Netflix/chaosmonkey · error

not terminating: recording termination event failed

Error message

not terminating: recording termination event failed

What it means

Fires in doTerminate when one of the configured trackers (d.Trackers) returns an error from tracker.Track(trm) while recording the termination event. Since the event must be recorded before the actual instance is terminated, the wrapped tracker failure aborts the termination. The faulty input is the Termination record the failing tracker rejected.

Source

Thrown at term/term.go:168

	}

	trm := chaosmonkey.Termination{Instance: instance, Time: d.Cl.Now(), Leashed: leashed}

	//
	// Check that we don't violate min time between terminations
	//
	err = d.Checker.Check(trm, *appCfg, d.MonkeyCfg.EndHour(), loc)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.Wrap(err, "not terminating: check for min time between terminations failed")
	}

	//
	// Record the termination with configured trackers
	//
	for _, tracker := range d.Trackers {
		err = tracker.Track(trm)
		if err != nil {
			return errors.Wrap(err, "not terminating: recording termination event failed")
		}
	}

	//
	// Actual instance termination happens here
	//
	err = killer.Execute(trm)
	if err != nil {
		return errors.Wrap(err, "termination failed")
	}

	return nil
}

// PickRandomInstance randomly selects an eligible instance from a group
func PickRandomInstance(group grp.InstanceGroup, cfg chaosmonkey.AppConfig, dep deploy.Deployment) (chaosmonkey.Instance, bool) {
	instances, err := eligible.Instances(group, cfg.Exceptions, dep)
	if err != nil {

View on GitHub (pinned to eaa28fb761)

Solutions

1. Fix or restore the failing tracker backend
2. Check tracker connectivity/credentials
3. Re-run the termination once trackers are healthy

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at term/term.go:168 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of Netflix/chaosmonkey@eaa28fb761 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1b8eca89979647a0. Report an issue: GitHub.