Known issues

The MKE 4k known issues with available workarounds are described herein.

Post-install kubelet parameter modifications require k0s restart

Modifications made to the kubelet parameters in the mke4.yaml configuration file after the initial MKE 4k installation require a restart of k0s on every cluster node. To do this:

1. Wait for a short time, roughly 60 seconds after the application of the mkectl apply command, to give the Pods time to enter their Running state.

2. Run the systemctl restart k0scontroller command on all manager nodes and the systemctl restart k0scontroller command on all worker nodes.

Upgrade may fail on clusters with two manager nodes

MKE 3 upgrades to MKE 4k may fail on clusters that have only two manager nodes.

Calico eBPF and IPVS modes are not supported

Calico eBPF and IPVS mode are not yet supported for MKE 4k. As such, upgrading from an MKE 3 cluster using either of those networking modes results in an error:

FATA[0640] Upgrade failed due to error: failed to run step [Upgrade Tasks]:
unable to install BOP: unable to apply MKE4 config: failed to wait for pods:
failed to wait for pods: failed to list pods: client rate limiter Wait returned
an error: context deadline exceeded

mke-operator in crashloopbackoff status

The mke-operator-controller-manager is in crashloopbackoff status in MKE 4k Alpha 2. You can safely ignore this, however, as it has no effect on MKE 4.0.0-alpha.2.0 functionality.

Upgrade to MKE 4k fails if kubeconfig file is present in source MKE 3.x

Upgrade to MKE 4k fails if the ~/.mke/mke.kubeconf file is present in the source MKE 3.x system.

Workaround:

Make a backup of the old ~/.mke/mke.kubeconf file and then delete it.

reset command must be run with –force flag

You must run the reset command with the --force flag, as without this flag the command will always return an error.

mkectl reset -f mke4.yaml

Example output:

time="2025-09-08T19:35:44-04:00" level=info msg="==> Running phase: Disconnect from hosts"
Error: reset requires --force

restore command output sometimes hangs

The command output for a restore operation sometimes hangs, even though the underlying restore operation is a success.

Workaround:

Run the restore operation with a large timeout, such as --timeout 1800s.