---
title: "How To Resolve the 'invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference' Runtime Error"
slug: "how-to-resolve-the-invalid-memory-address-or-nil-pointer-dereference-runtime-error"
updated: 2025-03-07T19:10:34Z
published: 2025-03-07T19:10:34Z
canonical: "resources.realtheory.io/how-to-resolve-the-invalid-memory-address-or-nil-pointer-dereference-runtime-error"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://resources.realtheory.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How To Resolve the 'invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference' Runtime Error

## Background

The RealTheory collector requires the Metrics Server to be installed on the Kubernetes cluster. The Metrics Server is automatically installed with some managed versions of Kubernetes. The following table indicates which managed Kubernetes offerings include the Metrics Server as part of the standard offering:

| Managed Kubernetes Offering | Includes Metrics Server | More information |
| --- | --- | --- |
| AKS | Yes |  |
| GKE | Yes |  |
| EKS | No | [How to install the Metrics Server on EKS](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/eks/latest/userguide/metrics-server.html) |

If the Metrics Server is not installed on a cluster where the RealTheory collector is installed, the collector will try to process the node metrics, but the data will not be available.

## Solution

1. Check the RealTheory collector logs:
  1. Run the following command to identify the pod name:

`kubectl \-n real-theory-system get pods`
  2. Run the following command to get the RealTheory collector logs:

`kubectl \-n real-theory-system logs \<pod-name\>`

where `\<pod-name\>` is the name of the pod identified in Step 1a.
2. Review the logs for a message that is similar to the following:

```
INFORMATION: 2025/02/26 22:22:58.673855 monitor.go:85: k8s monitor has started  
panic: runtime error: invalid memory address or nil pointer dereference  
\[signal SIGSEGV: segmentation violation code=0x1 addr=0x60 pc=0x12b9ac1\]  
goroutine 83 \[running\]:  
[realtheory.io/k8s/collector/models/node.ConvertNodeMetrices({0x1908f00](http://realtheory.io/k8s/collector/models/node.ConvertNodeMetrices\(%7B0x1908f00)?, 0xc0000b6410?}, 0xc000176008, 0x0)  
/theory/models/node/metrics.go:59 \+0x81  
[realtheory.io/k8s/collector/monitor.(\*Monitor).getNodes(0xc0002ad040](http://realtheory.io/k8s/collector/monitor.\(*Monitor\).getNodes\(0xc0002ad040), {0x1908f00?, 0xc0000b6230?}, 0xc0003ff340)  
/theory/monitor/monitor.go:814 \+0x1d7  
[realtheory.io/k8s/collector/monitor.(\*Monitor).Start(0xc0002ad040](http://realtheory.io/k8s/collector/monitor.\(*Monitor\).Start\(0xc0002ad040), {0x1908f00, 0xc000424050})  
/theory/monitor/monitor.go:110 \+0x1fb  
created by main.main in goroutine 1  
/theory/app.go:125 \+0x81e
```
3. If the log contains this message, [install the metrics server](https://resources.realtheory.io/docs/how-to-install-or-upgrade-the-metrics-server) on the associated cluster.