pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · KettleException

Unable to load database with id [" + databaseId + "]

Error message

Unable to load database with id [" + databaseId + "]

What it means

Thrown by PurRepository.loadDatabase when loading a DatabaseMeta by ObjectId fails — either the file lookup (getFile/getFileById), data fetch, version summary, or transformation into a DatabaseMeta throws. The original exception is wrapped as a KettleException.

Solutions

  1. Verify the database connection still exists in the repository and refresh shared objects
  2. Re-obtain a fresh ObjectId via repository.getDatabaseID(name)
  3. Check server connectivity and permissions, then retry

Example fix

// before
ObjectId id = oldCachedId;
DatabaseMeta db = repository.loadDatabase(id, null, null);
// after
ObjectId id = repository.getDatabaseID("MyConnection");
if (id != null) {
  DatabaseMeta db = repository.loadDatabase(id, null, null);
}
Defensive patterns

Strategy: try-catch

Validate before calling

ObjectId id = repository.getDatabaseID(name);
if (id == null) throw new IllegalStateException("Database not found in repository: " + name);

Try / catch

try {
  DatabaseMeta db = repository.loadDatabase(id, null, null);
} catch (KettleException e) {
  log.error("Failed to load database " + id + ": " + e.getCause(), e);
  // refresh shared object cache and retry
}

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: PurRepository.loadDatabase(databaseId, revision, versionLabel) with an ID pointing to a deleted or inaccessible file, or a corrupt/transformer-incompatible repository file.

Common situations: Stale ObjectIds cached in Spoon after someone deleted the connection; shared-object cache referencing purged files; repository server temporarily unavailable.

Understand the failure class

Background: Record Not Found Errors: "not found", RecordNotFound, and "was not found" — what they mean and how to fix them — this error's family across 28 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/b6e5326ebec0bd17. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/pur/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/di/repository/pur/PurRepository.java:2416

  public DatabaseMeta loadDatabaseMeta( final ObjectId databaseId, final String versionId )
    throws KettleException {
    readWriteLock.readLock().lock();
    try {

      NodeRepositoryFileData
        data =
        pur.getDataAtVersionForRead( databaseId.getId(), versionId, NodeRepositoryFileData.class );
      RepositoryFile file = null;

      if ( versionId != null ) {
        file = pur.getFileAtVersion( databaseId.getId(), versionId );
      } else {
        file = pur.getFileById( databaseId.getId() );
      }

      return databaseMetaTransformer.assemble( file, data, pur.getVersionSummary( databaseId.getId(), versionId ) );
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      throw new KettleException( "Unable to load database with id [" + databaseId + "]", e );
    } finally {
      readWriteLock.readLock().unlock();
    }
  }

  @Override
  public TransMeta loadTransformation( final String transName, final RepositoryDirectoryInterface parentDir,
                                       final ProgressMonitorListener monitor, final boolean setInternalVariables,
                                       final String versionId )
  throws KettleException {
    return loadTransformation( this.getBowl(), transName, parentDir, monitor, setInternalVariables, versionId, null );
  }

  @Override
  public TransMeta loadTransformation( final Bowl bowl, final String transName, final RepositoryDirectoryInterface parentDir,
                                       final ProgressMonitorListener monitor, final boolean setInternalVariables,
                                       final String versionId, VariableSpace parent )
  throws KettleException {

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