> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://devopscube.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How To Troubleshoot Kubernetes Pods: Beginners Guide - URL: https://devopscube.com/troubleshoot-kubernetes-pods/ - Published: 2022-04-26T08:45:21.000Z - Updated: 2025-04-23T05:43:09.000Z - Author: Bibin Wilson - Tags: Kubernetes, #Migrated-1741795015845, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-03-12 15:57, #blog In this blog, you will learn to **troubleshoot** [**kubernetes pods**](https://devopscube.com/kubernetes-pod/) and debug issues associate with the containers inside the pods. If you are trying to [become a devops engineer](https://devopscube.com/become-devops-engineer/) with Kubernetes skills, it is essential to understand **pod troubleshooting**. In most cases, you can get the pod error details by describing the pod event. With the error message, you can figure out the cause of the pod failure and rectify it. ## How to Troubleshoot Pod Errors? The first step in troubleshooting a pod is getting the status of the pod. ``` kubectl get pods ``` The following output shows the error states under the status. ``` ➜ kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE config-service 0/1 CreateContainerConfigError 0 20s image-service-fdf74c785-9znfd 0/1 InvalidImageName 0 30s secret-pod 0/1 ContainerCreating 0 15s ``` Now that you know the error type, the next step is to describe the individual pod and browse through the events to pinpoint the reason that is causing the pod error. For example, ``` kubectl describe pod config-service ``` Where `config-service` is the pod name. Now let's look into detail on how to troubleshoot and debug different types of pod errors. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-8-53.png) ## Types of Pod Errors Before diving into pod debugging, it's essential to understand different types of Pod errors. ### Container & Image Errors All these error states are part of the [kubernetes container package](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/pkg/kubelet/container/sync%5Fresult.go?ref=devopscube.com) & [Kubernetes image package](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/pkg/kubelet/images/types.go?ref=devopscube.com) Following is the list of official **Kubernetes pod errors** with error descriptions. | Pod Error Type | Error Description | | ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | ErrImagePull | If kubernetes is not able to pull the image mentioned in the manifest. | | ErrImagePullBackOff | Container image pull failed, kubelet is backing off image pull | | ErrInvalidImageName | Indicates a wrong image name. | | ErrImageInspect | Unable to inspect the image. | | ErrImageNeverPull | Specified Image is absent on the node and PullPolicy is set to NeverPullImage | | ErrRegistryUnavailable | HTTP error when trying to connect to the registry | | ErrContainerNotFound | The specified container is either not present or not managed by the kubelet, within the declared pod. | | ErrRunInitContainer | Container initialization failed. | | ErrRunContainer | Pod’s containers don't start successfully due to misconfiguration. | | ErrKillContainer | None of the pod’s containers were killed successfully. | | ErrCrashLoopBackOff | A container has terminated. The kubelet will not attempt to restart it. | | ErrVerifyNonRoot | A container or image attempted to run with root privileges. | | ErrCreatePodSandbox | Pod sandbox creation did not succeed. | | ErrConfigPodSandbox | Pod sandbox configuration was not obtained. | | ErrKillPodSandbox | A pod sandbox did not stop successfully. | | ErrSetupNetwork | Network initialization failed. | | ErrTeardownNetwork | | Now let's look at some of the **most common pod errors** and how to debug them. ### Troubleshoot ErrImagePullBackOff ``` ➜ pods kubectl get pods NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE nginx-deployment-599d6bdb7d-lh7d9 0/1 ImagePullBackOff 0 7m17s ``` If you see `ErrImagePullBackOff` in pod status, it is most likely for the following reasons. 1. The specified image is not present in the registry. 2. A typo in the image name or tag. 3. Image pull access was denied from the given registry due to credential issues. 4. The contianer image that you are trying to pull doesnt support the worker node architecture. If you check the pod events, you will see the `ErrImagePull` error followed by `ErrImagePullBackOff`. This means the kubelet stops trying to pull the image again and again. ``` kubectl describe pod ``` Error reference ``` Warning Failed 24m (x4 over 25m) kubelet Error: ErrImagePull Normal BackOff 23m (x6 over 25m) kubelet Back-off pulling image "ngasdinx:latest" Warning Failed 29s (x110 over 25m) kubelet Error: ImagePullBackOff ``` ### Troubleshoot Error: InvalidImageName ``` ➜ pods kubectl get pod NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE nginx-deployment-6f597fc4cd-j86mm 0/1 InvalidImageName 0 7m26s ``` If you specify a wrong image URL in the manifest, you will get the `InvalidImageName` error. For example, if you have a private container registry and you mention the image name with `https`, it will throw the `InvalidImageName` error. You need to specify the image name without `https` ![troubleshoot Error: InvalidImageName ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-15-37.png) If you have trailing slashes in the image name, you will get both `InspectFailed` & `InvalidImageName` errors. You can check it by describing the pod. ![troubleshoot Error: InvalidImageName with url slash](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5f/2f/5f2f4d20-2abf-4534-8d40-7aa233aedd43/content/images/2025/03/image-16-41.png) Error reference ``` Warning InspectFailed 4s (x6 over 42s) kubelet Failed to apply default image tag "registry.hub.docker.com/library//nginx:latest": couldn't parse image reference "registry.hub.docker.com/library//nginx:latest": invalid reference format Warning Failed 4s (x6 over 42s) kubelet Error: InvalidImageName ``` ### Troubleshoot RunContainerError ``` secret-pod 0/1 RunContainerError 0 (9s ago) 12s ``` ### Pod Configmap & Secret Errors \[CreateContainerConfigError\] `CreateContainerConfigError` is one of the common errors related to `Configmaps` and `Secrets` in pods. This normally occurs due to two reasons. 1. You have the wrong configmap or secret keys referenced as environment variables 2. The referenced configmap is not available If you describe the pod you will see the following error. ``` Warning Failed 3s (x2 over 10s) kubelet Error: configmap "nginx-config" not found ``` If you have a typo in the key name, you will see the following error in the pod events. ``` Warning Failed 2s kubelet Error: couldn't find key service-names in ConfigMap default/nginx-config ``` To rectify this issue, 1. Ensure the config map is created. 2. Ensure you have the **correct configmap name & key name** added to the env declaration. Let's look at the correct example. Here is a configmap where `service-name` is the key that is needed as an env variable inside the pod. ``` apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata: name: nginx-config namespace: default data: service-name: front-end-service ``` Here is the correct pod definition using the key (`service-name`) & configmap name (`nginx-config`) ``` apiVersion: v1 kind: Pod metadata: name: config-service spec: containers: - name: nginx image: nginx env: - name: SERVICE valueFrom: configMapKeyRef: name: nginx-config key: service-name ``` ### Pod Pending Error To troubleshoot pod pending error, you need to be aware of [Pod LifeCycle Phases](https://devopscube.com/kubernetes-pod-lifecycle/). Pending in the first phase of the pod it means, the pod has been created but none of the main containers are running. To understand the root cause, you can describe the pod and check the events. For example, ``` kubectl describe pod -n ``` Here is an example, output of a pending pod that shows FailedScheduling due to no node availability. It could happen due to ``` Events: Type Reason Age From Message ---- ------ ---- ---- ------- Warning FailedScheduling 38s (x24 over 116m) default-scheduler no nodes available to schedule pods ``` It could happen due to 1. Node Less CPU and Memory Resources 2. No suitable node due to Affinity/Anti-affinity rules. 3. Nodes could reject the pod due to Taints and Tolerations 4. The node might not be ready to schedule the pods. 5. The pod could not find the volume to be attached.