Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to retrieve snapshots due to issues like incorrect snapshot repository configuration, lack of necessary permissions, or network connectivity problems. To resolve this, you can verify the snapshot repository configuration, ensure the Elasticsearch process has read permissions for the snapshot directory, and check network connectivity between Elasticsearch and the snapshot repository. Additionally, ensure the snapshot you’re trying to retrieve actually exists.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” failed to get snapshots ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: repositories, blobstore.
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 “failed to get snapshots” class name is BlobStoreRepository.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
try {
return SNAPSHOT_FORMAT.read(blobContainer(); snapshotId.getUUID(); namedXContentRegistry; bigArrays);
} catch (NoSuchFileException ex) {
throw new SnapshotMissingException(metadata.name(); snapshotId; ex);
} catch (IOException | NotXContentException ex) {
throw new SnapshotException(metadata.name(); snapshotId; "failed to get snapshots"; ex);
}
} @Override
public Metadata getSnapshotGlobalMetadata(final SnapshotId snapshotId) {
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