Kubernetes · Field notes
KubeGlance Blog
Practical Kubernetes troubleshooting, kubectl deep-dives, and cluster operations — from the team building KubeGlance.
CreateContainerConfigError and CreateContainerError: the four messages
The kubelet could not build the container config — almost always a missing ConfigMap or Secret key. The message names the object that is missing.
Pod stuck in Terminating: what is actually blocking the delete
A pod stuck in Terminating is one of four things: a grace period, an unreachable node, a finalizer, or a volume that will not detach. How to tell which.
x509: certificate signed by unknown authority, and kubectl's other connection errors
Four kubectl errors, four different layers. Work out which one failed before you change anything, because the fixes are not interchangeable.
OOMKilled and exit code 137: what actually happened
OOMKilled means your container hit its own memory limit, not that the node ran out. Three different kills look alike in kubectl. How to tell them apart.
0/3 nodes are available: how to fix a Pending pod
The FailedScheduling message is a per-node tally, not one reason. Here is how to read it, and the fix for every clause it can contain.
How kubectl decides what to put in the STATUS column
kubectl get pods never shows status.phase. Here is the real algorithm behind the STATUS column, and why a pod reads Running while a container crash-loops.
RBAC for a read-only Kubernetes user (and why view isn't enough)
The built-in view role has three surprises: no cluster-scoped resources, no secrets, and it is aggregated — so your cloud provider may have quietly widened it.
How KUBECONFIG merges multiple files (first wins, not last)
Set KUBECONFIG to several files and kubectl merges them by a rule that surprises most people: the first file to define a name wins, and later files are ignored.
How to fix CrashLoopBackOff in Kubernetes
CrashLoopBackOff is not an error, it is a waiting state. The exit code tells you what actually happened. Here is how to read it and fix each cause.
ImagePullBackOff and ErrImagePull: what they mean and how to fix them
ErrImagePull is the failure. ImagePullBackOff is the waiting. The real error is in the pod's Events, and there are only about seven things it ever says.
Your clusters, on every screen you own
KubeGlance is a native Kubernetes client for iPhone and iPad — the real dashboard, not a companion — with a full Mac app on the same core. Pods, workloads, logs and events, straight from your kubeconfig.
Download KubeGlance