Hands-on Lab·Certified Kubernetes Administrator
Troubleshooting a Stuck StatefulSet
A StatefulSet update that stops at the highest ordinal and stays there. The two revision fields locate it, the per-Pod label shows how far it got, and the recovery is not the one you would reach for on a Deployment.
Troubleshooting Guide 87 of 103 Advanced
- Kubernetes1.36.4
- Runtimecontainerd 2.2.6
- CNICalico v3.32.1
- TimeAbout 18 min
- Reviewed26 August 2026
Written against the versions above. Revision hashes are generated per cluster. The ordering, the two revision fields and the recovery are the same everywhere.
| Server Name | IP Address | OS | Roles | CPU | RAM | HDD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CKA1001 | 192.168.0.175 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Control Plane Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE01 | 192.168.0.176 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE02 | 192.168.0.177 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
| CKA1001-NODE03 | 192.168.0.178 | Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | Worker Node | 2 Core | 4 GB | 50 GB |
Before you start
- guide 28 - the ordering guarantee, before this covers what happens when it cannot be met.
- guide 86 - the Deployment version, which recovers differently.
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A StatefulSet, created in order
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Update to an image that cannot pull
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The two revisions
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Why nothing is broken yet
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Rolling back is not enough
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The forced rollback