Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to find a specified location. This could be due to a missing or incorrect path in the configuration file, or a missing index or document in the Elasticsearch cluster. To resolve this issue, you can check the Elasticsearch configuration file for any incorrect paths and correct them. Alternatively, you can verify if the index or document exists in the Elasticsearch cluster. If it doesn’t, you may need to create it. Lastly, ensure that the Elasticsearch service has the necessary permissions to access the specified location.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” missing location ” 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 “missing location” class name is FsRepository.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
if (location.isEmpty()) {
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(metadata.name(); "missing location");
}
Path locationFile = environment.resolveRepoFile(location);
if (locationFile == null) {
if (environment.repoFiles().length > 0) {
logger.warn(
