kubernetes/kops · error

load balancer %q has no LoadBalancerName

Error message

load balancer %q has no LoadBalancerName

What it means

During ASG creation, each referenced LoadBalancer task must carry a concrete LoadBalancerName (set only after the ELB task has been found/created). A nil name means the load balancer task was never resolved, so the ASG cannot attach to it.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/awstasks/autoscalinggroup.go:377

			AutoScalingGroupName:             e.Name,
			MinSize:                          e.MinSize,
			MaxSize:                          e.MaxSize,
			NewInstancesProtectedFromScaleIn: e.InstanceProtection,
			Tags:                             v.AutoscalingGroupTags(),
			VPCZoneIdentifier:                new(strings.Join(e.AutoscalingGroupSubnets(), ",")),
			CapacityRebalance:                e.CapacityRebalance,
		}

		//On ASG creation 0 value is forbidden
		if fi.ValueOf(e.MaxInstanceLifetime) == 0 {
			request.MaxInstanceLifetime = nil
		} else {
			request.MaxInstanceLifetime = e.MaxInstanceLifetime
		}

		for _, k := range e.LoadBalancers {
			if k.LoadBalancerName == nil {
				return fmt.Errorf("load balancer %q has no LoadBalancerName", fi.ValueOf(k.GetName()))
			}
			request.LoadBalancerNames = append(request.LoadBalancerNames, aws.ToString(k.LoadBalancerName))
		}

		for _, tg := range e.TargetGroups {
			request.TargetGroupARNs = append(request.TargetGroupARNs, aws.ToString(tg.ARN))
		}

		// @check are we using mixed instances policy, or launch template
		if e.UseMixedInstancesPolicy() {
			request.MixedInstancesPolicy = &autoscalingtypes.MixedInstancesPolicy{
				InstancesDistribution: &autoscalingtypes.InstancesDistribution{
					OnDemandAllocationStrategy:          e.MixedOnDemandAllocationStrategy,
					OnDemandPercentageAboveBaseCapacity: e.MixedOnDemandAboveBase,
					OnDemandBaseCapacity:                e.MixedOnDemandBase,
					SpotAllocationStrategy:              e.MixedSpotAllocationStrategy,
					SpotInstancePools:                   e.MixedSpotInstancePools,
					SpotMaxPrice:                        e.MixedSpotMaxPrice,

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Ensure the loadBalancer(s) are defined as full LoadBalancer tasks in the cluster/instance-group spec so kOps resolves their names
2. Run `kops update cluster` (full apply, not a partial/targeted run) so the LB task renders before the ASG
3. If migrating between classic ELB and target-group attachments, update the spec consistently
4. Check for kops version mismatches between state store and CLI

Example fix

null

// ensure every loadBalancer referenced in instance group spec resolves to a named LB task
for _, ig := range instanceGroups {
  for _, lb := range ig.Spec.LoadBalancers {
    if lb.LoadBalancerName == nil && lb.TargetGroupARN == nil {
      return fmt.Errorf("instance group %s references unresolved load balancer", ig.Name)
    }
  }
}

func lbHasName(k awstasks.LoadBalancer) bool { return k.LoadBalancerName != nil }

null

When it happens

Trigger: RenderAWS builds CreateAutoScalingGroupInput with e.LoadBalancers where some element has LoadBalancerName == nil — e.g. the LB ref points to a task that was never rendered/created in this run, or spec wires a loadBalancer whose name kOps could not determine.

Common situations: Cluster spec references an external/incompletely-defined load balancer, or an older cluster spec where classic ELB attachment tasks were renamed/removed during upgrades.

Related errors

• DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN is required
• the image for the hook exec action not set
• IP version is incorrect
• ErrAlreadyExists
• DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN is required

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/599d595f670c34df. Report an issue: GitHub.