CockroachDB Range Unavailability Before Quorum Loss
criticalreliabilityUpdated Feb 12, 2026
CockroachDB ranges with fewer live replicas than needed for quorum (cockroachdb.ranges_replication_problem with unavailable ranges) indicate impending data unavailability. This is the critical pre-failure signal before queries start failing due to lost quorum.
Sources
Technologies:
How to detect:
Alert immediately when cockroachdb.ranges_replication_problem shows unavailable ranges > 0. This metric indicates ranges that cannot serve reads or writes due to insufficient live replicas for quorum.
Recommended action:
Investigate node health, restore failed nodes immediately, or adjust replication factor if consistently under-provisioned. This requires urgent intervention to prevent data unavailability.