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The DevOps Troubleshooting Cheat Sheet
The errors that eat an afternoon, in one place: what each one actually means and the fastest path to the real cause — Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Git, and Linux. Every line links to the full diagnosis-and-fix walkthrough.
Kubernetes
CrashLoopBackOff
Container dies on startup and keeps restarting slower each time — read the diagnosis flow, not just the restart count.
Full diagnosis & fix →ImagePullBackOff
Node can't pull the image — check the events for the real reason (auth, tag, registry) before assuming it's a typo.
Full diagnosis & fix →OOMKilled (exit code 137)
Pod dies, restarts, dies again — read what 137 actually means before just raising the memory limit.
Full diagnosis & fix →CreateContainerConfigError
kubelet can't build the container config — almost always a ConfigMap or Secret reference that doesn't line up.
Full diagnosis & fix →Docker
"Cannot connect to the Docker daemon"
Nine times out of ten it's a stopped service, a stale context, or a wrong env var — not a broken install.
Full diagnosis & fix →Container exits immediately
docker ps shows nothing — nine times out of ten it's PID 1 doing exactly its job. Here's how to read it.
Full diagnosis & fix →Compose errors
The failures that eat an afternoon are almost always the same six — spot each one fast.
Full diagnosis & fix →Terraform
State lock stuck
Every apply stops cold — the fix is one command away once you confirm nobody else is actually running Terraform.
Full diagnosis & fix →"Cycle" error
Two resources depend on each other — find the loop and break it cleanly instead of hacking around it.
Full diagnosis & fix →Drift from real infrastructure
Real infra has diverged from config — spot it and put it back in sync before the next apply surprises you.
Full diagnosis & fix →