How to Delete a DolphinDB DFS Database in RECOVERING State

Learn how to resolve the 'RECOVERING' state error in DolphinDB DFS databases and properly delete DFS databases when file path errors occur.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/79464008/ asked by the user 'EA839' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/28486417/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/79474959/ provided by the user 'bigmacsetnotenough' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/28486447/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Understanding the Issue: Deleting a DolphinDB DFS Database in RECOVERING State

When managing DolphinDB distributed file system (DFS) databases, you might encounter difficulties deleting databases due to errors related to missing files or the database being in a RECOVERING state.

Common Error Scenario

Attempting to delete a DFS database or table using dropTable or dropDatabase returns errors such as:

getFileBlocksMeta on path '/stock/stock.tbl' failed, reason: path does not exist

the database is in RECOVERING state and cannot be deleted

Restarting the DolphinDB cluster does not resolve the issue.

This typically occurs because some partitions or tables are locked or stuck in recovery, preventing clean database deletion.

Step-by-Step Solution

Remove Recovering Partitions

Use the dropPartition function or, more effectively, the dropRecoveringPartitions function from DolphinDB’s ops module to forcefully remove any partitions stuck in the recovering state.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Drop the Entire Database

Once recovering partitions are cleared, you can delete the whole DFS database safely using:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Additional Recommendations

Always verify your DFS database state before attempting deletion operations.

Use DolphinDB's diagnostic commands or logs to check partition statuses.

Consider upgrading DolphinDB to the latest version for improved recovery and management features.

By cleaning up recovering partitions first, you can avoid errors related to missing file paths or stuck database states and ensure successful DFS database deletions.