kubernetes/kops · error

request to kops-controller failed: %w

Error message

request to kops-controller failed: %w

What it means

The POST to kops-controller's bootstrap endpoint failed at the HTTP transport layer inside the retry-with-backoff loop; each attempt wraps the transport error (connection refused, TLS failure, timeout) and the loop keeps retrying.

Source

Thrown at pkg/kopscontrollerclient/client.go:144

	}

	var response *http.Response
	done, err := vfs.RetryWithBackoff(backoff, func() (bool, error) {
		httpReq, reqErr := http.NewRequestWithContext(ctx, "POST", bootstrapURL.String(), bytes.NewReader(reqBytes))
		if reqErr != nil {
			return false, reqErr
		}
		httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json")

		token, tokenErr := b.Authenticator.CreateToken(reqBytes)
		if tokenErr != nil {
			return false, tokenErr
		}
		httpReq.Header.Set("Authorization", token)

		resp, doErr := b.httpClient.Do(httpReq)
		if doErr != nil {
			return false, fmt.Errorf("request to kops-controller failed: %w", doErr)
		}

		response = resp
		return true, nil
	})
	if !done {
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
		return fmt.Errorf("timed out waiting for a successful response from kops-controller")
	}

	// if we receive StatusConflict it means that we should exit gracefully
	if response.StatusCode == http.StatusConflict {
		klog.Infof("kops-controller returned status code %d", response.StatusCode)
		if response.Body != nil {
			response.Body.Close()
		}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Verify kops-controller is running and reachable from the node
2. Check TLS trust of the control-plane endpoint from the node
3. Inspect node-to-control-plane networking (security groups, DNS)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pkg/kopscontrollerclient/client.go:144 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/24055e045a6fce60. Report an issue: GitHub.