apache/seatunnel · error · SeaTunnelException

Can't obtain schema for table %s

Error message

Can't obtain schema for table %s 

What it means

After querying, readTableSchema found no TableChange cached for the requested TableId — the schema lookup completed without error but the table's schema is absent. SqlServerSchema throws SeaTunnelException because it cannot build a SourceReader without column definitions.

Source

Thrown at seatunnel-connectors-v2/connector-cdc/connector-cdc-sqlserver/src/main/java/org/apache/seatunnel/connectors/seatunnel/cdc/sqlserver/utils/SqlServerSchema.java:88

                    false);
            for (TableId id : tables.tableIds()) {
                if (tableMap.containsKey(id)) {
                    Table table =
                            CatalogTableUtils.mergeCatalogTableConfig(
                                    tables.forTable(id), tableMap.get(id));
                    TableChanges.TableChange tableChange =
                            new TableChanges.TableChange(
                                    TableChanges.TableChangeType.CREATE, table);
                    schemasByTableId.put(id, tableChange);
                }
            }
        } catch (SQLException e) {
            throw new SeaTunnelException(
                    String.format("Failed to read schema for table %s ", tableId), e);
        }

        if (!schemasByTableId.containsKey(tableId)) {
            throw new SeaTunnelException(
                    String.format("Can't obtain schema for table %s ", tableId));
        }

        return schemasByTableId.get(tableId);
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to cf67b549a7)

Solutions

1. Verify the fully-qualified table name (database.schema.table) matches exactly, including case, in the connector config
2. Connect with credentials that can see the table's metadata in the target database
3. Query SQL Server directly (SELECT ... FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES / sys.tables) to confirm the table is visible
4. Ensure database.server/database name in config points to the DB containing the table

Example fix

// before
table-names = ["dbo.Orders"]   // wrong DB or schema
// after
table-names = ["MyDB.sales.Orders"]   // fully qualified, exact case

// Verify exact table visibility before running
SELECT s.name + '.' + t.name AS fqn
FROM sys.tables t JOIN sys.schemas s ON t.schema_id = s.schema_id
WHERE s.name + '.' + t.name = 'dbo.Orders';
-- must return exactly one row matching the config value

When it happens

Trigger: getTableSchema → readTableSchema: schemasByTableId does not contain the tableId after the metadata query — the table was not returned by the database metadata (does not exist, wrong database/schema, or name case mismatch).

Common situations: Typo or wrong case in database.schema.table config; table exists in a different database than the one connected to; table dropped between config and runtime; using synonyms or views that the metadata query does not resolve.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Not found" and "does not exist" errors: why "Task not found", "No such folder", and "Can't find" fire when a lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 14 libraries.

Related errors

• Can't obtain schema for table %s
• Unable to find table in relational model: <tableId>
• Unable to find table in relational model: ${tableId}
• Failed to read schema for table %s
• Unsupported alter table event:

AI-assisted analysis of apache/seatunnel@cf67b549a7 (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/50688a8cd6bd2fd7. Report an issue: GitHub.