The Problem 🚨
While deploying an application to Kubernetes, one of our pods went into a ImagePullBackOff state.
Checking the pod events showed the error:
The issue was that Kubernetes could not authenticate with Azure Container Registry (ACR) to pull the private image.
Why This Happens ❓
- Kubernetes nodes need credentials to pull images from a private registry like ACR.
- If no imagePullSecret is configured, the request fails.
- Result: Pod cannot start and gets stuck in ImagePullBackOff.
The Solution ✅
We fixed it by creating an image pull secret in Kubernetes and linking it to the service account used by the deployment.
Step 1: Create Image Pull Secret
Run the following command:
Here:
- myacr.azurecr.io → your ACR login server
<ACR-USERNAME> and <ACR-PASSWORD> → credentials from Azure Portal or az acr credential show
Step 2: Link Secret to a Service Account
Create a service account and reference the secret:
Step 3: Use Service Account in Deployment
Update your deployment YAML:
Verification 🔍
Apply the changes:
Check pod status:
Now the pod runs successfully 🎉
Key Takeaways 📝
- ImagePullBackOff often means authentication or image not found.
- Always create a docker-registry secret for private registries like ACR.
- Link the secret to a service account and reference it in deployments.
- This ensures smooth image pulls without manual intervention.
By properly configuring image pull secrets, we made our Kubernetes deployment stable and secure when using Azure Container Registry. 🚀
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