Kubernetes Service has no endpoints
A Kubernetes Service currently has no ready backend addresses to receive traffic, even though its virtual IP and DNS name may still exist.
Endpoints: <none>Also searched as: no endpoints · EndpointSlice empty
What it means
The Service selector may match no Pods, matching Pods may be unready, or a selectorless/external endpoint definition may be absent. The Service virtual IP can exist while every request still has nowhere to go.
Typical trigger conditions
- Selector does not match Pod labels
- All matching Pods fail readiness
- Wrong namespace
- Manual EndpointSlice missing or malformed
First diagnostic checks
Inspect selector and endpoints
Compare the Service selector with EndpointSlices generated for it.
kubectl describe service <service> -n <namespace>; kubectl get endpointslices -n <namespace> -l kubernetes.io/service-name=<service>
List matching Pods
Apply the exact selector and inspect readiness rather than listing all Pods.
kubectl get pods -n <namespace> -l '<selector>' -o wide
Trace readiness failures
A matching but unready Pod is intentionally excluded from normal Service endpoints.
Version and platform notes
EndpointSlice is the current scaling mechanism; legacy Endpoints behaviour and deprecation status depend on Kubernetes version.
Follow Kubernetes failures and fixes
One useful weekly email with new error references, tools, integration notes and production lessons. No daily noise.