pre-check IAM
_, err := cloud.EC2().DescribeLaunchTemplates(ctx, &ec2types.DescribeLaunchTemplatesInput{MaxResults: aws.Int32(1)})
if err != nil { /* fail fast: describe permission missing */ }

page, err := paginator.NextPage(ctx)
if err != nil {
  var re *awshttp.ResponseError
  if errors.As(err, &re) && strings.Contains(re.Error(), "Throttling") {
    time.Sleep(backoff); continue
  }
  return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing AutoScaling LaunchTemplates: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: paginator.NextPage returns an error: API throttling, UnauthorizedOperation/AccessDenied on ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplates, invalid filter values, network failure, or region misconfiguration.

Common situations: IAM policy lacking ec2:DescribeLaunchTemplates, heavy API load causing rate limiting, wrong AWS_PROFILE/region, transient network errors in CI.

Related errors

• error creating LaunchTemplate
• error creating LaunchTemplateVersion
• error decoding userdata
• error deleting ec2 LaunchTemplate
• error deleting LaunchTemplate

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0508f173d69ebb06. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awstasks/launchtemplate_target_api.go:377

	ctx := c.Context()

	cloud := awsup.GetCloud(c)

	input := &ec2.DescribeLaunchTemplatesInput{
		Filters: []ec2types.Filter{
			{
				Name:   aws.String("tag:Name"),
				Values: []string{fi.ValueOf(t.Name)},
			},
		},
	}

	var list []ec2types.LaunchTemplate
	paginator := ec2.NewDescribeLaunchTemplatesPaginator(cloud.EC2(), input)
	for paginator.HasMorePages() {
		page, err := paginator.NextPage(ctx)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing AutoScaling LaunchTemplates: %v", err)
		}
		list = append(list, page.LaunchTemplates...)
	}

	return list, nil
}

// findLatestLaunchTemplateVersion returns the latest template version
func (t *LaunchTemplate) findLatestLaunchTemplateVersion(c *fi.CloudupContext) (*ec2types.LaunchTemplateVersion, error) {
	ctx := c.Context()

	cloud := awsup.GetCloud(c)

	input := &ec2.DescribeLaunchTemplateVersionsInput{
		LaunchTemplateName: t.Name,
		Versions:           []string{("$Latest")},
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)