pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleDatabaseException

Error closing

Error message

Error closing 

What it means

Database.tryCloseAndThrow wraps any Exception thrown by AutoCloseable.close() (e.g. a JDBC PreparedStatement, Statement or ResultSet) into a KettleDatabaseException whose message is 'Error closing ' + the object description. It is thrown when releasing a JDBC resource fails, usually because the underlying connection is already broken or the statement is in an invalid state. The original exception is preserved as the cause.

Solutions

1. Check the cause exception: if it says 'Connection is closed' or similar, the real problem is the lost connection — verify DB availability and network before blaming close()
2. Ensure the Database connection is still open and commit/rollback was done before closing statements
3. Avoid closing the same Database/statement resources twice in finally blocks
4. Check driver version compatibility; upgrade the JDBC driver if close() spuriously fails
5. Wrap close calls in a null-check/try-ignore so cleanup failures don't mask the original step error

Example fix

// before
database.closeInsert();
// after
try {
  database.closeInsert();
} catch (KettleDatabaseException e) {
  log.logError("Ignoring failure while closing insert statement", e);
}

if (database != null && !database.isAutoCommit()) { /* ensure commit/rollback done before close */ }

try {
  database.closeInsert();
} catch (KettleDatabaseException e) {
  log.logError("Failed closing insert statement: " + e.getMessage(), e);
  // inspect e.getCause() for the underlying SQLException
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling closeInsert(), closeUpdate(), closeLookup() or any Database.close*() path that routes through tryCloseAndThrow when the underlying JDBC statement's close() throws SQLException — typically because the connection was already closed, dropped by the DB, or the statement was already closed in an invalid transaction state.

Common situations: Database/network connection dropped mid-step before cleanup; connection pool forcibly closed the physical connection; calling close twice on the same statement; DB server restart during a long-running transformation; driver-specific errors on close after a failed execute.

Understand the failure class

Background: Database query failed: Internal Server Error 500s wrapping SQL, Prisma, and connection failures — what to check first — this error's family across 16 libraries.

Related errors

• Unable to close prepared statement pstmt
• Unable to close prepared statement sel_stmt
• Unable to close resultset
• An error occurred executing SQL:
• An error occurred executing SQL:

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5429aaee78688cae. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/database/Database.java:1316

      closeable.close();
    } catch ( Exception ex ) {
      log.logError( "Error closing " + objDescription + ":" + Const.CR + ex.getMessage() );
      log.logError( Const.getStackTracker( ex ) );
    }
  }

  /**
   * Invokes the {@link AutoCloseable#close()} method on the given object, throwing a {@link KettleDatabaseException}
   * encapsulating any exception that occurs.
   *
   * @param closeable      the object to close
   * @param objDescription the description of the closeable object, used in exception message
   */
  protected void tryCloseAndThrow( AutoCloseable closeable, String objDescription ) throws KettleDatabaseException {
    try {
      closeable.close();
    } catch ( Exception ex ) {
      throw new KettleDatabaseException( "Error closing " + objDescription, ex );
    }
  }


  public void closeInsert() throws KettleDatabaseException {
    if ( prepStatementInsert != null ) {
      tryCloseAndThrow( prepStatementInsert, "insert prepared statement" );
      prepStatementInsert = null;
    }
  }

  public void closeUpdate() throws KettleDatabaseException {
    if ( prepStatementUpdate != null ) {
      tryCloseAndThrow( prepStatementUpdate, "update prepared statement" );
      prepStatementUpdate = null;
    }
  }

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