How To Solve Issues Related to Log – Unable to install token metadata

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Last update: Jan-20

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Troubleshooting Background – start here to get the full picture       
Related Issues – selected resources on related issues  
Log Context – usefull for experts
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Troubleshooting background

To troubleshoot Elasticsearch log “Unable to install token metadata” it’s important to know common problems related to Elasticsearch concepts: metadata, plugin. See below-detailed explanations complete with common problems, examples and useful tips.

Metadata in Elasticsearch

What it is

Metadata is information about the data. In Elasticsearch, each document has associated metadata such as _id and _index meta fields.

Examples
  • Routing meta field:
    • _routing, a routing value that places a document in a particular shard.
  • Other meta field
    • _meta, not used by Elasticsearch but can be used to store application-specific metadata.
PUT index_01
{
  "mappings": {
    "_meta": { 
      "class": "App01::User01",
      "version": "01"
    }
  }
}
  • Identity meta fields: 
    _id , the id of the document, for example querying based on _id field
PUT index01/_doc/1
{
  "text": "Document with ID 1"
}
 
PUT index01/_doc/2
{
  "text": "Document with ID 2"
}
 
GET index01/_search
{
  "query": {
    "terms": {
      "_id": [ "1", "2" ] 
    }
  }
}

Plugin in Elasticsearch

What it is

Plugins are used to extend the functionality of Elasticsearch. In addition to the core plugins available to you, it is possible to write custom plugins as well. Plugins are generated in a zip format with the mandatory file structure.

Examples:
  • Core Plugins: Xpack for Security and monitoring, Discovery plugins for EC2
  • Adding S3 plugin for storing snapshots on S3
sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install repository-s3
  • Adding HDFS plugin for storing snapshots on HDFS
sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin install repository-hdfs
  • Removing a plugin
sudo bin/elasticsearch-plugin remove repository-hdfs
Notes:
  • Plugins are installed using the Elasticsearch-plugin script, which enables actions such as  listing, removing and installing plugins.
  • Core plugins can be installed simply by providing the name of the plugin to the Elasticsearch-plugin command.
  • You can also download the plugin manually and then install it using the elasticsearch-plugin install command, providing the file name/path of the plugin’s source file.
  • When a plugin is removed, you will need to restart the elasticsearch node(s) in order to complete the removal process.
Common Problems:
  • You need to install the required plugins in your Elasticsearch deployment before moving it to production machines. (as it’s likely your production machines are behind a proxy and it’s very hard to get plugins installed behind a proxy).
  • The same is true when you are going to deploy elasticsearch using Docker images, you will most likely be rebuilding the standard image and including your required plugins in the custom docker build. Make sure the docker build is run on a build machine that is not behind a proxy, otherwise the plugin installation will fail during docker build.

Click here to get to our list of the Most frequent issues caused by Elasticsearch Plugins

To help troubleshoot related issues we have gathered selected Q&A from the community and issues from Github , please review the following for further information :

Error On Cluster Downsizing If The
discuss.elastic.co/t/error-on-cluster-downsizing-if-the-master-node-is-stopped/195766

 

One Datanode Stalled Will Cause Mas
discuss.elastic.co/t/one-datanode-stalled-will-cause-master-fail/196225

 

Log Context

Log ”Unable to install token metadata” classname is TokenService.java
We have extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code to get an in-depth context : 

                 }

                
Override
                public void onFailure(String source; Exception e) {
                    installTokenMetadataInProgress.set(false);
                    logger.error("unable to install token metadata"; e);
                }

                
Override
                public void clusterStateProcessed(String source; ClusterState oldState; ClusterState newState) {
                    installTokenMetadataInProgress.set(false);
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