apache/pulsar · error · RestException

Topic %s is not the partitioned topic.

Error message

Topic %s is not the partitioned topic.

What it means

internalUpdatePartitionedTopicAsync was invoked on a topic whose metadata shows it is not a partitioned topic; the update-partitions operation requires an existing partitioned topic and is rejected otherwise.

Source

Thrown at pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/admin/impl/PersistentTopicsBase.java:383

    }

    /**
     * It updates number of partitions of an existing partitioned topic. It requires partitioned-topic to
     * already exist and number of new partitions must be greater than existing number of partitions. Decrementing
     * number of partitions requires deletion of topic which is not supported.
     *
     * @exception RestException Unprocessable entity, status code: 422. throw it when some pre-check failed.
     * @exception RestException Internal Server Error, status code: 500. throw it when get unknown Exception
     */
    protected @NonNull CompletableFuture<Void> internalUpdatePartitionedTopicAsync(int expectPartitions,
                                                                                   boolean updateLocal,
                                                                                   boolean force) {
        PulsarService pulsarService = pulsar();
        return pulsarService.getBrokerService().fetchPartitionedTopicMetadataAsync(topicName)
            .thenCompose(partitionedTopicMetadata -> {
                int currentMetadataPartitions = partitionedTopicMetadata.partitions;
                if (currentMetadataPartitions <= 0) {
                    throw new RestException(Status.CONFLICT /* Unprocessable entity*/,
                            String.format("Topic %s is not the partitioned topic.", topicName));
                }
                if (expectPartitions < currentMetadataPartitions) {
                    throw new RestException(422 /* Unprocessable entity*/,
                            String.format("Desired partitions %s can't be less than the current partitions %s.",
                                    expectPartitions, currentMetadataPartitions));
                }
                int brokerMaximumPartitionsPerTopic = pulsarService.getConfiguration()
                        .getMaxNumPartitionsPerPartitionedTopic();
                if (brokerMaximumPartitionsPerTopic > 0 && expectPartitions > brokerMaximumPartitionsPerTopic) {
                    throw new RestException(422 /* Unprocessable entity*/,
                            String.format("Desired partitions %s can't be greater than the maximum partitions per"
                                            + " topic %s.",
                                    expectPartitions, brokerMaximumPartitionsPerTopic));
                }
                final PulsarAdmin admin;
                try {
                    admin = pulsarService.getAdminClient();

View on GitHub (pinned to 820761864e)

Solutions

1. Create the partitioned topic first with the partitions option
2. Call the update API on the partitioned topic name, not a partition or plain topic

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at pulsar-broker/src/main/java/org/apache/pulsar/broker/admin/impl/PersistentTopicsBase.java:383 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/pulsar@820761864e (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/81a954b0e554a69d. Report an issue: GitHub.