kubernetes/kops · error

fetching instance metadata: unexpected status code %d

Error message

fetching instance metadata: unexpected status code %d

What it means

getLinodeMetadataValue rejects the instance metadata response because GET /v1/instance returned a non-200 status. It fires when the metadata token was rejected/expired or the instance metadata service is disabled, so the requested key cannot be read.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/linode/linodemetadata/authenticator.go:115

	token := strings.TrimSpace(string(tokenBytes))
	if token == "" {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("metadata token was empty")
	}

	instanceReq, err := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, http.MethodGet, metadataBaseURL+"/v1/instance", nil)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("building instance metadata request: %w", err)
	}
	instanceReq.Header.Set("Metadata-Token", token)

	instanceResp, err := client.Do(instanceReq)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("fetching instance metadata: %w", err)
	}
	defer instanceResp.Body.Close()

	if instanceResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("fetching instance metadata: unexpected status code %d", instanceResp.StatusCode)
	}

	instanceBytes, err := io.ReadAll(instanceResp.Body)
	if err != nil {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("reading instance metadata response: %w", err)
	}

	value := parseLinodeMetadataValue(string(instanceBytes), key)
	if value == "" {
		return "", fmt.Errorf("instance %s from Akamai (Linode) metadata was empty", key)
	}
	return value, nil
}

// parseLinodeMetadataValue parses the Akamai (Linode) metadata response for the given key
// and returns the value as a string.
func parseLinodeMetadataValue(metadata string, key string) string {
	prefix := key + ":"

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. On 401/403, re-mint the metadata token and retry; the token may have expired
2. On 404, verify the metadata service is enabled for the instance
3. Retry with backoff on 429/5xx

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/linode/linodemetadata/authenticator.go:115 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/7b8a2335d91f6df3. Report an issue: GitHub.