pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

JobEntryConnectedToRepository.Meta.UnableToSaveToRep

Error message

JobEntryConnectedToRepository.Meta.UnableToSaveToRep

What it means

JobEntryConnectedToRepository.saveRep wraps KettleDatabaseException from saving the entry's attributes (isspecificrep, repname, isspecificuser, username) into a KettleException keyed 'JobEntryConnectedToRepository.Meta.UnableToSaveToRep' plus the job id. It means the job entry could not be persisted to the repository database.

Solutions

  1. Verify repository DB connectivity and write permissions
  2. Retry the save once the database is reachable
  3. Save the job locally (.kjb) as a fallback while the repository is unavailable
  4. Check the wrapped KettleDatabaseException for the failing SQL/constraint
Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

// confirm write access before saving
if ( rep.isReadOnly() ) {
  throw new ValidationException( "Repository is read-only" );
}

Try / catch

try {
  jobMeta.saveToRepository( rep, null );
} catch ( KettleException e ) {
  if ( e.getCause() instanceof KettleDatabaseException ) {
    // retry after reconnecting, or save locally as fallback
    jobMeta.saveToFile( "/tmp/backup.kjb", "none", "none" );
  }
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: saveRep called during job save when the repository insert/update of r_jobentry_attribute rows fails — DB connection loss, constraint violation, read-only repository, or schema mismatch.

Common situations: Repository database offline or connection dropped mid-save; repository opened read-only; user lacks write permission; version mismatch between client and repository schema.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2c57c32c0dbecacc. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/connected-to-repository/impl/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/job/entries/connectedtorepository/JobEntryConnectedToRepository.java:155

    } catch ( KettleDatabaseException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString(
        PKG, "JobEntryConnectedToRepository.Meta.UnableToLoadFromRep" )
        + id_jobentry, dbe );

    }
  }

  // Save the attributes of this job entry
  //
  public void saveRep( Repository rep, IMetaStore metaStore, ObjectId id_job ) throws KettleException {
    try {
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "isspecificrep", isspecificrep );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "repname", repname );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "isspecificuser", isspecificuser );
      rep.saveJobEntryAttribute( id_job, getObjectId(), "username", username );
    } catch ( KettleDatabaseException dbe ) {
      throw new KettleException( BaseMessages.getString(
        PKG, "JobEntryConnectedToRepository.Meta.UnableToSaveToRep" )
        + id_job, dbe );
    }
  }

  /**
   * Execute this job entry and return the result. In this case it means, just set the result boolean in the Result
   * class.
   *
   * @param previousResult
   *          The result of the previous execution
   * @return The Result of the execution.
   */
  public Result execute( Result previousResult, int nr ) {
    Result result = previousResult;
    result.setNrErrors( 1 );
    result.setResult( false );

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