kubernetes storage_error ai_generated true

Error from server: etcd: request is too large

ID: kubernetes/configmap-too-large

Also available as: JSON · Markdown
88%Fix Rate
88%Confidence
50Evidence
2023-01-01First Seen

Version Compatibility

VersionStatusIntroducedDeprecatedNotes
8 active — — —

Root Cause

ConfigMap/Secret exceeds 1MB etcd limit. Too much data in a single resource.

generic

Workarounds

  1. 90% success Use a volume mount with a PersistentVolumeClaim for large config files 
    Use a volume mount with a PersistentVolumeClaim for large config files

    Sources: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/persistent-volumes/

  2. 88% success Use external configuration services (Vault, Parameter Store, etc.) 
    Vault, Parameter Store, etc.

    Sources: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/configmap/

  3. 82% success Compress or minify the config data, or split logically into multiple ConfigMaps 
    # Compress data before storing:
gzip -c config.json | base64 > config.b64

# Or split into multiple ConfigMaps:
kubectl create configmap app-config-1 --from-file=part1.yaml
kubectl create configmap app-config-2 --from-file=part2.yaml

# Mount both in the pod:
volumes:
  - name: config-1
    configMap:
      name: app-config-1

    Sources: https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/configuration/configmap/

Dead Ends

Common approaches that don't work:

  1. Increase etcd max request size 70% fail

    Requires cluster admin access and can affect etcd performance

  2. Split into many small ConfigMaps manually 55% fail

    Hard to manage — consider using external configuration

Error Chain

Frequently confused with: