NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra · error · NoDatabaseException

Database instance does not exist

Error message

Database instance does not exist

What it means

Thrown as a NoDatabaseException in readKeyValues when the configuration/_search GET request fails and the ElasticException message contains "index_not_found_exception". This means the repository's configuration index does not exist on the Elasticsearch server — the database has never been created via the generate/create command.

Source

Thrown at Ghidra/Features/BSim/src/main/java/ghidra/features/bsim/query/elastic/ElasticDatabase.java:2104

	}

	/**
	 * Read database configuration ("keyvalue" documents) into a key/value pair map.
	 * @return the populated map
	 * @throws ElasticException for communication problems with the server
	 * @throws NoDatabaseException if the database (as opposed to the server) does not exist
	 */
	private Map<String, String> readKeyValues() throws ElasticException, NoDatabaseException {
		StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
		buffer.append("{ \"size\": 500, \"query\": { \"match_all\": {} } }");
		JsonObject resp;
		try {
			resp = connection.executeStatement(ElasticConnection.GET, "configuration/_search",
				buffer.toString());
		}
		catch (ElasticException ex) {
			if (ex.getMessage().contains("index_not_found_exception")) {
				throw new NoDatabaseException("Database instance does not exist");
			}
			throw ex;
		}
		JsonObject baseHits = (JsonObject) resp.get("hits");
		long total = 0;
		if (baseHits != null) {
			JsonObject totalRec = (JsonObject) baseHits.get("total");
			total = totalRec.get("value").getAsLong();
		}
		if (total <= 1) {
			throw new ElasticException("Unrecoverable error: Could not find configuration");
		}
		HashMap<String, String> res = new HashMap<>();
		JsonArray hits = (JsonArray) baseHits.get("hits");
		for (JsonElement hit2 : hits) {
			JsonObject hit = (JsonObject) hit2;
			String key = hit.get("_id").getAsString();
			JsonObject source = (JsonObject) hit.get("_source");

View on GitHub (pinned to d5f144c24d)

Solutions

1. Create the database first using the BSim generate/create command with the same URL and repository name.
2. Verify the repository name in the connection URL matches an existing repository on the server.
3. Confirm you are connecting to the correct Elasticsearch server and port.
4. Check the initialize() return value and lastError to distinguish NoDatabase from other initialization failures.

// Check if the database exists before initializing
try {
    connection.executeURIOnly(ElasticConnection.GET, "configuration/_search");
} catch (ElasticException e) {
    if (e.getMessage().contains("index_not_found_exception")) {
        // Database does not exist — prompt user to create it
        Msg.warn(this, "Database does not exist. Run 'bsim generate' first.");
        return;
    }
}

if (!database.initialize()) {
    BSimError err = database.getLastError();
    if (err != null && err.category == ErrorCategory.Nodatabase) {
        Msg.warn(this, "Database not created yet: " + err.message);
        // Prompt user to run generate/create
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: During initialize(), readKeyValues queries configuration/_search. If the Elasticsearch server responds with an index_not_found_exception for the configuration index, the catch block converts it to NoDatabaseException. This is caught by initialize() which sets status to Error and lastError to a Nodatabase category.

Common situations: First-time connection to a new Elasticsearch server before running generate; typo in the repository name in the URL; the database was dropped; connecting to the wrong server or port.

Related errors

• Unrecoverable error: Could not find configuration
• Missing critical configuration value:
• weighttable has wrong number of rows
• Unknown response trying to adjust number_of_replicas and ref
• Cluster did not accept settings for index:

AI-assisted analysis of NationalSecurityAgency/ghidra@d5f144c24d (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4f1b71880b03693d. Report an issue: GitHub.