kubernetes/kops · error

error updating AutoscalingGroup tags: %v

Error message

error updating AutoscalingGroup tags: %v

What it means

kops wraps the AWS AutoScaling CreateOrUpdateTags API error when applying desired tags to an AutoScalingGroup in RenderAWS. It indicates AWS rejected the CreateOrUpdateTags call with the desired tag set.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awstasks/autoscalinggroup.go:671

		empty := &AutoscalingGroup{}
		if !reflect.DeepEqual(empty, changes) {
			klog.Warningf("cannot apply changes to AutoScalingGroup: %v", changes)
		}

		klog.V(2).Infof("Updating autoscaling group %s", fi.ValueOf(e.Name))

		if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().UpdateAutoScalingGroup(ctx, request); err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("error updating AutoscalingGroup: %v", err)
		}

		if deleteTagsRequest != nil && len(deleteTagsRequest.Tags) > 0 {
			if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().DeleteTags(ctx, deleteTagsRequest); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("error deleting old AutoscalingGroup tags: %v", err)
			}
		}
		if updateTagsRequest != nil {
			if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().CreateOrUpdateTags(ctx, updateTagsRequest); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("error updating AutoscalingGroup tags: %v", err)
			}
		}

		if detachLBRequest != nil {
			if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().DetachLoadBalancers(ctx, detachLBRequest); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("error detatching LoadBalancers: %v", err)
			}
		}
		if attachLBRequest != nil {
			if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().AttachLoadBalancers(ctx, attachLBRequest); err != nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("error attaching LoadBalancers: %v", err)
			}
		}
		if len(attachTGRequests) > 0 {
			for _, attachTGRequest := range attachTGRequests {
				if _, err := t.Cloud.Autoscaling().AttachLoadBalancerTargetGroups(ctx, attachTGRequest); err != nil {
					return fmt.Errorf("failed to attach target groups: %v", err)
				}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Validate tag keys/values in the cluster/instanceGroup spec: allowed characters, key <=128 chars, value <=256 chars.
2. Reduce total tags to <=50 per ASG (remove unnecessary cloudLabels).
3. Confirm IAM/SCP allows autoscaling:CreateOrUpdateTags.
4. Retry after backoff if the wrapped message indicates throttling.

Example fix

// before: invalid tag value with illegal chars
cloudLabels:
  owner: team/foo&bar
// after
cloudLabels:
  owner: team-foo-bar

func validateTag(k, v string) error {
  if len(k) > 128 || len(v) > 256 {
    return fmt.Errorf("tag %q value too long", k)
  }
  if strings.ContainsAny(k+v, "^`{}[]()*?#|\\<>!") {
    return fmt.Errorf("tag %q has invalid characters", k)
  }
  return nil
}
// keep total tags <= 50
if len(desiredTags) > 50 { return errors.New("ASG tag limit (50) exceeded") }

if _, err := svc.CreateOrUpdateTags(ctx, req); err != nil {
  var ae smithy.APIError
  if errors.As(err, &ae) && ae.ErrorCode() == "ValidationError" {
    return fmt.Errorf("invalid tag in spec: %w", err)
  }
  return retry(err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: During ASG update, updateTagsRequest is non-nil (new/changed tags in the spec) and Autoscaling().CreateOrUpdateTags fails: invalid tag key/value (bad characters, too long), tag limit exceeded (ASGs allow 50 tags), throttling, or missing autoscaling:CreateOrUpdateTags permission.

Common situations: User added a cluster spec tag with invalid characters or exceeding the 256-char value limit; instance group has accumulated >50 tags; control-plane to control-plane tag renames adding many new tags; SCP denying tag writes.

Related errors

• error deleting old AutoscalingGroup tags: %v
• provider ID cannot be empty
• error updating AutoscalingGroup: %v
• error detatching LoadBalancers: %v
• error attaching LoadBalancers: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/78c4496bcde6edd0. Report an issue: GitHub.