Fix unhealthy EKS nodes

Title

Your Kubernetes nodes may appear as Unhealthy in the console. This usually means the nodes have a name but can’t report a healthy Kubernetes status. You can use several checks to find out why a node isn’t responding or registering correctly.

Solution

Check the node's status
- Run the command kubectl get nodes
- Nodes in a NotReady or Unknown state are unhealthy and unable to report their status to the cluster.
Review details for the affected node
- Use the command kubectl describe node <node-name>
- This reveals warnings or errors about registration, networking, taints, resource pressure, or component failures.
Verify node components are running
- Make sure required components like kubelet, kube-proxy, and your container runtime (Docker or containerd) are healthy.
- If these components aren't running, the node can't register or report status.
Check resource usage
- High CPU, memory, or disk pressure can cause nodes to stop responding.
- Tools like Prometheus or Grafana can help you identify nodes that are overloaded.
Confirm network connectivity
- Nodes must be able to communicate with the Kubernetes control plane.
- If the network is misconfigured, blocked, or unstable, nodes may appear as Unhealthy even though the instance is healthy.
Review cluster events
- Run the command kubectl get events
- Events often reveal issues such as certificate problems, failed health checks, or networking errors.
Check pod and application logs
- Sometimes pod failures or application errors on a node point to deeper node‑level issues.
- Use the command kubectl logs <pod-name>
Review node configuration
- Incorrect or outdated kubelet settings, bootstrap configuration, or networking settings can prevent a node from registering correctly.
Check the container runtime
- The node must have a functioning runtime (Docker or containerd).
- Issues such as runtime crashes, full disk space, or corrupted state can cause nodes to become Unhealthy.

Outcome

Once the underlying resource, runtime, or networking issue is fixed, the node should move back into the Ready state.

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Support Hub

Product

Ocean

Visibility

Guest

URL Name

Fix-unhealthy-EKS-nodes

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Case id: 00001065