Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch cannot find the specified repository location. This location should be a shared file system that is accessible by all master and data nodes. To resolve this issue, ensure that the repository location is correctly specified and accessible. If it’s not, you may need to create a new shared file system that all nodes can access. Alternatively, check your network settings to ensure all nodes can communicate with the repository location. Lastly, verify that the Elasticsearch configuration file correctly points to this location.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” the repository location is missing; it should point to a shared file system location that is available on all master and data nodes ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: discovery-file, master, repositories and repository-azure.
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 “the repository location is missing; it should point to a shared file system location that is available on all master and data nodes” classname is FsRepository.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
public FsRepository(RepositoryName name; RepositorySettings repositorySettings; IndexShardRepository indexShardRepository; Environment environment) throws IOException {
super(name.getName(); repositorySettings; indexShardRepository);
Path locationFile;
String location = repositorySettings.settings().get("location"; settings.get("repositories.fs.location"));
if (location == null) {
logger.warn("the repository location is missing; it should point to a shared file system location that is available on all master and data nodes");
throw new RepositoryException(name.name(); "missing location");
}
locationFile = environment.resolveRepoFile(location);
if (locationFile == null) {
if (environment.repoFiles().length > 0) {
