Broken Validation Script for "Day 55: Kubernetes Sidecar Containers of 100 Days of DevOps" (Logical Catch-22)

dinukamadhumal · May 2, 2026, 5:32pm

Day 55 task of 100 days of DevOps practice labs. I have followed the instructions exactly as provided, but the lab is currently impossible to pass due to contradictory instructions and a bug in the validation script.

The Issue:

The instructions explicitly ask to deploy the sidecar-container as an init container with an infinite loop command: while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done.

Because an initContainer runs sequentially to completion, placing an infinite loop inside it permanently blocks the Pod from reaching the Running state. It stays perpetually in Init:0/1. However, the prompt asks to “Ensure all containers are in a running state,” which is logically impossible.

The grader script then gives two errors:

“pod ‘webserver’ is not ‘Running’” (Caused by the infinite loop in the init block).

“Shared volume is not mounted correctly on the sidecar container” (This is a bug in the validation script. It seems to be checking the spec.containers array for the volume mount instead of the spec.initContainers array, even though the prompt explicitly asked for an init container).

I have attached the full live state of the cluster below, proving that the volume is perfectly mounted under initContainers and the exact command was used.

Could you please manually mark my task as ‘Success’ so I can unlock Day 56, and kindly forward this to the content team to fix the validation script and prompt?

Evidence Log (kubectl get pod -o yaml & describe): I will attach as text file.

My YAML code for the pod.yaml :

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: webserver
spec:
volumes:

name: shared-logs
emptyDir: {}

containers:

name: nginx-container
image: nginx:latest
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx

initContainers:

name: sidecar-container
image: ubuntu:latest
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  command: [“sh”, “-c”, “while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done”]

=== 1. ORIGINAL POD YAML ===

apiVersion: v1

kind: Pod

metadata:

name: webserver

spec:

volumes:

name: shared-logs

emptyDir: {}

containers:

name: nginx-container

image: nginx:latest

volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx

initContainers:

name: sidecar-container

image: ubuntu:latest

volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx
command: [“sh”, “-c”, “while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done”]

=== 2. LIVE KUBERNETES STATE ===

apiVersion: v1

kind: Pod

metadata:

annotations:

kubectl.kubernetes.io/last-applied-configuration: |

  {"apiVersion":"v1","kind":"Pod","metadata":{"annotations":{},"name":"webserver","namespace":"default"},"spec":{"containers":[{"image":"nginx:latest","name":"nginx-container","volumeMounts":[{"mountPath":"/var/log/nginx","name":"shared-logs"}]}],"initContainers":[{"command":["sh","-c","while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done"],"image":"ubuntu:latest","name":"sidecar-container","volumeMounts":[{"mountPath":"/var/log/nginx","name":"shared-logs"}]}],"volumes":[{"emptyDir":{},"name":"shared-logs"}]}}

creationTimestamp: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

generation: 1

name: webserver

namespace: default

resourceVersion: “1794”

uid: accccf14-b7f5-4556-a0df-73be604a3c5e

spec:

containers:

image: nginx:latest

imagePullPolicy: Always

name: nginx-container

resources: {}

terminationMessagePath: /dev/termination-log

terminationMessagePolicy: File

volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  
  name: shared-logs
- mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
  
  name: kube-api-access-qnxsv
  
  readOnly: true

dnsPolicy: ClusterFirst

enableServiceLinks: true

initContainers:

command:
- sh
- -c
- while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep
  
  30; done
image: ubuntu:latest

imagePullPolicy: Always

name: sidecar-container

resources: {}

terminationMessagePath: /dev/termination-log

terminationMessagePolicy: File

volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  
  name: shared-logs
- mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
  
  name: kube-api-access-qnxsv
  
  readOnly: true

nodeName: jump-host

preemptionPolicy: PreemptLowerPriority

priority: 0

restartPolicy: Always

schedulerName: default-scheduler

securityContext: {}

serviceAccount: default

serviceAccountName: default

terminationGracePeriodSeconds: 30

tolerations:

effect: NoExecute

key: node.kubernetes.io/not-ready

operator: Exists

tolerationSeconds: 300
effect: NoExecute

key: node.kubernetes.io/unreachable

operator: Exists

tolerationSeconds: 300

volumes:

emptyDir: {}

name: shared-logs
name: kube-api-access-qnxsv

projected:

defaultMode: 420

sources:
- serviceAccountToken:
  
  expirationSeconds: 3607
  
  path: token
- configMap:
  
  items:
  - key: ca.crt
    
    path: ca.crt
  name: kube-root-ca.crt
- downwardAPI:
  
  items:
  - fieldRef:
    
    apiVersion: v1
    
    fieldPath: metadata.namespace
    
    path: namespace

status:

conditions:

lastProbeTime: null

lastTransitionTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:58Z”

observedGeneration: 1

status: “True”

type: PodReadyToStartContainers
lastProbeTime: null

lastTransitionTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

message: ‘containers with incomplete status: [sidecar-container]’

observedGeneration: 1

reason: ContainersNotInitialized

status: “False”

type: Initialized
lastProbeTime: null

lastTransitionTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

message: ‘containers with unready status: [nginx-container]’

observedGeneration: 1

reason: ContainersNotReady

status: “False”

type: Ready
lastProbeTime: null

lastTransitionTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

message: ‘containers with unready status: [nginx-container]’

observedGeneration: 1

reason: ContainersNotReady

status: “False”

type: ContainersReady
lastProbeTime: null

lastTransitionTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

observedGeneration: 1

status: “True”

type: PodScheduled

containerStatuses:

image: nginx:latest

imageID: “”

lastState: {}

name: nginx-container

ready: false

restartCount: 0

started: false

state:

waiting:
```
reason: PodInitializing
```
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  
  name: shared-logs
- mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
  
  name: kube-api-access-qnxsv
  
  readOnly: true
  
  recursiveReadOnly: Disabled

hostIP: 10.244.73.129

hostIPs:

ip: 10.244.73.129

initContainerStatuses:

containerID: containerd://3bf06f36df545ec8c5d12c693ed3f589ca7f8e825f1aa66a79f2d65ae4fa0338

image: Docker Hub Container Image Library | App Containerization

imageID: Docker Hub Container Image Library | App Containerization

lastState: {}

name: sidecar-container

ready: false

resources: {}

restartCount: 0

started: true

state:

running:
```
startedAt: "2026-05-02T03:32:58Z"
```
volumeMounts:
- mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  
  name: shared-logs
- mountPath: /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount
  
  name: kube-api-access-qnxsv
  
  readOnly: true
  
  recursiveReadOnly: Disabled

observedGeneration: 1

phase: Pending

podIP: 10.22.0.9

podIPs:

ip: 10.22.0.9

qosClass: BestEffort

startTime: “2026-05-02T03:32:56Z”

=== 3. POD EVENTS & STATUS ===

Name: webserver

Namespace: default

Priority: 0

Service Account: default

Node: jump-host/10.244.73.129

Start Time: Sat, 02 May 2026 03:32:56 +0000

Labels:

Annotations:

Status: Pending

IP: 10.22.0.9

IPs:

IP: 10.22.0.9

Init Containers:

sidecar-container:

Container ID:  containerd://3bf06f36df545ec8c5d12c693ed3f589ca7f8e825f1aa66a79f2d65ae4fa0338

Image:         ubuntu:latest

Image ID:      docker.io/library/ubuntu@sha256:c4a8d5503dfb2a3eb8ab5f807da5bc69a85730fb49b5cfca2330194ebcc41c7b

Port:          <none>

Host Port:     <none>

Command:

  sh

  -c

  while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done

State:          Running

  Started:      Sat, 02 May 2026 03:32:58 +0000

Ready:          False

Restart Count:  0

Environment:    <none>

Mounts:

  /var/log/nginx from shared-logs (rw)

  /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount from kube-api-access-qnxsv (ro)

Containers:

nginx-container:

Container ID:   

Image:          nginx:latest

Image ID:       

Port:           <none>

Host Port:      <none>

State:          Waiting

  Reason:       PodInitializing

Ready:          False

Restart Count:  0

Environment:    <none>

Mounts:

  /var/log/nginx from shared-logs (rw)

  /var/run/secrets/kubernetes.io/serviceaccount from kube-api-access-qnxsv (ro)

Conditions:

Type Status

PodReadyToStartContainers True

Initialized False

Ready False

ContainersReady False

PodScheduled True

Volumes:

shared-logs:

Type:       EmptyDir (a temporary directory that shares a pod's lifetime)

Medium:     

SizeLimit:  <unset>

kube-api-access-qnxsv:

Type:                    Projected (a volume that contains injected data from multiple sources)

TokenExpirationSeconds:  3607

ConfigMapName:           kube-root-ca.crt

Optional:                false

DownwardAPI:             true

QoS Class: BestEffort

Node-Selectors:

Tolerations: node.kubernetes.io/not-ready:NoExecute op=Exists for 300s

                         node.kubernetes.io/unreachable:NoExecute op=Exists for 300s

Events:

Type Reason Age From Message

Normal Scheduled 4m57s default-scheduler Successfully assigned default/webserver to jump-host

Normal Pulling 4m57s kubelet Pulling image “ubuntu:latest”

Normal Pulled 4m55s kubelet Successfully pulled image “ubuntu:latest” in 1.419s (1.419s including waiting). Image size: 29742141 bytes.

Normal Created 4m55s kubelet Created container: sidecar-container

Normal Started 4m55s kubelet Started container sidecar-container

thor@jump-host ~$ ls

evidence.txt pod.yaml

thor@jump-host ~$

I will attach all the evidence below. I hope you respond positively to this issue.

rob_kodekloud · May 2, 2026, 9:56pm

I can’t do much with your code – when you paste it directly into a discourse window without using code blocks the code gets corrupted, and it’s pretty difficult to read in addition. Use these instructions for your code so we can help you with it.

This one worked for me – you need to make sure that both the sidecar-container and the nginx-container mount the emptyDir at the same location, and you need to make sure that the initContainer is using restartPolicy: Always. I’m not sure your YAML does that (formatting is an issue here), so that’s where to look when you redo the task.

dinukamadhumal · May 3, 2026, 1:31am

I added the restartPolicy: Always to initContainer, Then Lab was succussed. Before the add restartPolicy pod was failing, Nginx was not started due to init container. After the restart policy pod was created and started and running. Lab was succussed. I thing restart policy was a version update of a Kubernetes. I will find further and Thank you so much for help.

ISMAIL-OYELEKE · May 9, 2026, 11:19am

I have been having the same issue for 2 days and it is really frustrating , thanks for this… it already worked after adding the restart always policy!

xpresset · May 10, 2026, 1:25pm

Can your help me?
Why this manifest dosn`t valid in this task?

I was try this version

yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: webserver
spec:
restartPolicy: Always
volumes:

name: shared-logs
emptyDir: {}
containers:
name: nginx-container
image: nginx:latest
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx
  initContainers:
name: sidecar-container
image: ubuntu:latest
command: [“sh”, “-c”, “while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done”]
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx

and this version

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
name: webserver
spec:
restartPolicy: Always
volumes:

name: shared-logs
emptyDir: {}
containers:
name: nginx-container
image: nginx:latest
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx
name: sidecar-container
image: ubuntu:latest
command: [“sh”, “-c”, “while true; do cat /var/log/nginx/access.log /var/log/nginx/error.log; sleep 30; done”]
volumeMounts:
- name: shared-logs
  mountPath: /var/log/nginx

but they are dont valid!
Why not?

rob_kodekloud · May 10, 2026, 2:02pm

Please read this page in the K8s docs – that’s what is meant by “sidecar-container”.

xpresset · May 10, 2026, 3:23pm

Oh, great, its work! Thanks for your help.

dinukamadhumal · May 11, 2026, 11:59am

Great , Happy to hear that !