SonarSource/sonarqube · error · MessageException

Property 'node.store.allow_mmapfs' is no longer supported…

Error message

Property 'node.store.allow_mmapfs' is no longer supported. Use 'node.store.allow_mmap' instead.

What it means

SonarQube builds elasticsearch.yml from sonar properties. Elasticsearch renamed the mmapfs control setting from node.store.allow_mmapfs to node.store.allow_mmap; configureOthers deliberately fails fast with this MessageException when it detects the old property passed via sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts.

Solutions

Replace -Dnode.store.allow_mmapfs=false with -Dnode.store.allow_mmap=false in sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts
Remove the flag entirely if disabling mmap is no longer required
If mmap must stay disabled due to low vm.max_map_count, also raise vm.max_map_count (sysctl) so mmap can remain enabled

Example fix

// before
sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts=-Dnode.store.allow_mmapfs=false
// after
sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts=-Dnode.store.allow_mmap=false

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

// Grep config for the retired property before upgrade
if (props.get("sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts", "").contains("node.store.allow_mmapfs"))
  throw new IllegalStateException("Replace node.store.allow_mmapfs with node.store.allow_mmap");

Try / catch

try { esSettings.build(); } catch (MessageException e) { log.error("Deprecated ES property: {}", e.getMessage()); System.exit(2); }

Prevention

Audit javaAdditionalOpts after every SonarQube upgrade
Track Elasticsearch setting renames in your ops runbooks
Automate config linting for removed/renamed ES properties
If disabling mmap, prefer the supported -Dnode.store.allow_mmap=false

When it happens

Trigger: sonar.es.javaAdditionalOpts contains -Dnode.store.allow_mmapfs=false (config carried over from older SonarQube/ES versions).

Common situations: Upgrading SonarQube (and bundled Elasticsearch) from 6.x-era configs where allow_mmapfs was valid; following outdated runbooks that disable mmap.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is deprecated and will be removed" — deprecation warnings for old API names, keywords, and options, and how to migrate before the removal release — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of SonarSource/sonarqube@184c821202 (2026-09-09). Data as JSON: /api/errors/72972eda2fd544ea. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at server/sonar-main/src/main/java/org/sonar/application/es/EsSettings.java:251

      builder.put("cluster.initial_master_nodes", hosts);
    }

    builder.put("discovery.initial_state_timeout", initialStateTimeOut);
    builder.put("cluster.name", clusterName);
    builder.put("cluster.routing.allocation.awareness.attributes", "rack_id");
    builder.put("node.attr.rack_id", nodeName);
    builder.put("node.name", nodeName);
  }

  private void configureOthers(Map<String, String> builder) {
    builder.put("action.auto_create_index", String.valueOf(false));

    if (props.value(JAVA_ADDITIONAL_OPS_PROPERTY, "").contains("-D" + SECCOMP_PROPERTY + "=" + Boolean.FALSE)) {
      builder.put(SECCOMP_PROPERTY, Boolean.FALSE.toString());
    }

    if (props.value(JAVA_ADDITIONAL_OPS_PROPERTY, "").contains("-Dnode.store.allow_mmapfs=" + Boolean.FALSE)) {
      throw new MessageException("Property 'node.store.allow_mmapfs' is no longer supported. Use 'node.store.allow_mmap' instead.");
    }

    if (props.value(JAVA_ADDITIONAL_OPS_PROPERTY, "").contains("-D" + ALLOW_MMAP + "=" + Boolean.FALSE)) {
      builder.put(ALLOW_MMAP, Boolean.FALSE.toString());
    }

    if (props.value(JAVA_ADDITIONAL_OPS_PROPERTY, "").contains("-Dcluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled=" + Boolean.FALSE)) {
      builder.put("cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled", Boolean.FALSE.toString());
    }
  }
}

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