OVHcloud API error (status code 404): Client::NotFound: \"Got an invalid (or empty) URL

[feluxe]

What happened:

I upgraded from 1.16.1 and now get this error:

time="2025-10-20T15:04:33Z" level=error msg="Failed to do run once: soft error\nOVHcloud API error (status code 404): Client::NotFound: \"Got an invalid (or empty) URL\" (X-OVH-Query-Id: EU.ext-2.68f64f81.842220.afb3a70c1c04ffdb199cc36e15ad7a9b) (consecutive soft errors: 2)"

I tried with v1.17.0, v1.18.0 and v1.19.0 and get the same error on each.

I removed all DNS records manually and deployed a new k8s cluster, without luck.

No DNS records were created by external-dns at all.

What you expected to happen:

I didn't expect to get this error, and I expected external-dns to create DNS records for my ingresses.

How to reproduce it (as minimally and precisely as possible):

• Create a DNS zone on OVH
• Create a new cluster v1.33
• Deploy ingress-nginx v1.13.3 (default config)
• Wait for loadBalancer to get ready
• Deploy external-dns v1.17.0 or newer with this config:

From the docs at https://github.com/kubernetes-sigs/external-dns/blob/v0.19.0/docs/tutorials/ovh.md

apiVersion: v1
kind: ServiceAccount
metadata:
  name: external-dns
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRole
metadata:
  name: external-dns
rules:
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["services"]
  verbs: ["get","watch","list"]
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["pods"]
  verbs: ["get","watch","list"]
- apiGroups: ["discovery.k8s.io"]
  resources: ["endpointslices"]
  verbs: ["get","watch","list"]
- apiGroups: ["extensions","networking.k8s.io"]
  resources: ["ingresses"]
  verbs: ["get","watch","list"]
- apiGroups: [""]
  resources: ["nodes"]
  verbs: ["list"]
---
apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
kind: ClusterRoleBinding
metadata:
  name: external-dns-viewer
roleRef:
  apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
  kind: ClusterRole
  name: external-dns
subjects:
- kind: ServiceAccount
  name: external-dns
  namespace: default
---
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: external-dns
spec:
  strategy:
    type: Recreate
  selector:
    matchLabels:
      app: external-dns
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        app: external-dns
    spec:
      serviceAccountName: external-dns
      containers:
      - name: external-dns
        image: registry.k8s.io/external-dns/external-dns:v0.18.0
        args:
        - --provider=ovh
        - --source=ingress
        - --policy=upsert-only
        - --registry=txt
        - --txt-owner-id=my-cluster-1--
        - --log-level=trace
        - --interval=5m
        - --txt-prefix=my-cluster-1--

        env:
        - name: OVH_ENDPOINT
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: provider-ovh
              key: OVH_ENDPOINT
        - name: OVH_APPLICATION_KEY
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: provider-ovh
              key: OVH_APPLICATION_KEY
        - name: OVH_APPLICATION_SECRET
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: provider-ovh
              key: OVH_APPLICATION_SECRET
        - name: OVH_CONSUMER_KEY
          valueFrom:
            secretKeyRef:
              name: provider-ovh
              key: OVH_CONSUMER_KEY

Pod log until the error (which is repeating)

time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=info msg="GitCommitShort=unknown, GoVersion=go1.24.4, Platform=linux/amd64, UserAgent=ExternalDNS/v20250626-v0.18.0"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=info msg="Instantiating new Kubernetes client"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=debug msg="apiServerURL: "
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=debug msg="kubeConfig: "
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=info msg="Using inCluster-config based on serviceaccount-token"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=debug msg="serving 'healthz' on ':7979/healthz'"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=debug msg="serving 'metrics' on ':7979/metrics'"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=debug msg="registered '19' metrics"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:32Z" level=info msg="Created Kubernetes client https://10.3.0.1:443"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=info msg="OVH: 3 zones found"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting records for domain_b.com from API"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting records for domain_a.com from API"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting records for domain_c.com from API"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578359 for domain_a.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578356 for domain_a.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578355 for domain_a.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578357 for domain_a.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578358 for domain_a.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578478 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578477 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578479 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578480 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578481 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578526 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578482 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578525 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578527 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578528 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386578529 for domain_b.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185734 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386186259 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185735 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185736 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185742 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185741 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386186256 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386186258 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Getting record 5386185740 for domain_c.com"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578359 for domain_a.com is record#5386578359: NS |  => dns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578358 for domain_a.com is record#5386578358: NS |  => ns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578481 for domain_b.com is record#5386578481: NS |  => dns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578526 for domain_b.com is record#5386578526: A | master.prod => 51.91.161.159 (60)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578482 for domain_b.com is record#5386578482: NS |  => ns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578525 for domain_b.com is record#5386578525: TXT | myorg-3--prod--a-www => \"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master-live\" (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578527 for domain_b.com is record#5386578527: A |  => 51.91.161.149 (60)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578528 for domain_b.com is record#5386578528: A | www => 51.91.161.149 (60)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:33Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386578529 for domain_b.com is record#5386578529: TXT | myorg-3--prod--a-master.prod => \"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master\" (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386185734 for domain_c.com is record#5386185734: NS |  => dns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386185735 for domain_c.com is record#5386185735: NS |  => ns16.ovh.net. (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386185736 for domain_c.com is record#5386185736: A |  => 213.186.33.5 (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386185742 for domain_c.com is record#5386185742: TXT | www => \"3|welcome\" (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Record 5386185741 for domain_c.com is record#5386185741: TXT |  => \"1|www.domain_c.com\" (0)"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=info msg="OVH: 11 endpoints have been found"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Endpoints generated from ingress: default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master-live: [domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] www.domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []]"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Endpoints generated from ingress: default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master: [master.prod.domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] master.prod.domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []]"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Endpoints generated from ingress: default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master-live: [domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] www.domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []]"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Endpoints generated from ingress: default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master: [master.prod.domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] master.prod.domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []]"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Removing duplicate endpoint domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Removing duplicate endpoint master.prod.domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Removing duplicate endpoint domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Removing duplicate endpoint master.prod.domain_a.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 []"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Skipping endpoint domain_b.com 60 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] because owner id does not match, found: \"\", required: \"myorg-3--prod--\""
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="Skipping endpoint domain_b.com 30 IN A  51.91.161.149 [] because owner id does not match, found: \"\", required: \"myorg-3--prod--\""
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"domain_a.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"www.domain_a.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"master.prod.domain_a.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-domain_a.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master-live\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-www.domain_a.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master-live\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes CREATE dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-master.prod.domain_a.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATEOLD dns:\"master.prod.domain_b.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATEOLD dns:\"www.domain_b.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATEOLD dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-master.prod.domain_b.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATEOLD dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-www.domain_b.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master-live\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATENEW dns:\"master.prod.domain_b.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATENEW dns:\"www.domain_b.com\" / targets:51.91.161.149 / type:A"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATENEW dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-master.prod.domain_b.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: changes UPDATENEW dns:\"myorg-3--prod--a-www.domain_b.com\" / targets:\"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app2--myorg-3--prod--master-live\" / type:TXT"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=info msg="OVH: \"\": 6 changes will be done"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=info msg="OVH: \"domain_b.com\": 0 changes will be done"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Refresh domain_b.com zone"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : myorg-3--prod--a-master.prod.domain_a.com 0 IN TXT \"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master\""
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : domain_a.com 30 IN A 51.91.161.149"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : www.domain_a.com 30 IN A 51.91.161.149"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : master.prod.domain_a.com 30 IN A 51.91.161.149"
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : myorg-3--prod--a-domain_a.com 0 IN TXT \"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master-live\""
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=debug msg="OVH: Add an entry to  zone action(create) : myorg-3--prod--a-www.domain_a.com 0 IN TXT \"heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=myorg-3--prod--,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/app1--myorg-3--prod--master-live\""
time="2025-10-20T14:59:34Z" level=error msg="Failed to do run once: soft error\nOVHcloud API error (status code 404): Client::NotFound: \"Got an invalid (or empty) URL\" (X-OVH-Query-Id: EU.ext-3.68f64e56.840806.eae7a155ecaed666ecb3897024503631) (consecutive soft errors: 1)"

Anything else we need to know?:

When I deploy external-dns with version v1.16.1 I don't get this error and records are created.

I think this output might reveal the error: Add an entry to zone action(create). There are two spaces between to and zone. Looks like an empty string is used instead of the zone-id.

Please let me know if you need more information.

I don't know how to further debug this, so reverting back to v1.16.1 for now.

Environment:

• External-DNS version >= 1.17.0
• DNS provider: OVHCloud
• Others:

[feluxe]

I have a question. Maybe this is realted:

My domain contains 'umlauts' and therefore is punycode encoded. E.g. xn--berstuff-55a.de for überstuff.de.
I have to use the puny encoded string for the ingresses, like in this example:

---
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
  name: "my-app"
  labels:
    app: "my-app"
  annotations:
    kubernetes.io/ingress.class: nginx
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/ttl: "30"
    nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/from-to-www-redirect: "true"
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "xn--berstuff-55a.de"

spec:

  tls:
  - ...

  rules:

  - host: "xn--berstuff-55a.de"
    http:
      paths:
      - path: /
        pathType: Prefix
        backend:
          service:
            name: "my-app"
            port:
              number: 3000

I'm wondering if this applies to external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname as well.

I'm not sure which one I should use here:

  annotations:
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "xn--berstuff-55a.de"
    # or
    external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "überstuff.de"

I tried with both and neither worked.

[ivankatliarchuk]

Hard to say, not sure in which form OVH API expects domains with punycode characters.

Which option worked in 0.16.1?

[ivankatliarchuk]

From first look external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "überstuff.de" should be just fine, as the code does normalisation

external-dns/plan/plan.go

Line 341 in 017f768

func normalizeDNSName(dnsName string) string {

, and it could in theory work with normilized form. Worth to isolate error, as not clear what exactly the cause is.

[feluxe]

Which option worked in 0.16.1?

On 0.16.1 it works with:

external-dns.alpha.kubernetes.io/hostname: "überstuff.de"

The same config doesn't work with versions higher than 0.16.1. I tried various settings to make this work with 0.19.0 without luck.

I have the same problem with all domains that I tried (only one of them contains umlauts).

[feluxe]

I was able to get it working on v0.19.0, but only with "normal" domains (i.e., domains without umlauts or punycode).

Here’s what I had to do:

• Manually create an A record for the apex domain with any IP, e.g.:
  60 IN A 50.59.218.140
• Manually create a TXT record to mark ownership:
  my-cluster--prod--a 60 IN TXT "heritage=external-dns,external-dns/owner=my-cluster--prod,external-dns/resource=ingress/default/my-app-ingress-name"

After doing this, the error Got an invalid (or empty) URL... disappeared, and external-dns updated the A record to the correct IP address. All other subdomains were created automatically, without manual intervention.

Here is the config I used:

args:
- --provider=ovh
- --source=ingress
- --policy=sync
- --log-level=trace
- --interval=2m
- --registry=txt
- --txt-owner-id=my-cluster--prod
- --txt-prefix=my-cluster--prod--%{record_type}.
- --txt-cache-interval=10s

However, the same approach does not work with punycode domains. For those, this error remains:

time="2025-10-20T15:04:33Z" level=error msg="Failed to do run once: soft error\nOVHcloud API error (status code 404): Client::NotFound: \"Got an invalid (or empty) URL\" (X-OVH-Query-Id: EU.ext-2.68f64f81.842220.afb3a70c1c04ffdb199cc36e15ad7a9b) (consecutive soft errors: 2)"

It's very frustrating trying to get this to work (if it's even possible) with OVHcloud. I'm writing this in the hope that someone from OVH might address it.