Can ChatGPT Debug and Fix your Docker and Kubernetes Issues?

The short answer is "not 100%". Here's the reason why?

ChatGPT can provide general information and guidance on Docker issues, but it may not be able to provide specific solutions to complex problems. It is limited by its training data and knowledge cutoff. It can answer questions, provide explanations, and suggest possible solutions based on its training data, but it cannot directly diagnose or resolve issues by itself. Troubleshooting Docker issues often requires in-depth knowledge of the system configuration, network setup, and logs.

The accuracy and usefulness of ChatGPT's responses depend on the quality and relevance of the training data it was exposed to. This means that while ChatGPT can provide a good starting point for information and guidance, it's important to verify and validate its responses, especially when dealing with complex or critical issues.

For more effective troubleshooting, it is recommended to consult the Docker and Kubernetes documentation, forums, and community resources. Additionally, it may be helpful to gather information such as the Docker/kubectl version, system logs, and error messages and share them with the community or support team for further analysis.

Until 2021

ChatGPT is an AI language model trained by OpenAI on a large corpus of text data from the internet up until 2021. This training data determines the information and knowledge that ChatGPT has available to respond to questions. The knowledge cutoff of 2021 means that ChatGPT may not have information on events or developments that have occurred after that date.

Additionally, the accuracy and usefulness of ChatGPT's responses depend on the quality and relevance of the training data it was exposed to. This means that while ChatGPT can provide a good starting point for information and guidance, it's important to verify and validate its responses, especially when dealing with complex or critical issues.

Let's check the reliability of ChatGPT using these simple examples:

Example #1

Me:

Que: I have two laptops both with xubuntu, one has version 20.04 and the other has version 22.04.
20.04: when I create a dockerfile and add commands to download packages, they download without problem “sudo apt-get update”.
22.04: when I create a dockerfile and add commands to download packages, it is impossible to download the packages using “sudo apt-get update”, also none of the containers created in docker using xubuntu 22.04, none of the containers have internet connection.
I have identified that docker in version 20.04 creates by default the bridge network but in version 22.04 it does not create it.
does anyone know how can i add the default bridge network that docker creates?
I was recreating a network similar to how it looks in the inspection of the bridge network but I can’t get it right.
note xubuntu 22.04 docker does not create the bridge network but in 20.04 it does.

ChatGPT:

Me:

By default, the Docker network driver used in Xubuntu 20.04 is the bridge driver, but in Xubuntu 22.04, it is not created by default. Is that true?

ChatGPT (Apologizes)

Example #2

Me:

Can you write Dockerfile and Docker compose file for cAdvisor on Docker Desktop?

ChatGPT

Result: I blindly copied the content of Dockerfile and Docker Compose and tried it on Docker Desktop for Mac system.

docker compose up -d --build
[+] Building 0.1s (5/5) FINISHED                                                                                      
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                             0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 31B                                                                              0.0s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                  0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/google/cadvisor:latest                                                0.0s
 => CACHED [1/1] FROM docker.io/google/cadvisor:latest                                                           0.0s
 => exporting to image                                                                                           0.0s
 => => exporting layers                                                                                          0.0s
 => => writing image sha256:49e3a7099aa08f61d0d682090e882a093b83cda014b1344e8e67a851d909ce90                     0.0s
 => => naming to docker.io/library/cadvisor-cadvisor                                                             0.0s
[+] Running 1/1
 ⠿ Container cadvisor-cadvisor-1  Started                       

It FAILED!!!I tried checking the logs and here's the result:

docker logs -f 13a
F0202 09:32:41.551540       1 cadvisor.go:146] Failed to create a Container Manager: mountpoint for cpu not found
goroutine 1 [running]:
github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog.stacks(0xc00022c800, 0xc000368000, 0x72, 0xc2)
    /usr/local/google/home/dashpole/go/src/github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog/klog.go:828 +0xd4
github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog.(*loggingT).output(0x1e26ca0, 0xc000000003, 0xc0004849a0, 0x1b36be2, 0xb, 0x92, 0x0)
    /usr/local/google/home/dashpole/go/src/github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog/klog.go:779 +0x306
github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog.(*loggingT).printf(0x1e26ca0, 0xc000000003, 0x11dd549, 0x28, 0xc0003c7ea8, 0x1, 0x1)
    /usr/local/google/home/dashpole/go/src/github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog/klog.go:678 +0x14b
github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog.Fatalf(0x11dd549, 0x28, 0xc0003c7ea8, 0x1, 0x1)
    /usr/local/google/home/dashpole/go/src/github.com/google/cadvisor/vendor/k8s.io/klog/klog.go:1207 +0x67
main.main()
    /usr/local/google/home/dashpole/go/src/github.com/google/cadvisor/cadvisor.go:146 +0x2da

ChatGPT

Result: Interestingly, the GitHub Issue that talks about cAdvisor and Docker Desktop for Mac for running cAdvisor is still open and not fixed.

Example #3

Me:

GM GPT,
I have installed kubernetes in centos.
After installation when i was checking the version with below command.
kubectl version -o json
I am getting error below along with version information.
{
"clientVersion": {
"major": "1",
"minor": "11",
"gitVersion": "v1.11.2",
"gitCommit": "bb9ffb1654d4a729bb4cec18ff088eacc153c239",
"gitTreeState": "clean",
"buildDate": "2018-08-07T23:17:28Z",
"goVersion": "go1.10.3",
"compiler": "gc",
"platform": "linux/amd64"
}
}
The connection to the server localhost:8080 was refused - did you specify the right host or port?
Can you please check and advise.
Thanks.

ChatGPT:

Results: Even if ChatGPT lists out the possible workaround, it doesn't give you the exact solution to your problem. You need to test that workaround one by one and check the official documentation and GitHub issues to understand if it really works for you.

Does it mean I should stop using ChatGPT??

Trusting an AI model like ChatGPT for sensitive or critical information can have risks and limitations, as the model is trained on vast amounts of text data from the internet and may not always produce accurate results. It is important to validate and verify the information provided by any AI model before using it in real-world scenarios.

In general, it is recommended to use AI models like ChatGPT as a starting point or as a source of additional information, but not as the sole source of truth. It is always a good practice to cross-check the information with other reliable sources before making any important decisions based on the information.

Moral of the Story

It is always recommended to do proper research and investigation before making changes to your systems as some solutions provided might not be suitable for your specific use case and could cause unintended consequences. Additionally, it's important to keep backup copies of critical data and to thoroughly test proposed solutions in a controlled environment before implementing them in a production setting.