hashicorp/nomad · error

volume %q content source %q does not exist: %v

Error message

volume %q content source %q does not exist: %v

What it means

ControllerCreateVolume received gRPC code NotFound from the CSI plugin when the request carried a ContentSource (snapshot or volume to clone). Nomad wraps this as "content source does not exist": the snapshot or source volume referenced in the request could not be found by the plugin. It is a lookup failure of the source object, not the target volume.

Source

Thrown at plugins/csi/client.go:443

	err := req.Validate()
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}
	creq := req.ToCSIRepresentation()
	resp, err := c.controllerClient.CreateVolume(ctx, creq, opts...)

	// these standard gRPC error codes are overloaded with CSI-specific
	// meanings, so translate them into user-understandable terms
	// https://github.com/container-storage-interface/spec/blob/master/spec.md#createvolume-errors
	if err != nil {
		code := status.Code(err)
		switch code {
		case codes.InvalidArgument:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"volume %q snapshot source %q is not compatible with these parameters: %v",
				req.Name, req.ContentSource, err)
		case codes.NotFound:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"volume %q content source %q does not exist: %v",
				req.Name, req.ContentSource, err)
		case codes.AlreadyExists:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"volume %q already exists but is incompatible with these parameters: %v",
				req.Name, err)
		case codes.ResourceExhausted:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"unable to provision %q in accessible_topology: %v",
				req.Name, err)
		case codes.OutOfRange:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"unsupported capacity_range for volume %q: %v", req.Name, err)
		case codes.Internal:
			return nil, fmt.Errorf(
				"controller plugin returned an internal error, check the plugin allocation logs for more information: %v", err)
		}
		return nil, err

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Confirm the snapshot/source volume ID exists in the storage backend (list snapshots via the storage vendor's CLI/console).
2. Check that the CSI plugin is configured for the same region/account/cluster as the snapshot.
3. Recreate the snapshot if it was removed by a retention or cleanup job.
4. Fix the `source_volume`/`snapshot_id` field in the volume spec and re-run `nomad volume create`.

Example fix

// before
type = "csi"
source_volume = "vol-0123abc"
// after (existing volume in the same cluster)
type = "csi"
source_volume = "vol-0456def"

// Pre-check that the source volume/snapshot exists before create-from-source
if vol.SourceVolumeID != "" {
    if _, err := lookupBackendVolume(vol.SourceVolumeID); err != nil {
        return fmt.Errorf("source volume %s not found in backend: %w", vol.SourceVolumeID, err)
    }
}

func contentSourceExists(src *csi.ContentSource) bool {
    return src != nil && (src.SnapshotID != "" || src.VolumeId != "")
}

vol, err := client.ControllerCreateVolume(ctx, req)
if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "content source") && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "does not exist") {
    // re-resolve snapshot/source ID, then retry with corrected reference
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ControllerCreateVolume with req.ContentSource set (snapshot_id or source volume) where the plugin returns codes.NotFound — the snapshot/source volume ID doesn't exist, was deleted, or belongs to a different storage cluster/tenant.

Common situations: Typo in the snapshot ID in the volume spec; snapshot pruned by retention policy before restore; creating the volume against a plugin instance pointed at a different region/cluster than where the snapshot lives; cross-namespace snapshot reference.

Understand the failure class

Background: 'Could not be found', 'does not exist', 'not found in database': the resource-not-found family when an ID, slug, key, or URI lookup comes back empty — this error's family across 20 libraries.

Related errors

• volume %q could not be found: %v
• CSI.ControllerListVolumes: plugin returned an invalid entry
• plugin not found: %s
• node %q has reached the maximum allowable number of attached
• volume %q is already published on another node and does not

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/828efb9f8c23c800. Report an issue: GitHub.