kubernetes/kops · error

failed to add cilium addon: %w

Error message

failed to add cilium addon: %w

What it means

buildAddons installs the Cilium networking addon via addCiliumAddon(b, addons). Any failure from that helper (invalid Cilium config in cluster.spec, missing embedded manifest, template data error) is wrapped here and aborts addon building.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/bootstrapchannelbuilder/bootstrapchannelbuilder.go:1042

		key := "networking.kindnet"

		{
			id := "k8s-1.32"
			location := key + "/" + id + ".yaml"

			addons.Add(&channelsapi.AddonSpec{
				Name:               new(key),
				Selector:           networkingSelector(),
				Manifest:           new(location),
				Id:                 id,
				NeedsRollingUpdate: channelsapi.NeedsRollingUpdateAll,
			})
		}
	}

	err := addCiliumAddon(b, addons)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to add cilium addon: %w", err)
	}

	authenticationSelector := map[string]string{"role.kubernetes.io/authentication": "1"}

	if b.Cluster.Spec.Authentication != nil {
		if b.Cluster.Spec.Authentication.Kopeio != nil {
			key := "authentication.kope.io"

			{
				location := key + "/k8s-1.12.yaml"
				id := "k8s-1.12"

				addons.Add(&channelsapi.AddonSpec{
					Name:     new(key),
					Selector: authenticationSelector,
					Manifest: new(location),
					Id:       id,
				})

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped error for the cilium-specific cause
2. Fix spec.networking.cilium fields (version, enablePolicy, etc.) with kops edit cluster / kops set
3. Ensure the cilium addon manifest exists for your kops version (see addons/ templates)
4. Upgrade kops to a release supporting your cilium configuration
5. Temporarily switch networking plugin to isolate the cilium config issue

Example fix

// before
networking:
  cilium:
    version: 9.9.9
// after: use a version supported by kops
networking:
  cilium:
    version: v1.14.5

// Validate cilium networking config before building addons
c := b.Cluster.Spec.Networking.Cilium
if c != nil && !supportedCiliumVersions.Has(c.Version) {
    return fmt.Errorf("cilium version %q not supported by this kops", c.Version)
}

if err := addCiliumAddon(b, addons); err != nil {
    return fmt.Errorf("check spec.networking.cilium fields and kops version: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Building/updating a cluster with spec.networking.cilium set, where addCiliumAddon fails due to invalid cilium configuration fields or an error rendering/locating the embedded cilium manifest.

Common situations: Incompatible cilium spec fields for the kops version (e.g. unsupported version or enablePolicy values); networking config typos; kops binary missing the cilium channel manifest.

Related errors

• cannot specify additional objects when multiple clusters are
• must specify a cluster when creating additional objects
• parsing kops version %q: %w
• found no packages in channel for name=%q
• found multiple packages in channel for name=%q

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/67379f2fa20e5f20. Report an issue: GitHub.