Error when attempting to add maintenance exclusion to GKE cluster - kubernetes

Question

When attempting to add a maintenance exclusion to my GKE cluster to prevent minor upgrades to the control and data layer between 1/25/23 and 4/30/23, I receive the following error:
gcloud container clusters update <my-cluster-name> \
--add-maintenance-exclusion-name suspend_upgrades_past_eol \
--add-maintenance-exclusion-start 2023-01-25T00:00:00-05:00 \
--add-maintenance-exclusion-end 2023-04-30T23:59:59-05:00 \
--add-maintenance-exclusion-scope no_minor_or_node_upgrades
ERROR: (gcloud.container.clusters.update) ResponseError: code=400, message=MaintenancePolicy.maintenanceExclusions["suspend_upgrades_past_eol"].endTime needs to be before minor version 1.21 end of life: (2023-1). See release schedule at https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/release-schedule.
According to an email I received from GCP, maintenance exclusions for GKE clusters running 1.21 should be able to create maintenance exclusions up to April 30th 2023. I believe my command should've been valid especially considering I got it directly from the GCP email I received. I've also tried reducing the time range to 4/28/23 to no avail.
I'm running the latest version of gcloud:
Google Cloud SDK 415.0.0
alpha 2023.01.20
beta 2023.01.20
bq 2.0.84
core 2023.01.20
gsutil 5.18
Any clue on what I'm doing wrong or ideas on how to get around this are appreciated.

Answer 1

I belive you can do this in 2 parts:
Part 1: Set maintenance exclusion window for no updates until Feb 28th.
You can use a maintenance exclusion window to set a 30-day maintenance exclusion window which will let you push it off until Feb 28th.
Note there are 3 types of maintenance exclusion windows. 2 will still complain about can't go past the EoL date, but the 3rd will work. (the 2 that fail are the ones titled "No minor or node upgrades" and "No minor upgrades", they're the one's that can go up to 90 / up to 180 in cases where EoL(end of life) isn't a factor), the one that will work is the up to 30-days no_upgrades option.
^-- You may need to temporarily change your release channel to No Channel / Static version in order to set that option. (It's a reversible change)
Part 2: That longer than 30 day delay option that's not working today, try it again 1-27 days from now and it "might" work, you'll be able to wait 1-27 days thanks to part 1
I've heard an unconfirmed rumor of a not yet released update, of a change that could be released as soon as Feb 1st, 2023 (if not then potentially sometime before the end of Feb 28th, with early Feb being likely), which would then allow one of those 90 day no update exclusion windows to be put into place to extend the deadline for the forced update to 1.22 as far as April 30th, 2023, but that's the absolute deadline. Either way don't delay / try to update asap. (I'd also recommend you don't depend on an extension to April 30th/try to update by Feb 28th, as I could be incorrect/I don't work at Google.)
^-- O right you'll have to temporarily switch your release channel from No Channel / Static version to Stable Release channel in order to get the other 2 options.
(Side Note: It's my understanding that the whole reason for the potential/future/not yet released update I'm referring to is that this is being done as an exception. Normally forcing an auto upgrade would be a non-issue, but 1.21 -> 1.22 had some API deprecations that can cause breakage if not ready, which explains why they're making an exception to slightly extend past the end-of-life deadline of Jan 31st, 2023.)
Update - The change came through:
Here's a working example:
Note the linter/policy enforcement is extremely finicky + fails without proper error messages, but you can get it to work if you thread the needle just right:
No minor or node upgrades from 1/29/23 - 4/29/23 will fail (start date too early)
No minor or node upgrades from 1/31/23 - 4/30/23 will fail (end date too late)
No minor or node upgrades from 1/31/23 - 4/29/23 will work (goldie locks)