vitessio/vitess · error

failed to get tablet

Error message

failed to get tablet %s from topology: %v

What it means

Returned by mysqlctl clone logic when the tablet identified by the given alias cannot be fetched from the topology service, wrapping the underlying topo error.

Solutions

1. Confirm the tablet still exists with `vtctldclient GetTablet <alias>`.
2. Pick an existing donor tablet alias from `vtctldclient GetTablets`.
3. Check topology server connectivity.
4. If the alias is stale, remove the stale record (`DeleteTablet`) and select a live donor.

tablet, err := topoServer.GetTablet(ctx, donorAlias)
if err != nil {
	return fmt.Errorf("donor %s unavailable: %w", topoproto.TabletAliasString(donorAlias), err)
}

if err != nil && strings.Contains(err.Error(), "failed to get tablet") {
	// pick another donor alias or fix topo connectivity
}

When it happens

Trigger: CloneFromDonor with an alias whose tablet record was deleted from topo, an unreachable topo backend, or an alias from a different topo server/environment.

Common situations: Tablet was decommissioned but alias still referenced in configs; topo outage; running restore against a different cluster's topo; stale shard record after tablet removal.

Related errors

• cannot find tablet: %+v
• failed to delete tablet
• failed to get shard /
• shard / has no primary
• tablet type change -> is not an allowed transition for…

AI-assisted analysis of vitessio/vitess@01a25a7d17 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e72b8fd0207fb616. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at go/vt/mysqlctl/clone.go:107

			return replication.Position{}, fmt.Errorf("shard %s/%s has no primary", keyspace, shard)
		}
		donorAlias = si.PrimaryAlias
		log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("Found primary tablet %s for use as CLONE REMOTE donor", topoproto.TabletAliasString(donorAlias)))
	case cloneFromTablet != "":
		// Parse the explicit donor tablet alias.
		log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("Using tablet %s for use as CLONE REMOTE donor", cloneFromTablet))
		donorAlias, err = topoproto.ParseTabletAlias(cloneFromTablet)
		if err != nil {
			return replication.Position{}, fmt.Errorf("invalid tablet alias %q: %v", cloneFromTablet, err)
		}
	default:
		return replication.Position{}, errors.New("no donor specified")
	}

	// Get donor tablet info from topology.
	donorTablet, err := topoServer.GetTablet(ctx, donorAlias)
	if err != nil {
		return replication.Position{}, fmt.Errorf("failed to get tablet %s from topology: %v", topoproto.TabletAliasString(donorAlias), err)
	}

	// Get clone credentials.
	cloneConfig := dbconfigs.GlobalDBConfigs.CloneUser
	if cloneConfig.User == "" {
		return replication.Position{}, errors.New("clone user not configured; set --db-clone-user flag")
	}

	// Create the clone executor.
	executor := &CloneExecutor{
		DonorHost:     donorTablet.MysqlHostname,
		DonorPort:     int(donorTablet.MysqlPort),
		DonorUser:     cloneConfig.User,
		DonorPassword: cloneConfig.Password,
		UseSSL:        cloneConfig.UseSSL,
	}

	log.Info(fmt.Sprintf("Clone executor configured for donor %s:%d", executor.DonorHost, executor.DonorPort))

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