kubernetes/kops · error

found multiple Akamai (Linode) VPCs named %q

Error message

found multiple Akamai (Linode) VPCs named %q

What it means

This is a kops-side ambiguity error, not a Linode API error: Find() iterated the VPC list and matched more than one VPC with the same label (and region, when specified). Because the task matches VPCs by Name/label, duplicates make it impossible to determine which VPC the cluster spec refers to, so Find() aborts instead of guessing.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/linodetasks/vpc.go:73

	}

	vpcs, err := cloud.Client().ListVPCs(c.Context(), listOptions)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing Akamai (Linode) VPCs: %w", err)
	}

	var found *linodego.VPC
	name := fi.ValueOf(v.Name)
	for i := range vpcs {
		candidate := &vpcs[i]
		if candidate.Label != name {
			continue
		}
		if v.Region != nil && candidate.Region != fi.ValueOf(v.Region) {
			continue
		}
		if found != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("found multiple Akamai (Linode) VPCs named %q", name)
		}
		found = candidate
	}

	if found == nil {
		return nil, nil
	}

	actual := &VPC{
		Name:        new(found.Label),
		ID:          new(found.ID),
		Lifecycle:   v.Lifecycle,
		Description: new(found.Description),
		Region:      new(found.Region),
	}
	v.ID = actual.ID

	return actual, nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. List VPCs in the Linode console/API (linode-cli vpcs list), identify the duplicate, and delete the stale/unmanaged one
2. Rename the leftover VPC's label so only the intended one matches the cluster spec's VPC name
3. If the wrong VPC should be adopted, set the ID in the task/spec so matching is unambiguous
4. Ensure each cluster spec uses a unique VPC name within the account and region

Example fix

// before: two VPCs both labeled "my-cluster-vpc"; delete the orphan via CLI
$ linode-cli vpcs list   # note duplicate IDs
$ linode-cli vpcs delete 12345
// after: only one VPC matches; kops Find() succeeds

// Guard before running the update: ensure exactly one VPC matches
func ensureUniqueVPC(ctx context.Context, client *linodego.Client, name, region string) error {
    vpcs, err := client.ListVPCs(ctx, &linodego.ListOptions{Filter: "{\"label\": \"" + name + "\"}"})
    if err != nil {
        return err
    }
    n := 0
    for _, v := range vpcs {
        if region == "" || v.Region == region {
            n++
        }
    }
    if n > 1 {
        return fmt.Errorf("%d VPCs named %q in region %q; delete or rename duplicates", n, name, region)
    }
    return nil
}

func isAmbiguousResourceError(err error) bool {
    return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "found multiple Akamai (Linode) VPCs")
}

if err := run(); err != nil {
    if isAmbiguousResourceError(err) {
        // stop automation; require manual dedup - do not auto-delete
        return fmt.Errorf("manual cleanup required: %w", err)
    }
    return err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Two or more Linode VPCs in the account share the same label that equals fi.ValueOf(v.Name) and, if v.Region is set, live in the same region - e.g. leftover VPCs from a previous abandoned cluster, a manually created VPC colliding with a kops-managed one, or a case/normalization mismatch that bypassed the label filter.

Common situations: Re-running cluster creation after a failed cleanup left orphaned VPCs; a developer manually created a VPC with the same label as the one in the cluster spec; copying a cluster spec to a new cluster in the same account/region without renaming the VPC.

Related errors

• error creating Akamai (Linode) VPC %q: %w
• cannot specify additional objects when multiple clusters are
• duplicate InstanceGroup Name found: %q
• error listing Akamai (Linode) VPCs: %w
• error listing Akamai (Linode) VPC subnets for VPC %s(%d): %w

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/704fb7d5d2c7d40f. Report an issue: GitHub.