apache/cassandra · warning · java.lang.RuntimeException

Disabling compaction by setting min_compaction_threshold or

Error message

Disabling compaction by setting min_compaction_threshold or max_compaction_threshold to 0 is deprecated, set the compaction strategy option 'enabled' to 'false' instead or use the nodetool command 'disableautocompaction'.

What it means

validateCompactionThresholds rejects setting min_compaction_threshold or max_compaction_threshold to 0, because disabling compaction via zero thresholds is deprecated. Operators must instead disable the compaction strategy (option 'enabled': 'false') or use nodetool disableautocompaction.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/ColumnFamilyStore.java:2991

    public int getMaximumCompactionThreshold()
    {
        return maxCompactionThreshold.value();
    }

    public void setMaximumCompactionThreshold(int maxCompactionThreshold)
    {
        validateCompactionThresholds(minCompactionThreshold.value(), maxCompactionThreshold);
        this.maxCompactionThreshold.set(maxCompactionThreshold);
    }

    private void validateCompactionThresholds(int minThreshold, int maxThreshold)
    {
        if (minThreshold > maxThreshold)
            throw new RuntimeException(String.format("The min_compaction_threshold cannot be larger than the max_compaction_threshold. " +
                                                     "Min is '%d', Max is '%d'.", minThreshold, maxThreshold));

        if (maxThreshold == 0 || minThreshold == 0)
            throw new RuntimeException("Disabling compaction by setting min_compaction_threshold or max_compaction_threshold to 0 " +
                                       "is deprecated, set the compaction strategy option 'enabled' to 'false' instead or use the nodetool command 'disableautocompaction'.");
    }

    // End JMX get/set.

    public int getMeanEstimatedCellPerPartitionCount()
    {
        long sum = 0;
        long count = 0;
        for (SSTableReader sstable : getSSTables(SSTableSet.CANONICAL))
        {
            long n = sstable.getEstimatedCellPerPartitionCount().count();
            sum += sstable.getEstimatedCellPerPartitionCount().mean() * n;
            count += n;
        }
        return count > 0 ? (int) (sum / count) : 0;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Run nodetool disableautocompaction <ks> <table> instead of setting thresholds to 0
2. Set the compaction strategy option 'enabled' to 'false': ALTER TABLE ... WITH compaction = {'class': '...', 'enabled': 'false'}
3. Keep thresholds >= 1 and manage compaction pressure with strategy options

Example fix

// before
nodetool setmincompactionthreshold ks.t 0   // deprecated -> RuntimeException
// after
nodetool disableautocompaction ks t  // or: ALTER TABLE ks.t WITH compaction = {'class': 'SizeTieredCompactionStrategy', 'enabled': 'false'}

if (minThreshold == 0 || maxThreshold == 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException("use 'enabled': 'false' or nodetool disableautocompaction instead of 0 thresholds");

try { cfs.setMinCompactionThreshold(0); } catch (RuntimeException e) { /* deprecated disable path: call nodetool disableautocompaction instead */ }

When it happens

Trigger: setMinCompactionThreshold(0) or setMaxCompactionThreshold(0) via JMX/nodetool on a ColumnFamilyStore.

Common situations: Operators or scripts trying to 'pause' compaction during bulk loads using the old 0-threshold trick from pre-3.x practice; migration of old automation to newer Cassandra versions.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is deprecated and will be removed" — deprecation warnings for old API names, keywords, and options, and how to migrate before the removal release — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

• Could not set new local compaction strategy: <cause message>
• The min_compaction_threshold cannot be larger than the max_c
• Disabling compaction by setting compaction thresholds to 0 h
• Unknown endpoint %s
• %s is not a valid JMX resource name

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1981a207d44c14c7. Report an issue: GitHub.