Kubernetes / Cluster Operations, Access & Incident Response
Identify the actual Kubernetes container runtime before using Docker tools
A cluster can run containerd or CRI-O without Docker Engine. Docker CLI output may therefore describe an unrelated runtime.
Environment and inputs: Kubernetes · kubectl with supported client/server versions and delegated RBAC. Examples use namespace app unless noted. Check context, namespace, APIs and provider support first.
Start with this check
Confirm the environment and replace sample objects, namespaces, images, paths and hosts with approved targets. Share only relevant, sanitized output. Follow the workload owner’s process for changes.
kubectl get node node01 -o jsonpath='{.status.nodeInfo.containerRuntimeVersion}{" "}{.status.nodeInfo.kubeletVersion}'Read the result
The reported runtime and kubelet versions identify the node integration context. They do not show every runtime configuration or supported troubleshooting command.
Resolve and verify
Use the platform's authorized CRI tooling and compatible runbook to inspect the failing container. Compare runtime errors with kubelet events and repair the real dependency.
Before changing production
Do not install Docker on a node or assume dockershim exists in modern Kubernetes releases.