In a complex cloud-native environment, understanding the root cause of performance or availability issues can be challenging. With Mirantis Kubernetes Engine (MKE), it becomes crucial to correlate observed symptoms with the appropriate components in the architecture to ensure effective troubleshooting and resolution.
This blog explores how to link common operational symptoms with the specific MKE components responsible for them, providing a strategic lens for diagnosis and action.
🚦 Why Symptom Correlation Matters
MKE is built on top of Kubernetes but introduces additional layers such as secure registries, load balancing, high availability configurations, and authentication integrations. When a problem arises—whether it's performance degradation, failure to schedule workloads, or API timeouts—knowing which component is likely involved can significantly reduce downtime and guesswork.
🧩 MKE Architecture – A Quick Look
Key components to keep in mind:
UCP (Universal Control Plane) – MKE's management and orchestration layer.
DTR (Docker Trusted Registry) – Secure container image management.
Kubernetes Control Plane – Scheduler, API server, etcd, controller manager.
Worker Nodes – Where workloads actually run.
Networking Components – CNI plugins, ingress controllers, and service proxies.
Authentication Systems – LDAP, SSO integrations, RBAC.
🔍 Common Symptoms & Component Correlation
- Slow or Failed Container Scheduling Likely Components:
Kubernetes Scheduler
Etcd (if etcd latency is high)
Worker Nodes (resource constraints)
Possible Causes:
Resource exhaustion (CPU, Memory)
Taints/tolerations misconfiguration
Scheduler throttling
- API Server Timeouts or Failures Likely Components:
UCP API Layer
Kubernetes API Server
Network/Ingress layer
Possible Causes:
API overload
Control plane resource bottlenecks
Misconfigured ingress or firewall rules
- Unable to Pull Images or Image Push Fails Likely Components:
Docker Trusted Registry (DTR)
Network
Authentication
Possible Causes:
Expired or revoked credentials
DTR storage issues
Misconfigured image policies or tags
- Pod-to-Pod Communication Failures Likely Components:
CNI Plugin
kube-proxy / CoreDNS
Node Network
Possible Causes:
Misconfigured network policies
DNS resolution failures
Broken overlay network
- Dashboard or UCP UI Inaccessibility Likely Components:
UCP Manager Nodes
Load Balancer
TLS Certificates
Possible Causes:
Expired certs
Network routing or port mapping issues
Broken proxy configuration
- Persistent Volume Not Mounting Likely Components:
CSI Driver
Worker Node
Kubernetes Controller Manager
Possible Causes:
Incorrect storage class or access mode
Unavailable storage backend
Permissions issue at node level
🛠️ Best Practices for Effective Correlation
Use centralized monitoring tools like Prometheus and Grafana integrated with MKE.
Set up logging and alerting for UCP, DTR, and Kubernetes components.
Maintain a component-symptom matrix for your team to reference during incidents.
Perform regular health checks of nodes, registries, and control plane endpoints.
Use mirantis support bundles and diagnostics tools to collect insights systematically.
✅ Final Thoughts
MKE delivers powerful Kubernetes orchestration with enterprise-grade security and scalability. But with great power comes the need for operational clarity. By correlating observed symptoms with the responsible components, administrators can reduce troubleshooting time and prevent system-wide disruptions.
Stay proactive. Know your architecture. Correlate smartly.
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