hashicorp/nomad · error

alloc %v doesn't exist

Error message

alloc %v doesn't exist

What it means

DenormalizeAllocationDiffSlice could not find a concrete allocation matching an AllocationDiff (from a stopped/preempted alloc list); the referenced alloc ID no longer exists in the state store, so the diff cannot be denormalized.

Source

Thrown at nomad/state/state_store.go:7456

	return s.DenormalizeAllocationDiffSlice(allocDiffs)
}

// DenormalizeAllocationDiffSlice queries the Allocation for each AllocationDiff and merges
// the updated attributes with the existing Allocation, and attaches the Job provided.
//
// This should only be called on terminal alloc, particularly stopped or preempted allocs
func (s *StateSnapshot) DenormalizeAllocationDiffSlice(allocDiffs []*structs.AllocationDiff) ([]*structs.Allocation, error) {
	// Output index for denormalized Allocations
	j := 0

	denormalizedAllocs := make([]*structs.Allocation, len(allocDiffs))
	for _, allocDiff := range allocDiffs {
		alloc, err := s.AllocByID(nil, allocDiff.ID)
		if err != nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("alloc lookup failed: %v", err)
		}
		if alloc == nil {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("alloc %v doesn't exist", allocDiff.ID)
		}

		// Merge the updates to the Allocation.  Don't update alloc.Job for terminal allocs
		// so alloc refers to the latest Job view before destruction and to ease handler implementations
		allocCopy := alloc.Copy()

		if allocDiff.PreemptedByAllocation != "" {
			allocCopy.PreemptedByAllocation = allocDiff.PreemptedByAllocation
			allocCopy.DesiredDescription = getPreemptedAllocDesiredDescription(allocDiff.PreemptedByAllocation)
			allocCopy.DesiredStatus = structs.AllocDesiredStatusEvict
		} else {
			// If alloc is a stopped alloc
			allocCopy.DesiredDescription = allocDiff.DesiredDescription
			allocCopy.DesiredStatus = structs.AllocDesiredStatusStop
			allocCopy.AllocStates = allocDiff.AllocStates
			if allocDiff.ClientStatus != "" {
				allocCopy.ClientStatus = allocDiff.ClientStatus
			}

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Refresh the eval/allocs listing; the alloc may have been GC'd
2. Filter out stale alloc diffs referencing removed allocations
3. Retry once state has settled

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at nomad/state/state_store.go:7456 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/36d2e4ce4a30e027. Report an issue: GitHub.