Gke AI Troubleshooting Node Unresponsive Timeout
GoogleOfficialPublished by Google
- Skill
- Review and audit
- Cloud and DevOps
- Apache-2.0
- No issues found
AutoGineer summary
Written by AutoGineer from the skill’s own files, not by the author
This skill provides a diagnostic workflow for investigating GKE TPU or GPU nodes that have stopped heartbeating and are stuck in a NodeStatusUnknown state. It helps identify the root cause of node unresponsiveness—such as kernel panics or hardware lockups—by analyzing Kubernetes conditions, Cloud Logging, monitoring metrics, and Compute Engine system events. The skill emphasizes safe, read-only diagnostic practices and guides users toward enabling GKE node auto-repair to resolve the issue, while strictly avoiding manual node deletion or forced pod termination.
What it does
- Verifies NodeStatusUnknown conditions using Kubernetes status checks.
- Queries Cloud Logging and Monitoring to correlate heartbeat loss with system events.
- Inspects serial port output to identify kernel panics or hardware crash patterns.
- Checks Compute Engine audit logs for host errors or preemption events.
- Evaluates node auto-repair configuration and status for Standard and Autopilot clusters.
- Provides safe remediation guidance for re-creating unresponsive nodes.
When to use it
- When GKE TPU or GPU nodes report NodeStatusUnknown and pods remain in Terminating state.
- When you suspect a host-level kernel panic or hardware lockup on a GKE node.
- When investigating why node auto-repair has not triggered for an unresponsive node.
- When you need to distinguish between node-level hardware failures and pod-level application crashes.
Advantages
- Prevents dangerous manual interventions like force-deleting pods or deleting VMs.
- Provides a structured, safe diagnostic path for complex TPU/GPU node failures.
- Ensures proper attribution for all diagnostic commands executed via CLI.
- Directs users to official documentation for specific remediation steps.
Usage examples
- “My TPU node is stuck in NodeStatusUnknown and pods are not terminating. Can you help me diagnose this?”
- The agent will initiate the diagnostic workflow, starting with collecting cluster parameters and verifying the node's heartbeat status via Cloud Logging and Monitoring.
- “Why is my GKE node not auto-repairing after a kernel panic?”
- The agent will check the node pool's auto-repair settings and review operation history to identify if the repair process is disabled or failing due to external factors like quota.
Install
Download the skill as a ZIP:
https://mp-staging.autogineer.com/agent-skills/google/gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout/downloadUnzip it into the cross-client skills folder of your project:
mkdir -p .agents/skills && unzip gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout.zip -d .agents/skills
Documentation by Google
Troubleshoot unresponsive GKE TPU and GPU nodes (NodeStatusUnknown)
When the Compute Engine host of a TPU or GPU node has a fatal hardware error,
kernel panic, or non-maskable interrupt (NMI) lockup, the guest OS stops
responding. The kubelet can no longer send heartbeats, so the node Ready
condition becomes Unknown with Reason: NodeStatusUnknown (Kubelet stopped posting node status.). If node auto-repair is disabled on the node pool, GKE
doesn't repair the node. The node can stay NotReady, and pods on it can stay
in Terminating, which blocks multi-host JobSet workloads from recovering.
Attribution
MUST READ: Before executing any gcloud, REST API, or MCP command, you
MUST read Usage Attribution. For commands executed
directly in the terminal (never in generated scripts, Terraform, or user code),
prefix gcloud with
CLOUDSDK_METRICS_REQUEST_ATTRIBUTION="agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout)"
and append agent-skills/1.0 (skill:gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout) to User-Agent headers.
Prerequisites
Tools: Install the Google Cloud SDK (
gcloud) andkubectl.Cloud Billing & Project Configuration: Verify an active billing account is linked (
gcloud billing projects describe {project_id}), authenticate (gcloud auth login), set the target project (gcloud config set project {project_id}), and ensurecontainer.googleapis.com,compute.googleapis.com,logging.googleapis.com, andmonitoring.googleapis.comare enabled.Required IAM Roles:
Kubernetes Engine Viewer (
roles/container.viewer)Compute Viewer (
roles/compute.viewer)Logs Viewer (
roles/logging.viewer)Monitoring Viewer (
roles/monitoring.viewer)For remediation (
[High Risk]steps): Kubernetes Engine Cluster Admin (roles/container.clusterAdmin)
Documentation:
Troubleshoot nodes with the NotReady status in GKE (Sections: "Check the node's status and conditions", "Confirm node preemption", "Verify that the node has recovered")
Deploy TPU workloads in GKE Standard (Sections: "Monitor health metrics for TPU nodes and node pools", "Configure auto repair for TPU slice nodes")
View GKE logs (Sections: "System logs")
Auto-repair nodes (Sections: "Settings for Autopilot and Standard", "Verify node auto-repair is enabled for a Standard node pool", "Get information about recent automated repair events", "Enable auto-repair for an existing Standard node pool", "Repair criteria", "Node repair process", "Node auto repair in TPU slice nodes")
Troubleshooting VM shutdowns and reboots (Sections: "Querying Cloud Audit Logs", "Reviewing Cloud Audit Logs")
Read-only rule: Run read-only diagnostic commands only. Never drain, delete, or re-create nodes, or run any other command that changes the cluster. Give the user any fix to apply themselves.
When you recommend a fix, link the doc section that describes it.
Diagnostic workflow
Step 0: Collect context and set the investigation window [Low Risk]
Collect the target parameters. By default, query a 60-minute window `[T - 30m, T
30m]
around{issue_time}`:
{project_id}: Google Cloud project ID{cluster_name}: GKE cluster name{location}: Cluster region or zone{nodepool_name}: Target TPU or GPU node pool name{node_name}: Unresponsive GKE node name (and its Compute Engine{zone}){issue_time}: Incident timestamp in RFC3339 UTC{start_time}:{issue_time} - 30m{end_time}:{issue_time} + 30m
Step 1: Verify the NodeStatusUnknown heartbeat timeout [Low Risk]
Check Kubernetes node conditions: To inspect the node status and verify whether the
Readycondition isUnknownwithReason: NodeStatusUnknown(Kubelet stopped posting node status.), follow the instructions in the section Check the node's status and conditions.Query Cloud Logging (read-only LQL): Query
k8s_nodeandk8s_clusterlogs across[{start_time}, {end_time}]to confirm when the control plane lost heartbeat contact with{node_name}:
(resource.type="k8s_node" OR resource.type="k8s_cluster")
resource.labels.cluster_name="{cluster_name}"
("{node_name}" AND ("NodeNotReady" OR "NodeStatusUnknown" OR "Kubelet stopped posting node status"))
timestamp >= "{start_time}" AND timestamp <= "{end_time}"Query Cloud Monitoring (read-only PromQL): Correlate the duration of the
Unknownstate using the GKE system metrickubernetes.io/node/status_condition(kubernetes_io:node_status_condition, GKE1.32.1-gke.1357001+) documented in Monitor health metrics for TPU nodes and node pools, filtered bycondition="Ready"andstatus="Unknown":
kubernetes_io:node_status_condition{
monitored_resource="k8s_node",
cluster_name="{cluster_name}",
node_name="{node_name}",
condition="Ready",
status="Unknown"
}Decision logic:
If the node
Readycondition isTrueandNodeStatusUnknownis absent, rule out an unresponsive node timeout and pivot to workload-level troubleshooting (for example, Troubleshoot OOM events) rather than repairing or draining the node.If
ReadyisUnknown(NodeStatusUnknown), proceed to Step 2.
Step 2: Inspect serial port output for a kernel panic [Low Risk]
The guest OS can't send logs after a fatal kernel freeze, so check the serial port output of the node's VM:
Cloud Logging: If serial port logging is enabled (i.e. VM metadata
serial-port-logging-enableis set totrue), GKE system logs in Cloud Logging include the node's serial port output. See the section System logs. Use Cloud Logging when the VM is stopped or has already been replaced by auto-repair, or when you need more than the most recent output.Running VM: Follow Viewing serial port output to retrieve the serial port 1 output (
gcloud compute instances get-serial-port-outputwith--port=1) for{node_name}in{zone}. This method returns only the most recent 1 MB of output per port.
Consult
Troubleshoot Linux VM boot issues due to kernel panic
to identify documented kernel panic and hardware crash patterns (such as Fatal Machine check, hung_task: blocked tasks, or NMI: Not continuing) in the
serial port output.
Step 3: Check node auto-repair status [Low Risk]
Find out why GKE hasn't repaired the unresponsive node:
Autopilot clusters: Autopilot always repairs nodes, and you can't turn this off (see Settings for Autopilot and Standard). Skip the configuration check and check the repair history.
Standard clusters: Follow Verify node auto-repair is enabled for a Standard node pool to check whether
autoRepairis enabled on{nodepool_name}.Repair history (both modes): Auto-repair can be enabled and the repair can still fail. Per Configure auto repair for TPU slice nodes, check the repair status, including the failure reason, in the operation history described in Get information about recent automated repair events. If the failure is caused by insufficient quota, tell the user to contact their Google Cloud account representative to increase the quota.
Step 4: Check Compute Engine system events [Low Risk]
To list the system events for {node_name} around {issue_time}, follow the
instructions in the section
Querying Cloud Audit Logs.
Compare the method field with the table in the "Reviewing Cloud Audit Logs"
section of the same document, and look for:
compute.instances.hostError: a hardware or software issue on the physical host caused the VM to crash.compute.instances.preempted: Compute Engine preempted a Spot VM or preemptible VM. For preempted nodes, also see Confirm node preemption.compute.instances.automaticRestart: Compute Engine restarted the VM after ahostErrororterminateOnHostMaintenanceevent.compute.instances.guestTerminate: the VM's operating system initiated the shutdown.
Step 5: Resolution [High Risk]
Guardrails:
Never force-delete stuck
Terminatingpods on an unresponsive node. Force deletion doesn't wait for the kubelet to confirm that the pod has stopped, so a replacement pod can start while the old one is still running. See Force Delete StatefulSet Pods.Never delete GKE-managed Compute Engine VM instances directly (
gcloud compute instances delete). Instead, check how long the node has reportedNodeStatusUnknown(Step 1), check the serial console output (Step 2), and rely on node auto-repair, as described in the following steps.
Enable node auto-repair (Standard clusters only):
Autopilot clusters always auto-repair nodes, so skip this step.
Before the user enables auto-repair on a multi-host TPU slice node pool, tell them that GKE re-creates the entire node pool when a node in it needs repair (see step 2).
If
autoRepairis disabled on{nodepool_name}, link the user to Enable auto-repair for an existing Standard node pool and Configure auto repair for TPU slice nodes so they can apply the change themselves.
Let GKE repair the node:
Explain that GKE repairs a node that reports
NotReadyor no status for the documented time threshold by draining and re-creating it, and link the "Repair criteria" and "Node repair process" sections of Auto-repair nodes. GKE waits one hour for the drain to complete. If the drain doesn't complete, GKE shuts the node down and creates a new node. Tell the user to expect this one-hour drain wait before GKE re-creates the node.For multi-host TPU slice node pools, note per Node auto repair in TPU slice nodes that the entire node pool is re-created.
Verify node recovery:
After the repair completes, follow the instructions in the section Verify that the node has recovered to verify that the repaired node returns to
Readystatus, then confirm that theJobSetpods are running again.
Files
- ATTRIBUTION.mdAdded by AutoGineer914 B
- LICENSELicence file added by AutoGineer11.1 KiB
- SKILL.md12.9 KiB
- references/attribution.md1.9 KiB
LICENSE
Apache License
Version 2.0, January 2004
http://www.apache.org/licenses/
TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
1. Definitions.
"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
"Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
the copyright owner that is granting the License.
"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
"control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
"You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
exercising permissions granted by this License.
"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
including but not limited to software source code, documentation
source, and configuration files.
"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
and conversions to other media types.
"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
(an example is provided in the Appendix below).
"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
subsequently incorporated within the Work.
2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
(except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
as of the date such litigation is filed.
4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
meet the following conditions:
(a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
(b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that You changed the files; and
(c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
the Derivative Works; and
(d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
as modifying the License.
You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
the conditions stated in this License.
5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
the brackets!) The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
identification within third-party archives.
Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.
Requirements and compatibility
Works with: Claude Code, Claude apps, OpenAI Codex, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Gemini CLI, Kiro, OpenCode, Goose, Amp, Roo Code, JetBrains Junie, Factory Droid, Devin (ex-Windsurf), Mistral Vibe, OpenHands, Letta
“Works with” means the tool reads the open Agent Skills format; a skill written for one tool may use features others lack.
Needs: Needs Node.js
Security
No issues found by our static scan· No issues found
A static scan is not a guarantee. Skills are third-party content: review a skill before you let an agent use it.
Attribution and licence
- Published by
- Publisher
- Google (Official)
- Source
- google/skills · skills/cloud/gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout · commit 2194d3b
- Licence
- Apache License 2.0 (redistribution allowed)
- LICENSE (added by AutoGineer from LICENSE)
- ATTRIBUTION.md (written by AutoGineer)
- Synced
AutoGineer is not affiliated with or endorsed by Google.
Download ZIP
The ZIP holds the skill’s files, its licence files and an ATTRIBUTION.md. Download gke-ai-troubleshooting-node-unresponsive-timeout.zip