How-To Fix CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID Error for Self-Managed Clusters in Crusoe Load Balancer Controller

Last Updated: Dec 25, 2025

Introduction

When deploying the Crusoe Load Balancer Controller using Helm on self-managed Kubernetes clusters, you may encounter an error related to a missing secret key:

Error: couldn't find key CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID in Secret crusoe-system/crusoe-secrets

This error occurs because self-managed clusters do not use CMK, and therefore do not have a CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID. The Helm chart expects this key unless you provide an alternative: the CRUSOE_SUBNET_ID.

This guide explains how to resolve this issue and deploy the controller successfully.

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

• A running self-managed Kubernetes cluster

• kubectl configured for your cluster

• Helm 3+ installed

• Access to your Crusoe API Keys and Project ID

• Your Subnet ID from the Crusoe infrastructure

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Confirm the Error

   • After installing the Helm chart using the Crusoe Load Balancer Controller Helm Chart guide, check the pod status. It will show a CreateContainerConfigError error.

     $ kubectl get pods -n crusoe-system -l app=crusoe-lb-controller
     
     NAME                                                         READY   STATUS                       RESTARTS   AGE
     crusoe-lb-controller-crusoe-lb-controller-xxxxx   0/1     CreateContainerConfigError   0          28s

   • Describe the pod to check the specific error.

     $ kubectl describe pods crusoe-lb-controller-crusoe-lb-controller-xxxxx -n crusoe-system

   • You'll likely see the following error

     Warning  Failed   xx   kubelet  Error: couldn't find key CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID in Secret crusoe-system/crusoe-secrets

2. Modify values.yaml to Remove CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID and Add CRUSOE_SUBNET_ID

   • Open values.yaml located at /crusoe-load-balancer-controller-helm-charts/charts/crusoe-lb-controller and make the following changes:

     crusoe:
      secrets:
        crusoeApiKeys:
          # The Crusoe LB Controller requires access to the Crusoe API in order to manage load balancer resources.
          # It is expected that the secret will contain two keys at accessKeyPath and secretKeyPath containing
          # the base64 encoded access key and secret key respectively.
          secretName: "crusoe-secrets"
          accessKeyPath: "CRUSOE_ACCESS_KEY"
          secretKeyPath: "CRUSOE_SECRET_KEY"
         # clusterIdPath: "CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID"  ### COMMENT OR REMOVE THIS
          projectIdPath: "CRUSOE_PROJECT_ID"
     
     controller:
      namespace: crusoe-system
      image:
        repository: ghcr.io/crusoecloud/crusoe-load-balancer-controller
        tag: "latest"
        pullPolicy: Always
        imagePullSecrets: []
     
      env:
        CRUSOE_API_ENDPOINT: "https://api.crusoecloud.com/v1alpha5"
        # subnet_id is optional if using a cmk cluster but required for self-managed clusters
        CRUSOE_SUBNET_ID: "<subnet-id>"       ### ADD YOUR SUBNET ID HERE

   • NOTE: The CRUSOE_SUBNET_ID is mandatory for self-managed clusters and overrides the need for CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID. In the  templates/controller.yaml file, you will observe that Cluster ID is only required when Subnet ID is not provided.
3. Re-deploy the Controller

   • Upgrade the Helm release with your updated values

     $ helm upgrade --install crusoe-lb-controller ./crusoe-lb-controller --namespace crusoe-system

   • Now check the pod status again. It should be Running.

     $ kubectl get pods -n crusoe-system -l app=crusoe-lb-controller                                     
     
     NAME                                                        READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
     crusoe-lb-controller-crusoe-lb-controller-xxxxx  1/1     Running   0          12s
     

Example

Successful Pod Describe Output should show that the Pod and Container status is Running. 

$ kubectl describe pods crusoe-lb-controller-crusoe-lb-controller-xxxxx -n crusoe-system 

Status:           Running
....
....
Containers:
  crusoe-lb-controller:
    ....
    ....
    State:          Running
      Started:      Thu, 18 Sep 2025 10:45:27 -0700

You will also see the following under Environment:

CRUSOE_API_ENDPOINT: https://api.crusoecloud.com/v1alpha5
CRUSOE_SUBNET_ID:    <your-subnet-id>
CRUSOE_ACCESS_KEY:   <set to key in secret>
CRUSOE_SECRET_KEY:   <set to key in secret>
CRUSOE_PROJECT_ID:   <set to key in secret>
CRUSOE_CLUSTER_ID:   <empty>

Additional Resources

• Crusoe Load Balancer Controller – GitHub Repo

• Crusoe Load Balancer Helm Charts

• [Template] controller.yaml

• [Template] values.yaml