hashicorp/nomad · error

failed inserting variable: %s

Error message

failed inserting variable: %s

What it means

Inserting the variable into the variables table failed in memdb; the wrapped tx.Insert error aborts the variable set after quota accounting.

Source

Thrown at nomad/state/state_store_variables.go:249

		if existing.Equal(*sv) {
			// Skip further writing in the state store if the entry is not actually
			// changed. Nevertheless, the input's ModifyIndex should be reset
			// since the TXN API returns a copy in the response.
			sv.ModifyIndex = existing.ModifyIndex
			sv.ModifyTime = existing.ModifyTime
			return req.SuccessResponse(idx, nil)
		}
		sv.ModifyIndex = idx
		quotaChange = int64(len(sv.Data) - len(existing.Data))
	} else {
		sv.CreateIndex = idx
		sv.ModifyIndex = idx
		quotaChange = int64(len(sv.Data))
	}

	if err := tx.Insert(TableVariables, sv); err != nil {
		return req.ErrorResponse(idx, fmt.Errorf("failed inserting variable: %s", err))
	}

	// Track quota usage
	var quotaUsed *structs.VariablesQuota
	if existingQuota != nil {
		quotaUsed = existingQuota.(*structs.VariablesQuota)
		quotaUsed = quotaUsed.Copy()
	} else {
		quotaUsed = &structs.VariablesQuota{
			Namespace:   sv.Namespace,
			CreateIndex: idx,
		}
	}

	if quotaChange > math.MaxInt64-quotaUsed.Size {
		// this limit is actually shared across all namespaces in the region's
		// quota (if there is one), but we need this check here to prevent
		// overflow as well

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Retry the variable write
2. Check server logs for state store write errors

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at nomad/state/state_store_variables.go:249 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/de03799c3bb1383a. Report an issue: GitHub.