kubernetes/kops · error

got retryable error while getting tags on %q, but retried to

Error message

got retryable error while getting tags on %q, but retried too many times without success: %v

What it means

The DescribeTags loop kept hitting eventual-consistency errors (e.g. InvalidInstanceID.NotFound right after resource creation) and exhausted DescribeTagsMaxAttempts retries without the tags becoming visible. The resource ID in %q is the one whose tags never converged.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go:1220

	tags := map[string]string{}

	request := &ec2.DescribeTagsInput{
		Filters: []ec2types.Filter{
			NewEC2Filter("resource-id", resourceID),
		},
	}

	attempt := 0
	for {
		attempt++

		response, err := c.EC2().DescribeTags(ctx, request, func(o *ec2.Options) {
			o.RetryMaxAttempts = DescribeTagsMaxAttempts
		})
		if err != nil {
			if isTagsEventualConsistencyError(err) {
				if attempt > DescribeTagsMaxAttempts {
					return nil, fmt.Errorf("got retryable error while getting tags on %q, but retried too many times without success: %v", resourceID, err)
				}

				if (attempt % DescribeTagsLogInterval) == 0 {
					klog.Infof("waiting for eventual consistency while describing tags on %q", resourceID)
				}

				klog.V(2).Infof("will retry after encountering error getting tags on %q: %v", resourceID, err)
				time.Sleep(DescribeTagsRetryInterval)
				continue
			}

			return nil, fmt.Errorf("error listing tags on %v: %v", resourceID, err)
		}

		for _, tag := range response.Tags {
			tags[aws.ToString(tag.Key)] = aws.ToString(tag.Value)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Wait for AWS eventual consistency and re-run the operation
2. Verify the resource ID actually exists
3. If persistent, check for credential/permission issues masquerading as consistency errors

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awsup/aws_cloud.go:1220 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/adfed250fdf6ccde. Report an issue: GitHub.