# "A distribution version is required" when running benchmark-only **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Tags:** docker, rally\ **Created:** [November 12, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/a-distribution-version-is-required-when-running-benchmark-only/207571 "2019-11-12T18:32:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maxwell\_Hostetter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/maxwell_hostetter/32/45055_2.png) [@Maxwell\_Hostetter](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Maxwell_Hostetter)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/a-distribution-version-is-required-when-running-benchmark-only/207571/1 "2019-11-12T18:32:51Z")
I'm trying to benchmark elastic cluster that is running in docker. The command I issue is `esrally --track=pmc --target-hosts=host1,host2,host3 --pipeline=benchmark-only` I'm under the impression that distribution-version should not be supplied for benchmarking existing cluster. Any insights would be helpful, thanks. ```auto 5260 2019-11-12 18:20:22,72 ActorAddr-(T|:49774)/PID:33153 esrally.actor INFO BenchmarkActor received unknown message [ActorExitRequest] (ignori ng). 5261 2019-11-12 18:20:25,73 -not-actor-/PID:33146 esrally.rally INFO Attempting to shutdown internal actor system. 5262 2019-11-12 18:20:25,76 -not-actor-/PID:33152 root INFO ActorSystem Logging Shutdown 5263 2019-11-12 18:20:25,98 -not-actor-/PID:33146 esrally.rally INFO Actor system is still running. Waiting... 5264 2019-11-12 18:20:25,98 -not-actor-/PID:33151 root INFO ---- Actor System shutdown 5265 2019-11-12 18:20:26,103 -not-actor-/PID:33146 esrally.rally INFO Shutdown completed. 5266 2019-11-12 18:20:26,103 -not-actor-/PID:33146 esrally.rally ERROR Cannot run subcommand [race]. 5267 Traceback (most recent call last): 5268 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/rally.py", line 515, in dispatch_sub_command 5269 race(cfg) 5270 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/rally.py", line 433, in race 5271 with_actor_system(lambda c: racecontrol.run(c), cfg) 5272 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/rally.py", line 461, in with_actor_system 5273 runnable(cfg) 5274 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/rally.py", line 433, in 5275 with_actor_system(lambda c: racecontrol.run(c), cfg) 5276 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/racecontrol.py", line 369, in run 5277 raise e 5278 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/racecontrol.py", line 366, in run 5279 pipeline(cfg) 5280 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/racecontrol.py", line 78, in __call__ 5281 self.target(cfg) 5282 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/racecontrol.py", line 302, in benchmark_only 5283 return race(cfg, external=True) 5284 File "/anaconda3/envs/header/lib/python3.7/site-packages/esrally/racecontrol.py", line 254, in race 5285 raise exceptions.RallyError(result.message, result.cause) 5286 esrally.exceptions.RallyError: ("Error in race control (('A distribution version is required. Please specify it with --distribution-version .', None))", None) ``` ---
**Author:** ![Dennis\_Lawler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dennis_lawler/32/48376_2.png) [@Dennis\_Lawler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dennis_Lawler)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/a-distribution-version-is-required-when-running-benchmark-only/207571/2 "2019-11-12T22:09:45Z")
Hi Maxwell, This error is actually given when Rally cannot determine the version of the cluster, likely due to a connection problem. You might want to double-check hostnames and ports in your target-hosts list. I've opened an issue to address the misleading error message here: [https://github.com/elastic/rally/issues/813](https://github.com/elastic/rally/issues/813) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2019, 10:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/a-distribution-version-is-required-when-running-benchmark-only/207571/3 "2019-12-10T22:09:48Z")
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