hashicorp/nomad · error

job_max_count (%d) cannot be negative

Error message

job_max_count (%d) cannot be negative

What it means

Fires in convertServerConfig while translating agent config: server.job_max_count was set to a negative number, which cannot bound job counts; valid values are zero or positive.

Source

Thrown at command/agent/agent.go:381

		if jobMaxPriority < structs.JobDefaultMaxPriority || jobMaxPriority > structs.JobMaxPriority {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("job_max_priority cannot be %d. Must be between %d and %d", *agentConfig.Server.JobMaxPriority, structs.JobDefaultMaxPriority, structs.JobMaxPriority)
		}
	}
	jobDefaultPriority := structs.JobDefaultPriority
	if agentConfig.Server.JobDefaultPriority != nil && *agentConfig.Server.JobDefaultPriority != 0 {
		jobDefaultPriority = *agentConfig.Server.JobDefaultPriority
		if jobDefaultPriority < structs.JobDefaultPriority || jobDefaultPriority >= jobMaxPriority {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("job_default_priority cannot be %d. Must be between %d and %d", *agentConfig.Server.JobDefaultPriority, structs.JobDefaultPriority, jobMaxPriority)
		}
	}
	conf.JobMaxPriority = jobMaxPriority
	conf.JobDefaultPriority = jobDefaultPriority

	jobMaxCount := structs.JobDefaultMaxCount
	if agentConfig.Server.JobMaxCount != nil {
		jobMaxCount = *agentConfig.Server.JobMaxCount
		if jobMaxCount < 0 {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("job_max_count (%d) cannot be negative", jobMaxCount)
		}
	}
	conf.JobMaxCount = jobMaxCount

	if agentConfig.Server.JobTrackedVersions != nil {
		if *agentConfig.Server.JobTrackedVersions <= 0 {
			return nil, fmt.Errorf("job_tracked_versions must be greater than 0")
		}
		conf.JobTrackedVersions = *agentConfig.Server.JobTrackedVersions
	}

	conf.OIDCIssuer = agentConfig.Server.OIDCIssuer

	// Set up the bind addresses
	rpcAddr, err := net.ResolveTCPAddr("tcp", agentConfig.normalizedAddrs.RPC)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to parse RPC address %q: %v", agentConfig.normalizedAddrs.RPC, err)
	}

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Set job_max_count to a non-negative integer
2. Remove the option to use the default (structs.JobDefaultMaxCount)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at command/agent/agent.go:381 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/610f6b32cf898ab8. Report an issue: GitHub.