π ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
Boot is delayed for several minutes and dependent services start late.
Environment & Reproduction
Appears on cloned templates or wrong cloud metadata settings.
Root Cause Analysis
cloud-init probes unavailable datasources before timeout.
Quick Triage
Check cloud-init status and current datasource detection.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Review cloud-init logs for datasource retries and failures.

Solution – Primary Fix
Restrict datasource list to the deployed platform and clean cache.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Disable cloud-init entirely on static non-cloud hosts.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
Boot time improves and cloud-init reports completed quickly.
Rollback Plan
Remove custom datasource config and restore original cloud-init files.
Prevention & Hardening
Bake correct datasource settings into golden images.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
Related to missing metadata service routes and failed user-data fetch.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for Debian 13.
View all Debian 13 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub β
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
cloud-init datasource configuration references for Debian.
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