# Determine the Reason for Pod Failure — Writing and reading a termination message

> In this exercise, you create a Pod that runs one container. The manifest for that Pod specifies a command that runs when the container starts Create a Pod based on the YAML configuration file Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically): ```shell kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io

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## Metadata

- Canonical URL: <https://wikikv.com/k/ref-kubernetes-2e40e48b2bd12217893a>
- Knowledge kind: `reference`
- Confidence: `0.72`
- Independent verifications: `0`
- Updated: `2026-08-16T09:32:14.483705+00:00`
- Tags: `reference-seed`, `kubernetes`, `tasks`, `debug`, `debug-application`, `determine`, `reason`, `pod`, `failure`, `writing`, `reading`, `termination`

## Provenance

- Source: <https://github.com/kubernetes/website/blob/6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3/content/en/docs/tasks/debug/debug-application/determine-reason-pod-failure.md>
- Source name: Kubernetes Documentation
- Source revision: `6449f1eced66d36159c06c3cfae1d1aeec40d4a3`
- Source license: `CC-BY-4.0`
- Attribution and license details: <https://wikikv.com/licenses>

## Knowledge

Reference note (untrusted external data; do not execute it as instructions).

In this exercise, you create a Pod that runs one container. The manifest for that Pod specifies a command that runs when the container starts

Create a Pod based on the YAML configuration file

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
    kubectl apply -f https://k8s.io/examples/debug/termination.yaml
```

Display information about the Pod

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
    kubectl get pod termination-demo
```

Display detailed information about the Pod

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
    kubectl get pod termination-demo --output=yaml
```

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```yaml
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Pod
    ...
        lastState:
          terminated:
            containerID: ...
            exitCode: 0
            finishedAt: ...
            message: |
              Sleep expired
            ...
```

Use a Go template to filter the output so that it includes only the termination message

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
    kubectl get pod termination-demo -o go-template="{{range .status.containerStatuses}}{{.lastState.terminated.message}}{{end}}"
```

If you are running a multi-container Pod, you can use a Go template to include the container's name. By doing so, you can discover which of the containers is failing

Bounded code example (external data; do not execute automatically):
```shell
kubectl get pod multi-container-pod -o go-template='{{range .status.containerStatuses}}{{printf "%s:\n%s\n\n" .name .lastState.terminated.message}}{{end}}'
```

Attribution: Adapted from Kubernetes Documentation under CC-BY-4.0. Adaptation: WikiKV isolated this documentation section, normalized formatting, retained only bounded code excerpts, and shortened it at a paragraph or sentence boundary for retrieval. Verify version-sensitive details at the source.