hashicorp/nomad · error

on_update value %q is not compatible with check_restart

Error message

on_update value %q is not compatible with check_restart

What it means

The check sets on_update="ignore" together with a check_restart block; validateCommon rejects this combination because treating check errors as healthy during updates conflicts with check-based restarts, leaving deployments in an inconsistent state.

Source

Thrown at nomad/structs/services.go:333

		return fmt.Errorf("invalid address_mode %q", sc.AddressMode)
	}

	// validate on_update
	switch sc.OnUpdate {
	case "", OnUpdateIgnore, OnUpdateRequireHealthy, OnUpdateIgnoreWarn:
		// OK
	default:
		return fmt.Errorf("on_update must be %q, %q, or %q; got %q", OnUpdateRequireHealthy, OnUpdateIgnoreWarn, OnUpdateIgnore, sc.OnUpdate)
	}

	// validate check_restart and on_update do not conflict
	if sc.CheckRestart != nil {
		// CheckRestart and OnUpdate Ignore are incompatible If OnUpdate treats
		// an error has healthy, and the deployment succeeds followed by check
		// restart restarting failing checks, the deployment is left in an odd
		// state
		if sc.OnUpdate == OnUpdateIgnore {
			return fmt.Errorf("on_update value %q is not compatible with check_restart", sc.OnUpdate)
		}
		// CheckRestart IgnoreWarnings must be true if a check has defined OnUpdate
		// ignore_warnings
		if !sc.CheckRestart.IgnoreWarnings && sc.OnUpdate == OnUpdateIgnoreWarn {
			return fmt.Errorf("on_update value %q not supported with check_restart ignore_warnings value %q", sc.OnUpdate, strconv.FormatBool(sc.CheckRestart.IgnoreWarnings))
		}
	}

	// validate check_restart
	if err := sc.CheckRestart.Validate(); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	return nil
}

// validate a Service's ServiceCheck in the context of the Nomad provider.
func (sc *ServiceCheck) validateNomad() error {

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Change on_update to "require_healthy" or "ignore_warnings"
2. Remove the check_restart block if on_update must stay "ignore"

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at nomad/structs/services.go:333 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/46dca8247fc96ca7. Report an issue: GitHub.