Kind (Kubernetes) cluster throwing ImagePullBackOff error - linux

Question

I need to pull the image from public docker repository i.e hello-world:latest and run that image on kubernetes. I created cluster using Kind . I ran that image using the below command
kubectl run test-pod --image=hello-world
Then I did
kubectl describe pods
to get the status of the pods. It threw me ImagePullBackOff error . Please find the snapshot below. It seems there is some network issue when pulling the image using kind cluster. Although I am able to pull image from docker easily .
Have searched the whole internet regarding this issue but nothing worked out. Following is my pod specification :
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
creationTimestamp: "2022-05-16T15:01:17Z"
labels:
run: test-pod
name: test-pod
namespace: default
resourceVersion: "4370"
uid: 6ef121e2-805b-4022-9a13-c17c031aea88
spec:
containers:
- image: hello-world
imagePullPolicy: Always
name: test-pod
resources: {}
terminationMessagePath: /dev/termination-log
terminationMessagePolicy: File
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
name: kube-api-access-jjsmp
readOnly: true
dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst
enableServiceLinks: true
nodeName: kind-control-plane
preemptionPolicy: PreemptLowerPriority
priority: 0
restartPolicy: Always
schedulerName: default-scheduler
securityContext: {}
serviceAccount: default
serviceAccountName: default
terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 30
tolerations:
- effect: NoExecute
key: node.kubernetes.io/not-ready
operator: Exists
tolerationSeconds: 300
- effect: NoExecute
key: node.kubernetes.io/unreachable
operator: Exists
tolerationSeconds: 300
volumes:
- name: kube-api-access-jjsmp
projected:
defaultMode: 420
sources:
- serviceAccountToken:
expirationSeconds: 3607
path: token
- configMap:
items:
- key: ca.crt
path: ca.crt
name: kube-root-ca.crt
- downwardAPI:
items:
- fieldRef:
apiVersion: v1
fieldPath: metadata.namespace
path: namespace
status:
conditions:
- lastProbeTime: null
lastTransitionTime: "2022-05-16T15:01:17Z"
status: "True"
type: Initialized
- lastProbeTime: null
lastTransitionTime: "2022-05-16T15:01:17Z"
message: 'containers with unready status: [test-pod]'
reason: ContainersNotReady
status: "False"
type: Ready
containerStatuses:
- image: hello-world
imageID: ""
lastState: {}
name: test-pod
ready: false
restartCount: 0
started: false
state:
waiting:
message: Back-off pulling image "hello-world"
reason: ImagePullBackOff
hostIP: 172.18.0.2
phase: Pending
podIP: 10.244.0.5
podIPs:
- ip: 10.244.0.5
qosClass: BestEffort
startTime: "2022-05-16T15:01:17Z"

Answer 1

The ImagePullBackOff error means that Kubernetes couldn't pull the image from the registry and will keep trying to pull the image until it reaches a compiled-in limit of 300 seconds (5 minutes). This issue could happen because Kubernetes is facing one of the following conditions:
You have exceeded the rate or download limit on the registry.
The image registry requires authentication.
There is a typo in the image name or tag.
The image or tag does not exist.
You can start reviewing if you can pull the image locally or try to ssh jumping on the node and run docker pull and get the image directly.
If you still can't pull the image, another option is to add 8.8.8.8 to /etc/resolv.conf.
Update:
To avoid exposing your kind cluster to the internet try to pull the image locally at your PC by manually specifying a new path from a different registry.
Sample:
docker pull myregistry.local:5000/testing/test-image