kubernetes/kops · error

linode subnet %q requires a region

Error message

linode subnet %q requires a region

What it means

Linode NetworkModelBuilder.Build() requires each cluster subnet to specify a Region, since Linode subnets/VPCs are region-scoped and instances are placed by region. An empty subnet.Region fails validation with this error, reported under the subnet's display name.

Source

Thrown at pkg/model/linodemodel/network.go:52

func (b *NetworkModelBuilder) Build(c *fi.CloudupModelBuilderContext) error {
	if len(b.Cluster.Spec.Networking.Subnets) == 0 {
		return fmt.Errorf("linode VPC requires at least one subnet")
	}

	seenSubnetNames := map[string]string{}
	region := ""
	for i, subnet := range b.Cluster.Spec.Networking.Subnets {
		subnetName := subnet.Name
		if subnetName == "" {
			subnetName = fmt.Sprintf("subnet %d", i)
		}

		if subnet.Name == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("linode subnet %q requires a name", subnetName)
		}
		if subnet.Region == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("linode subnet %q requires a region", subnetName)
		}
		if subnet.CIDR == "" {
			return fmt.Errorf("linode subnet %q requires a CIDR", subnetName)
		}

		normalizedSubnetName := linode.NormalizeLinodeLabel(b.ClusterName() + "-" + subnet.Name)
		if previousSubnetName, found := seenSubnetNames[normalizedSubnetName]; found {
			return fmt.Errorf("linode subnets %q and %q normalize to the same label %q", previousSubnetName, subnetName, normalizedSubnetName)
		}
		seenSubnetNames[normalizedSubnetName] = subnetName

		if region == "" {
			region = subnet.Region
			continue
		}
		if subnet.Region != region {
			return fmt.Errorf("linode subnets must all use the same region; found %q and %q", region, subnet.Region)
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Set region on each subnet in cluster.spec.networking.subnets to a valid Linode region (e.g. us-east).
2. Confirm the YAML key is region, not zone or location.
3. Ensure all subnets use the same region — the builder enforces a single region per Linode cluster.
4. Re-run kops update cluster after fixing.

Example fix

// before
- name: us-east-1a
  cidr: 10.0.0.0/24
// after
- name: us-east-1a
  region: us-east
  cidr: 10.0.0.0/24

for i, s := range cluster.Spec.Networking.Subnets {
    if s.Region == "" {
        return fmt.Errorf("subnet %q missing region", s.Name)
    }
}
// also confirm all regions are identical
seen := map[string]bool{}
for _, s := range cluster.Spec.Networking.Subnets {
    seen[s.Region] = true
}
if len(seen) > 1 {
    return errors.New("all Linode subnets must be in the same region")
}

When it happens

Trigger: A cluster.spec.networking.subnets entry for a Linode cluster with name and CIDR set but region empty or misspelled key (e.g. zones instead of region).

Common situations: Porting an AWS cluster spec where region is cluster-level rather than per-subnet; typos in YAML keys; template variables that failed to substitute the region value.

Related errors

• linode VPC requires at least one subnet
• linode subnet %q requires a name
• linode subnet %q requires a CIDR
• Subnet.VPC is required
• Subnet.VPC.ID is required

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c0d0f1d9195724c6. Report an issue: GitHub.