Failed CouchDB cluster init

I am deploying CHT on kubernetes and getting errors (described below). I have so far ensured that

  • erlang cookies are present and identical on each node
  • DNS names resolve to the correct IPs and are reachable (inter-pod communication is working)

Anyone with an idea on how to resolve the rexi_DOWN,noproc error? How can I trigger creation of default databases i.e. _users on initialisation?

Error logs:
[error] 2025-06-17T02:58:26.340266Z couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local emulator -------- Error in process <0.503.0> on node ‘couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local’ with exit value:
{{rexi_DOWN,{‘couchdb@cht-couchdb-1.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local’,noproc}},[{mem3_rpc,rexi_call,3,[{file,“src/mem3_rpc.erl”},{line,384}]},{mem3_seeds,‘-start_replication/1-fun-0-’,1,[{file,“src/mem3_seeds.erl”},{line,107}]}]}

[notice] 2025-06-17T02:58:26.497064Z couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local <0.609.0> -------- Missing system database _users
[notice] 2025-06-17T02:58:31.417394Z couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local <0.561.0> -------- chttpd_auth_cache changes listener died because the _users database does not exist. Create the database to silence this notice.
[error] 2025-06-17T02:58:31.417576Z couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local emulator -------- Error in process <0.765.0> on node ‘couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local’ with exit value:
{database_does_not_exist,[{mem3_shards,load_shards_from_db,[<<“_users”>>],[{file,“src/mem3_shards.erl”},{line,430}]},{mem3_shards,load_shards_from_disk,1,[{file,“src/mem3_shards.erl”},{line,405}]},{mem3_shards,load_shards_from_disk,2,[{file,“src/mem3_shards.erl”},{line,434}]},{mem3_shards,for_docid,3,[{file,“src/mem3_shards.erl”},{line,100}]},{fabric_doc_open,go,3,[{file,“src/fabric_doc_open.erl”},{line,39}]},{chttpd_auth_cache,ensure_auth_ddoc_exists,2,[{file,“src/chttpd_auth_cache.erl”},{line,214}]},{chttpd_auth_cache,listen_for_changes,1,[{file,“src/chttpd_auth_cache.erl”},{line,160}]}]}

hi @Felix_Otieno

Can you please share your node name setup? It’s hard to determine from the logs on which machine this error is triggered, because there are two mentioned in the error:

[error] 2025-06-17T02:58:26.340266Z couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local emulator -------- Error in process <0.503.0> on node ‘couchdb@cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local’ with exit value:
{{rexi_DOWN,{‘couchdb@cht-couchdb-1.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local’,noproc}},[{mem3_rpc,rexi_call,3,[{file,“src/mem3_rpc.erl”},{line,384}]},{mem3_seeds,‘-start_replication/1-fun-0-’,1,[{file,“src/mem3_seeds.erl”},{line,107}]}]}

You have cht-couchdb-0.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local and cht-couchdb-1.cht-couchdb.cht-k8s.svc.cluster.local ?
I think we need more logs, and from all your couchdb nodes, to even begin troubleshooting this.