CreateContainerError with requests timing out in CRI-O due to system load in OpenShift 4

Issue

• Pods stuck in ContainerCreating or failing with CreateContainerError errors.

• Pod deployments failing with messages like the following one:

  Failed to create pod sandbox: rpc error: code = Unknown desc = Kubelet may be retrying requests that are timing out in CRI-O due to system load: error reserving pod name k8s_[pod_name]_[namespace_name]_xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx_xx: name is reserved
  

• Events shows messages like the following one:

  Error: kubelet may be retrying requests that are timing out in CRI-O due to system load. Currently at stage container volume configuration: context deadline exceeded: error reserving ctr name k8s_[pod_name]_[namespace_name]_xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx_xx for id xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: name is reserved
  

• The kubelet logs on the node affected shows messages like the following one:

  pod_workers.go:1298] "Error syncing pod, skipping" err="failed to \"StartContainer\" for \"[deployment_name]\" with CreateContainerError: \"kubelet may be retrying requests that are timing out in CRI-O due to system load. Currently at stage container volume configuration: context deadline exceeded: error reserving ctr name k8s_[pod_name]_[namespace_name]_xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx_xx for id xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: name is reserved\"" pod="[namespace_name]/[pod_name]" podUID="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
  

• Draining and restarting the Nodes with the symptoms isn't solving the issue.