apache/cassandra · error · RuntimeException

Error during list snapshot

Error message

Error during list snapshot

What it means

ListSnapshots builds a report of existing snapshots from StorageServiceMBean.listSnapshots; any exception during retrieval or report rendering is wrapped in RuntimeException('Error during list snapshot'). It indicates snapshot metadata could not be fetched (e.g. a snapshot directory is corrupt or an MBean call failed).

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/tools/nodetool/ListSnapshots.java:120

                Set<?> values = snapshotDetail.getValue().keySet();
                for (Object eachValue : values)
                {
                    final List<?> value = (List<?>) eachValue;
                    if (includeEphemeral)
                        table.add(value.subList(0, value.size() - 1).toArray(new String[value.size() - 1]));
                    else
                        table.add(value.subList(0, value.size() - 2).toArray(new String[value.size() - 2]));

                    totalTrueDiskSize += (Long) value.get(value.size() - 1);
                }
            }
            table.printTo(out);

            out.println("\nTotal TrueDiskSpaceUsed: " + FileUtils.stringifyFileSize(totalTrueDiskSize) + '\n');
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            throw new RuntimeException("Error during list snapshot", e);
        }
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Check node logs for the exception root cause under the snapshot listing path
2. Verify data directory permissions for the cassandra user
3. Inspect/repair snapshot directories under the data dirs; remove corrupt snapshot folders
4. If caused by version mismatch, run listsnapshots from the matching nodetool version

Example fix

// before
probe.listSnapshots(...); // exception -> 'Error during list snapshot'
// after
// fix permissions/corrupt snapshots first:
//   chown -R cassandra:cassandra /var/lib/cassandra/data
// then rerun: nodetool listsnapshots

// check snapshot dirs are readable before listing
Files.isDirectory(Paths.get(dataDir, "snapshots"));

try { nodetoolListSnapshots(); } catch (RuntimeException e) { if (e.getMessage().equals("Error during list snapshot")) { /* check logs, permissions, corrupt snapshots */ } }

When it happens

Trigger: Running `nodetool listsnapshots` (or executeLocally) when the node cannot enumerate snapshot dirs — corrupt snapshot manifest, permission problems on the data dirs, or internal errors in snapshot handling.

Common situations: Data directories partially restored from backup; snapshots created by a different Cassandra version; filesystem permission changes after a migration; disk errors.

Understand the failure class

Background: "failed to read file", EACCES, ENOENT and "could not read <path>" errors: when a program can't read a file from disk — this error's family across 49 libraries.

Related errors

• Error during clearing snapshots
• throw new IOException(e)
• throw new IOException(e.getMessage())
• java.io.IOException
• Specify snapshot name or --all

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9e4304087f6adab3. Report an issue: GitHub.