Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to understand the URL provided. This could be due to a malformed URL, incorrect protocol, or a typo in the URL. To resolve this issue, you should first verify the URL for any mistakes. Ensure that the URL starts with the correct protocol (http/https). If you’re using a domain name, check if it’s correctly resolved. If you’re using an IP address, ensure it’s reachable. Lastly, check if the port number is correct and the Elasticsearch service is running on that port.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” cannot parse the specified url [{}] ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: repositories.
Overview
An Elasticsearch snapshot provides a backup mechanism that takes the current state and data in the cluster and saves it to a repository (read snapshot for more information). The backup process requires a repository to be created first. The repository needs to be registered using the _snapshot endpoint, and multiple repositories can be created per cluster. The following repository types are supported:
Repository types
| Repository type | Configuration type |
|---|---|
| Shared file system | Type: “fs” |
| S3 | Type : “s3” |
| HDFS | Type :“hdfs” |
| Azure | Type: “azure” |
| Google Cloud Storage | Type : “gcs” |
Examples
To register an “fs” repository:
PUT _snapshot/my_repo_01
{
"type": "fs",
"settings": {
"location": "/mnt/my_repo_dir"
}
}Notes and good things to know
- S3, HDFS, Azure and Google Cloud require a relevant plugin to be installed before it can be used for a snapshot.
- The setting, path.repo: /mnt/my_repo_dir needs to be added to elasticsearch.yml on all the nodes if you are planning to use the repo type of file system. Otherwise, it will fail.
- When using remote repositories, the network bandwidth and repository storage throughput should be high enough to complete the snapshot operations normally, otherwise you will end up with partial snapshots.
Log Context
Log “cannot parse the specified url [{}]” classname is URLRepository.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
if (URIPattern.match(urlWhiteList; urlToCheck.toURI())) {
// URL matches white list - no additional processing is needed
return urlToCheck;
}
} catch (URISyntaxException ex) {
logger.warn("cannot parse the specified url [{}]"; urlToCheck);
throw new RepositoryException(getMetadata().name(); "cannot parse the specified url [" + urlToCheck + "]");
}
// We didn't match white list - try to resolve against path.repo
URL normalizedUrl = environment.resolveRepoURL(urlToCheck);
if (normalizedUrl == null) {
