Greenplum: "Unknown -- unable to load segment status" due to the password expired

Products

• VMware Tanzu Greenplum

Issue/Introduction

In some situation, you may encounter the following error message when running the gpstate

 

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Segment Info

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Hostname = dataxx

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Address = dataxx

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Datadir = /data/primary/gpseg5

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Port = 6002

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Mirroring Info

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Current role = Primary

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Preferred role = Primary

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Mirror status = Synchronized

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Error Getting Segment Status

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Error Getting Segment Status = Error getting status from host dataxx

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Replication Info

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Current write location = 0/C0BC5F8

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Bytes remaining to send to mirror = 0

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Status

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[INFO]:- Configuration reports status as = Up

20250902:02:16:13:798053 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[WARNING]:- Database status = Unknown -- unable to load segment status <<<<<<<<

Cause

You can add the -v to gpstate to get more detailed info such as:

 

20250902:03:00:25:802018 gpstate:xx:gpadmin-[DEBUG]:-[worker0] finished cmd: get segment version status cmdStr='ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o ServerAliveInterval=60 xx ". /usr/local/greenplum-dbxx/greenplum_path.sh; $GPHOME/sbin/gpgetstatususingtransition.py -s getVersion:__getPid:__hasLocxx' -D |6002|/data/primary/gpsegxx' -v"'  had result: cmd had rc=1 completed=True halted=False
  stdout=''
  stderr='WARNING: Your password has expired.
Password change required but no TTY available.
'

Resolution

There are many reasons which may cause this issue but one of them is the password expire.

 

You can ssh to remote host as below to rule out the issue:

$ ssh xx
You are required to change your password immediately (administrator enforced)
Activate the web console with: systemctl enable --now cockpit.socket

Last login: Tue Sep  2 02:18:06 2025 from 172.80.0.10
WARNING: Your password has expired.
You must change your password now and login again!
Changing password for user gpadmin.
Current password:

 

 

In this scenario, it promoted you to input the new password and it indicated the old password was expired. 

 

You must update the password and the gpstate should work fine after the password change.