apache/hadoop · error · RuntimeException

No queues defined

Error message

 No queues defined 

What it means

The parser accepts the <queues> root only when it has at least one element child; an empty <queues></queues> (or one containing only whitespace text nodes) throws this RuntimeException after the 'Bad configuration no queues defined' log line. Note the leading space in the message - it differs from the wrong-root variant at line 194.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapred/QueueConfigurationParser.java:212

        throw new RuntimeException("No queues defined ");
      }
      NamedNodeMap nmp = queuesNode.getAttributes();
      Node acls = nmp.getNamedItem(ACLS_ENABLED_TAG);

      if (acls != null) {
        LOG.warn("Configuring " + ACLS_ENABLED_TAG + " flag in " +
            QueueManager.QUEUE_CONF_FILE_NAME + " is not valid. " +
            "This tag is ignored. Configure " +
            MRConfig.MR_ACLS_ENABLED + " in mapred-site.xml. See the " +
            " documentation of " + MRConfig.MR_ACLS_ENABLED +
            ", which is used for enabling job level authorization and " +
            " queue level authorization.");
      }

      NodeList props = queuesNode.getChildNodes();
      if (props == null || props.getLength() <= 0) {
        LOG.info(" Bad configuration no queues defined ");
        throw new RuntimeException(" No queues defined ");
      }

      //We have root level nodes.
      for (int i = 0; i < props.getLength(); i++) {
        Node propNode = props.item(i);
        if (!(propNode instanceof Element)) {
          continue;
        }

        if (!propNode.getNodeName().equals(QUEUE_TAG)) {
          LOG.info("At root level only \" queue \" tags are allowed ");
          throw
            new RuntimeException("Malformed xml document no queue defined ");
        }

        Element prop = (Element) propNode;
        //Add children to root.
        Queue q = createHierarchy("", prop);

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Keep at least one <queue> with a valid <name> - a 'default' queue is the usual minimum
2. Restore the file from version control or the packaged default
3. Re-run the config lint (root element + non-empty children) before restarting services

Example fix

<!-- before -->
<queues></queues>

<!-- after -->
<queues>
  <queue><name>default</name></queue>
</queues>

// deploy-time check: <queues> must contain at least one element child
NodeList children = doc.getDocumentElement().getChildNodes();
boolean anyQueue = false;
for (int i = 0; i < children.getLength(); i++) anyQueue |= children.item(i) instanceof Element;
if (!anyQueue) throw new IllegalArgumentException("mapred-queues.xml defines no queues");

When it happens

Trigger: mapred-queues.xml where all <queue> entries were deleted or a templating step stripped the children, leaving zero element nodes under <queues>.

Common situations: Queues removed to 'disable' the feature; broken config templating (empty loop generating children); hand-merged conflicts that dropped elements.

Related errors

• No queues defined
• Malformed xml formation queue name not specified
• Configuration file not found at {confFile}
• Improper queue name : {nameValue}
• Malformed xml formation queue tag and acls tags or state ta

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cd808f3cda1cddc0. Report an issue: GitHub.