kubernetes/kops · error

unabled to create listener: %v

Error message

unabled to create listener: %v

What it means

This error is returned by the Openstack load balancer listener creation helper when the Gophercloud call listeners.Create fails. It is wrapped in vfs.RetryWithBackoff, so the raw OpenStack/HTTP error is embedded via %v and the operation is retried until backoff is exhausted, after which ErrWaitTimeout or the last error is returned.

Source

Thrown at upup/pkg/fi/cloudup/openstack/loadbalancer.go:555

		}
		return listenerList, err
	}
	return listenerList, nil
}

func (c *openstackCloud) CreateListener(opts listeners.CreateOpts) (listener *listeners.Listener, err error) {
	return createListener(c, opts)
}

func createListener(c OpenstackCloud, opts listeners.CreateOpts) (listener *listeners.Listener, err error) {
	if c.LoadBalancerClient() == nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("loadbalancer support not available in this deployment")
	}

	done, err := vfs.RetryWithBackoff(readBackoff, func() (bool, error) {
		listener, err = listeners.Create(context.TODO(), c.LoadBalancerClient(), opts).Extract()
		if err != nil {
			return false, fmt.Errorf("unabled to create listener: %v", err)
		}
		return true, nil
	})
	if !done {
		if err == nil {
			err = wait.ErrWaitTimeout
		}
		return listener, err
	}
	return listener, nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 4c8573c808)

Solutions

1. Verify kops cluster spec loadBalancer listener port/protocol values are valid for Octavia
2. Confirm Octavia (or neutron-lbaasv2) is installed and the loadbalancer exists in the target project
3. Check openstack credentials/scopes (OS_* env) and that the project has quota for listeners
4. Inspect the embedded %v error for HTTP 404/403/409/503 to narrow the root cause
5. Retry once the Octavia service is healthy; the helper already backoff-retries transient faults

Example fix

// before
listenerPort: 443
protocol: HTTP
// after
listenerPort: 443
protocol: TERMINATED_HTTPS

// pre-check: loadbalancer exists and listener config is sane
lb, err := osClient.LoadBalancer().LoadBalancers.Get(ctx, lbID).Extract()
// err == nil and lb.ProvisioningStatus == "ACTIVE" before CreateListener

listener, err := createListener(...)
if err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "not available in this deployment") {
        // feature gate disabled in cluster config
    }
    return fmt.Errorf("listener creation failed: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Neutron LBaaS octavia listener create returns an HTTP error: invalid protocol/port combination, loadbalancer ID not found, quota exceeded, or network/auth failure.

Common situations: Misconfigured loadBalancer listener config (bad port/protocol), Octavia service unavailable or not installed, neutron LBaaSv2 deprecated/removed in newer OpenStack, expired/insufficient OpenStack credentials, LB quota exhausted.

Related errors

• failed to build load balancer client: %w
• error building lb client: %w
• loadbalancer API versions not found
• GetApiIngressStatus: Failed to list openstack loadbalancers:
• error deleting loadbalancer: %v

AI-assisted analysis of kubernetes/kops@4c8573c808 (2026-09-05). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c4b4bbcafbf8d860. Report an issue: GitHub.