Netflix/chaosmonkey · error

%s not specified

Error message

%s not specified

What it means

NewFromConfig builds a MySQL store from the monkey configuration. It requires a database host; if cfg.DatabaseHost() is empty it immediately returns an error '<param.DatabaseHost> not specified'. The library refuses to construct a MySQL client without knowing which host to connect to.

Source

Thrown at mysql/mysql.go:67

		// See: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-errors/8.0/en/server-error-reference.html#error_er_lock_deadlock
		return err.Number == 1213
	default:
		return false
	}
}

// ViolatesMinTime returns true if the error violates min time between
// terminations
func ViolatesMinTime(err error) bool {
	_, ok := errors.Cause(err).(chaosmonkey.ErrViolatesMinTime)
	return ok
}

// NewFromConfig creates a new MySQL taking config parameters from cfg
func NewFromConfig(cfg *config.Monkey) (MySQL, error) {

	if cfg.DatabaseHost() == "" {
		return MySQL{}, errors.Errorf("%s not specified", param.DatabaseHost)
	}

	encryptedPassword := cfg.DatabaseEncryptedPassword()

	decryptor, err := deps.GetDecryptor(cfg)
	if err != nil {
		return MySQL{}, err
	}

	password, err := decryptor.Decrypt(encryptedPassword)
	if err != nil {
		return MySQL{}, err
	}

	return New(cfg.DatabaseHost(), cfg.DatabasePort(), cfg.DatabaseUser(), password, cfg.DatabaseName())
}

// New creates a new MySQL

View on GitHub (pinned to eaa28fb761)

Solutions

1. Set the database host in the monkey config (the key matching param.DatabaseHost, e.g. database.host)
2. Set the corresponding environment variable the config loader reads for the host
3. Verify the config file being loaded is the intended one and keys are spelled correctly
4. Add a startup config validation step that fails fast when required DB params are empty

Example fix

// before (config yaml)
database:
  encrypted_password: "..."
// after
database:
  host: "chaosmonkey-db.example.com"
  encrypted_password: "..."

if cfg.DatabaseHost() == "" {
    return errors.New("database.host must be set before constructing the MySQL store")
}
if cfg.DatabaseEncryptedPassword() == "" {
    return errors.New("database.encrypted_password must be set")
}

mysql, err := mysql.NewFromConfig(cfg)
if err != nil {
    log.Fatalf("mysql config incomplete: %v", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling NewFromConfig (indirectly from Execute) with a config whose database.host (param.DatabaseHost) is empty or unset.

Common situations: Missing database.host key in the config file; environment variable supplying the host not set in the deployment environment; typos in the config key so the value never reaches cfg.DatabaseHost().

Understand the failure class

Background: "environment variable is not set" and "Missing keys in environment" errors: what missing required env var messages mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

• unknown group: %v
• schedule already exists
• FATAL: no spinnaker endpoint specified in config
• retrieve cloud provider failed
• unsupported error counter: %s

AI-assisted analysis of Netflix/chaosmonkey@eaa28fb761 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/a66838b758517828. Report an issue: GitHub.