Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to find the specified location for the repository. This is usually because the path to the shared file system location is either incorrect or not provided. To resolve this issue, you can either provide the correct path to the shared file system location in the Elasticsearch configuration file or ensure that the specified path exists and is accessible. Additionally, check the permissions of the directory to ensure Elasticsearch has the necessary read/write access.
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 ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: repositories, repository.
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” classname is FsRepository.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
ClusterService clusterService; BigArrays bigArrays; RecoverySettings recoverySettings) {
super(metadata; calculateCompress(metadata; environment); namedXContentRegistry; clusterService; bigArrays; recoverySettings);
this.environment = environment;
String location = REPOSITORIES_LOCATION_SETTING.get(metadata.settings());
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) {
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