# Some kubectl commands are timing out

**URL:** <https://discuss.kubernetes.io/t/some-kubectl-commands-are-timing-out/11375>\
**Category:** General Discussions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://discuss.kubernetes.io/t/some-kubectl-commands-are-timing-out/11375 "2020-06-11T00:55:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cngarrison](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/discuss.kubernetes.io/cngarrison/32/4859_2.png) [@cngarrison](https://discuss.kubernetes.io/u/cngarrison)\
**Post date:** [June 11, 2020, 12:55am UTC](https://discuss.kubernetes.io/t/some-kubectl-commands-are-timing-out/11375/1 "2020-06-11T00:55:17Z")

</div>

I have taken over two clusters (stage & prod) and learning kubes as I go. A problem has manifested on stage cluster and I’m not sure how to even begin troubleshooting; any pointers would be appreciated.

I can’t reliably communicate with the cluster.

Some commands are working ok:

```
$ kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
NAMESPACE NAME READY STATUS RESTARTS AGE
kube-system aws-spot-handler-k8s-spot-termination-handler-4njjl 1/1 Running 0 48d
kube-system aws-spot-handler-k8s-spot-termination-handler-5dmfq 1/1 Running 0 49d
kube-system aws-spot-handler-k8s-spot-termination-handler-5kpck 1/1 Running 0 69d
...

```

While other commands always return an error:

```
kubectl get nodes
Error from server (Timeout): the server was unable to return a response in the time allotted, but may still be processing the request (get nodes)

```

From what I can tell; any commands involving nodes will fail/timeout. Prior to this problem I had noticed a few `calico` pods were failing readiness probes. So I’m making a vague assumption that problem is due to failing networking due to failing calico pods. Being a Kubes newbie I’m not sure where to even start.

Since it’s the stage cluster, I was happy to drain nodes with unhealthy calico pods and let kubes spin up new nodes, but the `drain` command keeps timing out as well.

As a side note, I had also noticed that some of the calico pods are using a “lot” of memory (over 4Gb), and am wondering if that’s related to them failing readiness probes.

Suggestions on how to troubleshoot??