Bamboo crashes and fails to start with SQL exception "FATAL: could not write init file"
Platform Notice: Data Center Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the Data Center platform.
Note that this KB was created for the Data Center version of the product. Data Center KBs for non-Data-Center-specific features may also work for Server versions of the product, however they have not been tested. Support for Server* products ended on February 15th 2024. If you are running a Server product, you can visit the Atlassian Server end of support announcement to review your migration options.
*Except Fisheye and Crucible
Summary
This article covers an event when Bamboo crashes and fails to start reporting a PostgreSQL "FATAL: could not write init file" error.
Environment
All Bamboo versions
PostgreSQL database
Diagnosis
Bamboo may crash without notice, reporting messages such as the following on <bamboo-home>/logs/atlassian-bamboo.log:
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2024-02-21 04:41:50,738 WARN [nodeHeartbeat.quartz_Worker-1] [SqlExceptionHelper] SQL Error: 0, SQLState: XX000
2024-02-21 04:41:50,738 ERROR [nodeHeartbeat.quartz_Worker-1] [SqlExceptionHelper] HikariPool-2 - Connection is not available, request timed out after 30000ms.
2024-02-21 04:41:50,738 ERROR [nodeHeartbeat.quartz_Worker-1] [SqlExceptionHelper] FATAL: could not write init fileIt is also possible to find similar messages during Bamboo's bootstrapping after a tentative restart:
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2024-02-21 09:29:27,277 INFO [main] [HikariDataSource] HikariPool-2 - Starting...
2024-02-21 09:29:28,289 ERROR [main] [HikariPool] HikariPool-2 - Exception during pool initialization.
org.postgresql.util.PSQLException: FATAL: could not write init fileCause
The "FATAL: could not write init file" is a PostgreSQL error. It may have multiple causes, but the main one would be related to disk space or file system permission issues on the database server.
Solution
Check the database for errors and permissions, and increase the file system or table space if necessary.
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