# Error executing Watcher Email Action **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Tags:** elastic-stack-alerting\ **Created:** [February 20, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798 "2017-02-20T22:14:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nielsoncr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@nielsoncr](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nielsoncr)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 10:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/1 "2017-02-20T22:14:03Z")
I'm having trouble with a watch action that executes an email on a single node cluster that works just fine on other clusters (all version 2.1.2) The action looks like this ``` "actions":{ "send_email_notification":{ "throttle_period":"1d", "email":{ "to":["myemail@myemail.com"], "subject":"{{ctx.metadata.email_subject}}", "body": "HELLO" } } } ``` I know the watch itself is ok because I can create and execute it on a different cluster and it works On the offending cluster I can see the default account being set [2017-02-20 21:00:10,366][INFO][watcher.actions.email.service] [master-node-1] default account set to [watcheremail] my watcher configuration from the elasticsearch.yml looks like this ``` watcher.actions.email.sanitize_html: false watcher.actions.email.html.sanitization.enabled: false watcher.actions.email.service.account: watcheremail: email_defaults: from: 'Log Watcher ' smtp: host: [my smtp hostname] port: 25 ``` but when the watch action is triggered I get this in the action result ``` "actions" : [ { "id" : "send_email_notification", "type" : "email", "status" : "failure", "reason" : "NullPointerException[null]" } ] ``` and this in the trace log. Rebuilding the cluster is not an option anyone would be happy about. [2017-02-20 21:00:59,886][ERROR][watcher.actions.email] [master-node-1] failed to execute action [filetransferservice\_error\_status/email\_somebody] java.lang.NullPointerException at org.elasticsearch.watcher.actions.email.service.Account.send(Account.java:85) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.actions.email.service.InternalEmailService.send(InternalEmailService.java:83) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.actions.email.service.InternalEmailService.send(InternalEmailService.java:77) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.actions.email.ExecutableEmailAction.execute(ExecutableEmailAction.java:67) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.actions.ActionWrapper.execute(ActionWrapper.java:106) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.execution.ExecutionService.executeInner(ExecutionService.java:388) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.execution.ExecutionService.execute(ExecutionService.java:273) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.transport.actions.execute.TransportExecuteWatchAction.masterOperation(TransportExecuteWatchAction.java:130) at org.elasticsearch.watcher.transport.actions.execute.TransportExecuteWatchAction.masterOperation(TransportExecuteWatchAction.java:61) at org.elasticsearch.action.support.master.TransportMasterNodeAction$3.doRun(TransportMasterNodeAction.java:130) at org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.AbstractRunnable.run(AbstractRunnable.java:37) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1145) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:615) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:745) ---
**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 8:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/2 "2017-02-21T08:10:26Z")
Hey, is it possible that `localhost` does not resolve properly in your linux setup? Can you try and add a static entry to the `/etc/hosts` file, if resolving has issues? --Alex ---
**Author:** ![nielsoncr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@nielsoncr](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nielsoncr)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 1:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/3 "2017-02-21T13:56:59Z")
The actual value in the elasticsearch.yml file is pointing to a functioning corporate smtp server. It works from another cluster so that's not it. ``` host: [my smtp hostname] ``` I did add an entry to the hosts file but no change. ---
**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/4 "2017-02-21T14:18:27Z")
Hey, just to be sure on my side: Resolving also works for localhost, independently of your SMTP configuration? Also, any changes in the hosts file will require a restart of your node. --Alex ---
**Author:** ![nielsoncr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c57346/32.png) [@nielsoncr](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nielsoncr)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 2:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/5 "2017-02-21T14:30:14Z")
Yes ping localhost PING localhost (127.0.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp\_seq=1 ttl=255 time=0.014 ms 64 bytes from localhost (127.0.0.1): icmp\_seq=2 ttl=255 time=0.024 ms ---
**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2017, 4:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/6 "2017-02-21T16:29:46Z")
Hey, interesting, so far we only found this exception on Linux systems with resolving issues. One last thing you can try out would be to also add `localhost.localdomain` to the hosts list. Apart from that, this is fixed in newer versions of watcher, so if you upgrade to the latest, this issue should be gone as well, without requiring/changing any of your setup. Would love go get to the ground of this anyway to be honest. Will try to think, how to debug this further. --Alex ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/error-executing-watcher-email-action/75798/7 "2017-03-21T16:30:01Z")
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