apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

There is no ring for the keyspace:

Error message

There is no ring for the keyspace: 

What it means

Thrown by StorageService.describeRing when the keyspace exists but uses LocalStrategy (system keyspaces such as 'system'). LocalStrategy keyspaces have no token ring - they are replicated only to the local node - so describing a ring for them is meaningless and rejected with InvalidRequestException.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/service/StorageService.java:1998

     *
     * @param keyspace The keyspace to fetch information about
     *
     * @return a List of TokenRange(s) for the given keyspace
     *
     * @throws InvalidRequestException if there is no ring information available about keyspace
     */
    public List<TokenRange> describeRing(String keyspace) throws InvalidRequestException
    {
        return describeRing(keyspace, false, false);
    }

    private List<TokenRange> describeRing(String keyspace, boolean includeOnlyLocalDC, boolean withPort) throws InvalidRequestException
    {
        if (!Schema.instance.getKeyspaces().contains(keyspace))
            throw new InvalidRequestException("No such keyspace: " + keyspace);

        if (keyspace == null || Keyspace.open(keyspace).getReplicationStrategy() instanceof LocalStrategy)
            throw new InvalidRequestException("There is no ring for the keyspace: " + keyspace);

        List<TokenRange> ranges = new ArrayList<>();
        Token.TokenFactory tf = getTokenFactory();

        EndpointsByRange rangeToAddressMap =
                includeOnlyLocalDC
                        ? getRangeToAddressMapInLocalDC(keyspace)
                        : getRangeToAddressMap(keyspace);

        for (Map.Entry<Range<Token>, EndpointsForRange> entry : rangeToAddressMap.entrySet())
            ranges.add(TokenRange.create(tf, entry.getKey(), ImmutableList.copyOf(entry.getValue().endpoints()), withPort));

        return ranges;
    }

    public Map<String, String> getTokenToEndpointMap()
    {
        return getTokenToEndpointMap(false);

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Only request ring descriptions for user keyspaces with NetworkTopologyStrategy or SimpleStrategy
2. Filter out LocalStrategy keyspaces in scripts (e.g. skip names starting with 'system')
3. Check the keyspace's replication strategy in cqlsh (DESCRIBE KEYSPACE) before calling describering
4. For system keyspace data location questions, inspect token ownership of regular keyspaces instead

Example fix

// before
nodetool describering system   # LocalStrategy
// after
# iterate user keyspaces only
for ks in $(cqlsh -e 'DESCRIBE KEYSPACES;' | grep -v '^system'); do nodetool describering "$ks"; done

// Skip LocalStrategy (system) keyspaces before describering
if (keyspace.startsWith("system"))
    return; // system keyspaces have no token ring
describeRing(keyspace);

boolean hasRing(String keyspace) {
    return !keyspace.equals("system") && !keyspace.startsWith("system_");
}

try {
    String ring = ssProxy.describeRing(keyspace);
} catch (InvalidRequestException e) {
    if (e.getMessage() != null && e.getMessage().startsWith("There is no ring"))
        log.debug("{} uses LocalStrategy; skipping ring description", keyspace);
    else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `nodetool describering system` (or another LocalStrategy keyspace like system_schema) or invoking describeRing JMX for such a keyspace.

Common situations: Scripts iterating over all keyspaces including system ones; operators debugging system keyspace data placement; monitoring tooling not filtering out system keyspaces.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

• No such keyspace:
• Cleanup of the system keyspace is neither necessary nor wise
• Ownership values for keyspaces with LocalStrategy are meanin
• The keyspace {keyspace}, does not exist
• Keyspace [%s] does not exist.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d792aed53341d31d. Report an issue: GitHub.