gRPC 4 DEADLINE_EXCEEDED vs 14 UNAVAILABLE
Both gRPC 4 (DEADLINE_EXCEEDED) and 14 (UNAVAILABLE) belong to the gRPC Status Codes category. 4 indicates that the deadline expired before the operation could complete. For operations that change the state of the system, this error may be returned even if the operation has completed successfully. Meanwhile, 14 means that the service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
Description
The deadline expired before the operation could complete. For operations that change the state of the system, this error may be returned even if the operation has completed successfully.
When You See It
The RPC took longer than the configured deadline allows. Common in slow network conditions, overloaded servers, or when the deadline is set too aggressively.
How to Fix
Increase the client deadline, optimize the server-side processing, or add server-side caching. If the operation might have succeeded, check idempotency before retrying.
Description
The service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
When You See It
The server is overloaded, shutting down, or a network partition occurred. This is the most common code to retry on, as it's explicitly transient.
How to Fix
Retry with exponential backoff. If persistent, check the server health, load balancer configuration, and network connectivity between client and server.
Key Differences
gRPC 4: The deadline expired before the operation could complete. For operations that change the state of the system, this error may be returned even if the operation has completed successfully.
gRPC 14: The service is currently unavailable. This is most likely a transient condition, which can be corrected by retrying with a backoff.
You encounter 4 when the RPC took longer than the configured deadline allows. Common in slow network conditions, overloaded servers, or when the deadline is set too aggressively.
You encounter 14 when the server is overloaded, shutting down, or a network partition occurred. This is the most common code to retry on, as it's explicitly transient.
When to Use Which
For 4 (DEADLINE_EXCEEDED): Increase the client deadline, optimize the server-side processing, or add server-side caching. If the operation might have succeeded, check idempotency before retrying. For 14 (UNAVAILABLE): Retry with exponential backoff. If persistent, check the server health, load balancer configuration, and network connectivity between client and server.