Bug: NullPointerException on nodetool status
Status: Resolved
Priority: Normal
Resolution: Not A Problem
Created: 10/Sep/21 00:45
Resolved: 13/Sep/21 14:19

Sometimes {{nodetool status}} fails with the following error:
{code:java}
error: null
-- StackTrace --
java.lang.NullPointerException
  at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.effectiveOwnership(StorageService.java:4871)
  at org.apache.cassandra.service.StorageService.effectiveOwnership(StorageService.java:115)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
  at sun.reflect.misc.Trampoline.invoke(MethodUtil.java:72)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
  at sun.reflect.misc.MethodUtil.invoke(MethodUtil.java:276)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.StandardMBeanIntrospector.invokeM2(StandardMBeanIntrospector.java:112)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.StandardMBeanIntrospector.invokeM2(StandardMBeanIntrospector.java:46)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.MBeanIntrospector.invokeM(MBeanIntrospector.java:237)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.PerInterface.invoke(PerInterface.java:138)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.MBeanSupport.invoke(MBeanSupport.java:252)
  at com.sun.jmx.interceptor.DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.invoke(DefaultMBeanServerInterceptor.java:819)
  at com.sun.jmx.mbeanserver.JmxMBeanServer.invoke(JmxMBeanServer.java:801)
  at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectionImpl.doOperation(RMIConnectionImpl.java:1468)
  at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectionImpl.access$300(RMIConnectionImpl.java:76)
  at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectionImpl$PrivilegedOperation.run(RMIConnectionImpl.java:1309)
  at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectionImpl.doPrivilegedOperation(RMIConnectionImpl.java:1401)
  at javax.management.remote.rmi.RMIConnectionImpl.invoke(RMIConnectionImpl.java:829)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
  at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
  at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
  at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:498)
  at sun.rmi.server.UnicastServerRef.dispatch(UnicastServerRef.java:357)
  at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Transport.java:200)
  at sun.rmi.transport.Transport$1.run(Transport.java:197)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at sun.rmi.transport.Transport.serviceCall(Transport.java:196)
  at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport.handleMessages(TCPTransport.java:573)
  at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run0(TCPTransport.java:834)
  at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.lambda$run$0(TCPTransport.java:688)
  at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
  at sun.rmi.transport.tcp.TCPTransport$ConnectionHandler.run(TCPTransport.java:687)
  at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149)
  at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624)
  at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
{code}
The cluster is running Cassandra 3.11.10 and nothing in Cassandra logs indicates any errors. The particular node where the error happened was running for 7 days. I believe the same NPE happens randomly on other nodes as well.