unrecognized configuration parameter error

Products

• VMware Tanzu Data Suite

Issue/Introduction

Following an upgrade, the below error message can be found.

"FATAL","42704","unrecognized configuration parameter ""<GUC>"""

Depending on the GUC or utility with which this error appears, the error can result in hanging or failures.

Example:
A gprecoverseg rebalance is hanging indefinitely after an upgrade. A review of the pg_logs on the hanging recovering segment showed the below error repeating.

"FATAL","42704","unrecognized configuration parameter ""gp_appendonly_compaction_segfile_limit"

The environment was upgraded to 6.28.0, which introduced the gp_appendonly_compaction_segfile_limit parameter.

Cause

This error indicates that the version of the utility or command may be sourced incorrectly. Checking in the greenplum_path.sh source path or by running "which <gputility>" can indicate if the correct directory is being referenced.

Example:

which gprecoverseg
/usr/local/greenplum-db-5.21.3/gprecoverseg

Resolution

Sourcing the correct version of the gputility, greenplum path, or session can allow the utility to identify newly introduced parameters and complete successfully.