hashicorp/nomad · error

unable to update preserved values: %v

Error message

unable to update preserved values: %v

What it means

UpsertJob failed in updatePreservedValues, which copies multiregion/preserved fields (e.g. multiregion run settings, submit time/flags) from the existing job and request into the new job object before insertion. The wrapped error aborts the registration transaction.

Source

Thrown at nomad/state/state_store.go:1908

	if err := s.updateJobScalingPolicies(index, job, txn); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to update job scaling policies: %v", err)
	}

	if err := s.updateJobRecommendations(index, txn, existingJob, job); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to update job recommendations: %v", err)
	}

	if err := s.updateJobCSIPlugins(index, job, existingJob, txn); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to update job csi plugins: %v", err)
	}

	if err := s.updateJobSubmission(index, sub, job.Namespace, job.ID, job.Version, txn); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to update job submission: %v", err)
	}

	if err := s.updatePreservedValues(job, existingJob, req); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("unable to update preserved values: %v", err)
	}

	// Insert the job
	if err := txn.Insert("jobs", job); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("job insert failed: %v", err)
	}
	if err := txn.Insert("index", &IndexEntry{"jobs", index}); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("index update failed: %v", err)
	}

	return nil
}

// CheckIdempotencyToken finds all children of the parent job ID and checks to
// make sure none of them were dispatched with the idempotency token passed as
// an argument. Returns the child job found, if any.
func (s *StateStore) CheckIdempotencyToken(ns, parentID, idempotencyToken string) (*structs.Job, error) {
	iter, err := s.JobsByIDPrefix(nil, ns, parentID, SortDefault)

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Read the wrapped cause in server logs
2. Retry the job registration
3. Verify multiregion/authorization fields in the request (multiregion tokens/authorization) are set correctly
4. Upgrade Nomad if reproducible on your version

// Verify multiregion fields are complete before regional registration
if job.Multiregion != nil {
  for _, r := range job.Multiregion.Regions {
    if r.Region == "" || len(r.Datacenters) == 0 {
      return fmt.Errorf("multiregion region entry missing region or datacenters")
    }
  }
}

func isPreservedValuesError(err error) bool {
  return err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "preserved values")
}

_, err := client.Jobs().Register(job, nil, nil, nil)
if isPreservedValuesError(err) {
  // check multiregion authorization and retry
  _, err = client.Jobs().Register(job, nil, nil, nil)
}
return err

When it happens

Trigger: Registering a job where preserving values from the existing job or request fails, typically tied to multiregion deployments or malformed request fields on the update path.

Common situations: Multiregion enterprise deployments, or federated clusters where the previous job copy is inconsistent during region failover.

Related errors

• error parsing: root should be an object
• cannot specify Accessor ID
• network already configured but not found in state
• eval not found
• deployment promotion cannot be undone

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/48cd722a4af18294. Report an issue: GitHub.