kubernetes/kops · error

Failed to find external network: %v

Error message

Failed to find external network: %v

What it means

RenderOpenstack in floatingip.go:234 wraps an error from cloud.GetExternalNetwork() when creating a new FloatingIP task (a == nil). A floating IP must be allocated from an external (public) network, and kops could not resolve which configured network is the external one.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/openstacktasks/floatingip.go:234

}

func (_ *FloatingIP) ShouldCreate(a, e, changes *FloatingIP) (bool, error) {
	if a == nil {
		return true, nil
	}
	if changes.Name != nil {
		return true, nil
	}
	return false, nil
}

func (f *FloatingIP) RenderOpenstack(t *openstack.OpenstackAPITarget, a, e, changes *FloatingIP) error {
	cloud := t.Cloud

	if a == nil {
		external, err := cloud.GetExternalNetwork()
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("Failed to find external network: %v", err)
		}

		opts := l3floatingip.CreateOpts{
			FloatingNetworkID: external.ID,
			Description:       fi.ValueOf(e.Name),
		}

		if e.LB != nil {
			opts.PortID = fi.ValueOf(e.LB.PortID)
		}

		// instance floatingips comes from the same subnet as the kubernetes API floatingip
		lbSubnet, err := cloud.GetLBFloatingSubnet()
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("Failed to find floatingip subnet: %v", err)
		}
		if lbSubnet != nil {
			opts.SubnetID = lbSubnet.ID

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Set the correct external network name in the cluster spec (cluster.spec.networkID / cloudConfig) or via `kops edit cluster`, matching `openstack network list --external`.
2. Ask the cloud admin to set router:external on the intended public network and grant the project access.
3. Verify credentials/project scope allow listing networks.
4. Rerun `kops update cluster` after fixing the config.

Example fix

// before (cluster spec)
cloudConfig:
  externalNetwork: "pubnet"   # wrong name
// after
cloudConfig:
  externalNetwork: "public"   # matches `openstack network list --external`

// confirm an external network exists and is visible before creating FIPs
nets, err := cloud.ListNetworks(networks.ListOpts{RouterExternal: true})
if err != nil || len(nets) == 0 {
    return fmt.Errorf("no external network visible to this project; set cloudConfig externalNetwork")
}

func hasExternalNetwork(nets []networks.Network) bool {
    for _, n := range nets {
        if n.External {
            return true
        }
    }
    return false
}

err := f.RenderOpenstack(target, a, e, changes)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Failed to find external network") {
    // fix cluster.spec cloudConfig externalNetwork, then re-run update
}

When it happens

Trigger: GetExternalNetwork fails because no network in the project has router:external=true, the cluster config's external network name doesn't match, or the Neutron list-networks call itself errored.

Common situations: Missing or misnamed `[cloudConfig] externalNetwork` in the kops cluster spec; project lacks permission to see the shared external network; OpenStack admin forgot to mark the public network as external; typo after renaming the network.

Related errors

• did not find floatingsubnet for external router
• Failed to find floatingip subnet: %v
• could not establish floating network id
• GetApiIngressStatus: Failed to list floating IP's: %v
• did not find floatingsubnet for LB

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/31574c0342380325. Report an issue: GitHub.