Installation

License exception thrown when trying to explore data?

srhalstead
Engager

Hi all,

We've recently started seeing the following exception when trying to explore data in our virtual indexes.

"[acme] Error while running external process, return_code=255. See search.log for more info [acme] Exception - java.lang.RuntimeException: Permission denied. License does not allow execution of searches on virtual index=syslog. Only archive indexes allowed in ERP family=hadoop"

Can anybody shed any light on what may be causing this exception? The wording suggests that there's a problem with the license but looking at the Licensing page, I can see there is a "Splunk Analytics for Hadoop License" installed which doesn't expire for a few months.

The exception is raised when we attempt to Explore Data as follows:
1. Login to Splunk as a user with the admin role
2. Click on the 'Explore Data' icon on the Splunk Enterprise landing page
3. Select the Provider and Virtual Index from the drop-down lists
4. Splunk shows 'Loading...' briefly then shows the exception shown above.

We are able to search this virtual index through the "Search & Reporting" app without any problems.

We're running Splunk version 6.5.2.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Labels (1)

johnhsu
Observer

I have same issue with Version 6.6.2 and 6.6.3

0 Karma
Got questions? Get answers!

Join the Splunk Community Slack to learn, troubleshoot, and make connections with fellow Splunk practitioners in real time!

Meet up IRL or virtually!

Join Splunk User Groups to connect and learn in-person by region or remotely by topic or industry.

Get Updates on the Splunk Community!

Make Your Machine Data AI-Ready in Splunk

Every team is getting ready for AI agents.   Thursday, November 12, 2026  |  11AM  PST / 2PM EST   ...

Splunk Asynchronous Forwarding Explained

Splunk asynchronous forwarding is often misunderstood as simply setting autoLBVolume. That is not quite right. ...

How to Monitor AI Agents with Splunk Agent Observability

Let’s say I’m running a travel planning AI app in production. A user asks for three concise hotel options in ...