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helm-install-rke-calico fails on downstream clusters; cannot re-use a name that is still in use

This document (000021669) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

  • Rancher v2.6+
  • A Rancher-provisioned RKE2 cluster

Situation

Following an RKE2 upgrade, the helm-install-rke2-calico Job, in the kube-system Namespace, fails with the error 'cannot re-use a name that is still in use', per the following example from the Pod logs:

+ echo 'Installing helm chart'
+ helm install --set-string global.cattle.systemDefaultRegistry=docker.io --set-string global.clusterCIDR=10.42.0.0/16 --set-string global.clusterCIDRv4=10.42.0.0/16 --set-string global.clusterDNS=10.43.0.10 --set-string global.clusterDomain=cluster.local --set-string global.rke2DataDir=/var/lib/rancher/rke2 --set-string global.serviceCIDR=10.43.0.0/16 --set-string global.systemDefaultIngressClass=ingress-nginx --set-string global.systemDefaultRegistry=docker.io rke2-calico /tmp/rke2-calico.tgz --values /config/values-10_HelmChartConfig.yaml
Error: INSTALLATION FAILED: cannot re-use a name that is still in use

Resolution

  1. Get the list of current rke2-calico helm release secrets from the kube-system Namespace, which will be in a superseded status, e.g.:

kubectl -n kube-system get secrets --field-selector type=helm.sh/release.v1 -o custom-columns='NAME:.metadata.name,STATUS:.metadata.labels.status' -l name=rke2-calico 
NAME                                STATUS
sh.helm.release.v1.rke2-calico.v1   superseded
sh.helm.release.v1.rke2-calico.v2   superseded
2. Delete these superseded rke2-calico helm-releases secrets, e.g.:

   kubectl -n kube-system delete secret sh.helm.release.v1.rke2-calico.v1
   kubectl -n kube-system delete secret sh.helm.release.v1.rke2-calico.v2
3. Delete the rke2-calico helm install Job:

kubectl -n kube-system delete job helm-install-rke2-calico
4. Restart the rke2-server service on a server node, to trigger the helm-install-rke2-calico Job, resolving the issue:

systemctl restart rke2-server

Cause

A failed rke2-calico helm install Job during an RKE2 upgrade leaves the cluster with only superseded rke2-calico releases.

helm -n kube-system history rke2-calico
REVISION        UPDATED                         STATUS          CHART                   APP VERSION     DESCRIPTION     
1               Mon Feb  3 09:35:23 2025        superseded      rke2-calico-v3.29.100   v3.29.1         Install complete
2               Mon Feb  3 09:49:28 2025        superseded      rke2-calico-v3.29.100   v3.29.1         Upgrade complete

Disclaimer

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