Kubernetes is powerful—but with that power comes complexity.

Whether you're just starting or managing clusters in production, you're bound to hit issues. Here's a list of the top 10 Kubernetes problems developers and DevOps engineers run into—and how to fix them fast.

⚠️ 1. Pods Stuck in CrashLoopBackOff

💥 Problem: Pod starts → crashes → Kubernetes tries again → repeat.
🔍 Cause: Commonly due to misconfiguration environment variables, missing files, or bad image builds.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:


kubectl logs -c
kubectl describe pod

Check logs for stack traces or config errors. Use livenessProbe and readinessProbe wisely.

🚫 2. ImagePullBackOff or ErrImagePull

💥 Problem: Kubernetes can’t pull the container image.
🔍 Cause: Invalid image name, tag, or no access to private registry.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

Double-check the image path (e.g., myrepo/myapp:latest)

📡 3. Services Not Exposing Pods

💥 Problem: You’ve deployed your app, but it’s unreachable.
🔍 Cause: Misconfiguration selector, port, or targetPort.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl get svc
kubectl describe svc

Verify labels match pod labels and targetPort aligns with the container’s exposed port.

🕳️ 4. DNS Resolution Failures Inside Pods

💥 Problem: Pod can’t resolve service names (e.g., my-service.default.svc.cluster.local)

🔍 Cause: CoreDNS not working or misconfiguration.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl get pods -n kube-system -l k8s-app=kube-dns
kubectl logs -n kube-system

Restart DNS pods, verify network policies, and ensure your cluster's DNS config is correct.

🌀 5. Pods Pending Indefinitely

💥 Problem: Pod status stays Pending forever.
🔍 Cause: Insufficient resources or missing node selectors/tolerations.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl describe pod
kubectl get nodes

Look for messages like 0/3 nodes are available. Adjust requests/limits or update node scheduling rules.

🔐 6. Secrets or ConfigMaps Not Loaded

💥 Problem: Pod fails because environment vars or files are missing.
🔍 Cause: Misreferenced key or secret/configMap not mounted properly.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

Verify the secret/configMap exists:

kubectl get secrets
kubectl get configmap

Check volume mounts or envFrom sections in your YAML.

🌐 7. Ingress Not Routing Traffic

💥 Problem: External traffic doesn’t reach your app.
🔍 Cause: Misconfigured ingress rules or Ingress Controller not installed.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl get ingress
kubectl describe ingress

Make sure an ingress controller (e.g., NGINX, Traefik) is running in the cluster and that DNS records point to its external IP.

🔁 8. Rolling Deployments Hanging or Failing

💥 Problem: kubectl rollout status never completes or fails.
🔍 Cause: readinessProbes failing or insufficient replicas.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl rollout status deployment/
kubectl describe deployment

Fix readiness probe, increase maxUnavailable, or use --timeout to get detailed failure output.

📈 9. Resource Limits Causing OOM Kills

💥 Problem: Containers get killed unexpectedly.
🔍 Cause: Exceeding memory limit.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl describe pod

Look for OOM Killed events. Adjust your container’s memory and CPU settings:

resources:
limits:
memory: "512Mi"
cpu: "500m"

🔒 10. RBAC Denied Errors (Forbidden)

💥 Problem: You get a Forbidden error using kubectl or services can’t access APIs.
🔍 Cause: Missing or incorrect Role/ClusterRoleBinding.

🛠️ Troubleshoot:

kubectl auth can-i --as
kubectl describe rolebinding

Check your ServiceAccount, and ensure your RBAC policies allow the operation.

✅ Final Tips

  • Use kubectl get events --sort-by='.metadata.creationTimestamp' to catch time-ordered issues.
  • Always validate YAML files:
  • kubectl apply --dry-run=client -f your-file.yaml

Leverage tools like:

  • 📊 Lens for visual cluster management
  • 🔍 K9s for terminal UI
  • 📦 Stern for tailing logs across pods

💬 What About You?

  • Which Kubernetes issue tripped you up the most?
  • What tool or tip do you swear by for debugging?

Drop your thoughts below and let’s help each other get better at K8s! 👇