What causes "Error performing rollback on connection" in pentaho/pentaho-kettle?

Assume the connection is dead: close it and reconnect; the server will have rolled back the open transaction implicitly

pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleDatabaseException

Error performing rollback on connection

Error message

Error performing rollback on connection

What it means

KettleDatabaseException thrown by Database.rollback() when connection.rollback() throws a SQLException. The transaction could not be rolled back — often because the connection itself is already dead, in which case the server rolls back implicitly. Callers should treat the connection as unusable afterwards.

Solutions

Assume the connection is dead: close it and reconnect; the server will have rolled back the open transaction implicitly
Check the wrapped SQLException for 'connection closed'-type messages to confirm the connection was already lost
Avoid rollback loops — guard cleanup code so a failed rollback does not mask the original error
Verify the connection is not in autocommit mode where rollback is a no-op or unsupported

Example fix

// before
try { database.commit(); } finally { database.rollback(); }
// after
try {
  database.commit();
} catch ( Exception e ) {
  try {
    database.rollback();
  } catch ( KettleDatabaseException re ) {
    log.warn("Rollback failed, connection likely dead; reconnecting");
  }
  throw e;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

Connection c = database.getConnection();
if ( c == null || c.isClosed() ) {
  return; // server already rolled back implicitly
}

Type guard

boolean canRollback( Database db ) throws SQLException {
  Connection c = db.getConnection();
  return c != null && !c.isClosed();
}

Try / catch

try {
  database.rollback();
} catch ( KettleDatabaseException e ) {
  log.warn( "Rollback failed; reconnecting so server-side rollback applies" );
  database.disconnect();
}

Prevention

Do not let rollback failures mask the original exception
Reconnect after a failed rollback — dead connections imply implicit server rollback
Keep transactions short and validate connection health before rollback

When it happens

Trigger: Calling Database.rollback() when connection.rollback() throws SQLException — connection terminated by DB/network, rollback attempted in a distributed (XA) context incorrectly, or statement/transaction already completed by the driver.

Common situations: Error-handling paths that roll back after a network failure (rollback then fails too), DB killed the session (wait_timeout), rollback on an autocommit connection.

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

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f7964c949be4bce6. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/core/database/Database.java:1202

  public void rollback( boolean force ) throws KettleDatabaseException {
    try {
      if ( !Utils.isEmpty( connectionGroup ) && !force ) {
        return; // Will be handled by Trans --> endProcessing()
      }
      if ( getDatabaseMetaData().supportsTransactions() ) {
        if ( connection != null ) {
          if ( log.isDebug() ) {
            log.logDebug( "Rollback on database connection [" + toString() + "]" );
          }
          connection.rollback();
        }
      } else {
        if ( log.isDetailed() ) {
          log.logDetailed( "No rollback possible on database connection [" + toString() + "]" );
        }
      }
    } catch ( SQLException e ) {
      throw new KettleDatabaseException( "Error performing rollback on connection", e );
    }
  }

  /**
   * Prepare inserting values into a table, using the fields & values in a Row
   *
   * @param rowMeta   The row metadata to determine which values need to be inserted
   * @param tableName The name of the table in which we want to insert rows
   * @throws KettleDatabaseException if something went wrong.
   */
  public void prepareInsert( RowMetaInterface rowMeta, String tableName ) throws KettleDatabaseException {
    prepareInsert( rowMeta, null, tableName );
  }

  /**
   * Prepare inserting values into a table, using the fields & values in a Row
   *
   * @param rowMeta    The metadata row to determine which values need to be inserted

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