apache/cassandra · error · IllegalStateException

Failed setting repairedAt to %d on %s (repairedAt is %d)

Error message

Failed setting repairedAt to %d on %s (repairedAt is %d)

What it means

The repairedAt branch of verifyMetadata: after CompactionStrategyManager writes a repairedAt timestamp to an sstable (mutateRepaired path used by full/incremental repair and anticompaction), the method re-reads sstable.getRepairedAt() and throws IllegalStateException if it differs from the requested value. It indicates the repair-metadata update did not stick, usually due to a concurrent mutation on the same sstable.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/CompactionStrategyManager.java:1535

            try
            {
                // if there was an exception mutating repairedAt, we should still notify for the
                // sstables that we were able to modify successfully before releasing the lock
                cfs.getTracker().notifySSTableRepairedStatusChanged(changed);
            }
            finally
            {
                writeLock.unlock();
            }
        }
    }

    private static void verifyMetadata(SSTableReader sstable, long repairedAt, TimeUUID pendingRepair, boolean isTransient)
    {
        if (!Objects.equals(pendingRepair, sstable.getPendingRepair()))
            throw new IllegalStateException(String.format("Failed setting pending repair to %s on %s (pending repair is %s)", pendingRepair, sstable, sstable.getPendingRepair()));
        if (repairedAt != sstable.getRepairedAt())
            throw new IllegalStateException(String.format("Failed setting repairedAt to %d on %s (repairedAt is %d)", repairedAt, sstable, sstable.getRepairedAt()));
        if (isTransient != sstable.isTransient())
            throw new IllegalStateException(String.format("Failed setting isTransient to %b on %s (isTransient is %b)", isTransient, sstable, sstable.isTransient()));
    }

    public CleanupSummary releaseRepairData(Collection<TimeUUID> sessions)
    {
        List<CleanupTask> cleanupTasks = new ArrayList<>();
        readLock.lock();
        try
        {
            for (PendingRepairManager prm : Iterables.concat(pendingRepairs.getManagers(), transientRepairs.getManagers()))
                cleanupTasks.add(prm.releaseSessionData(sessions));
        }
        finally
        {
            readLock.unlock();
        }

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Re-run repair for the affected ranges so the repairedAt timestamp is recomputed and rewritten
2. Retry after concurrent repair/compaction activity completes
3. Serialize repair operations on a table (avoid overlapping incremental repairs)
4. If it occurs with no concurrent activity, file a Cassandra bug with sstablemetadata output

long current = sstable.getRepairedAt();
if (current != expectedOldValue)
    logger.warn("repairedAt already changed to {} on {}", current, sstable); // skip redundant mutation

try { mutateAndVerify(sstable, repairedAt); }
catch (IllegalStateException e) {
  // treat as benign race; repair will re-attempt, or re-run repair for the range
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting repairedAt during incremental repair session promotion (UNREPAIRED_SSTABLE -> timestamp) or when transitioning transient->repaired, followed by verification against the live metadata which reflects a different value because another writer mutated repairedAt in between.

Common situations: Two repair sessions finalizing over the same sstable; repair finalization racing with compaction or cleanup that resets repaired state; upgrade-time sstable metadata rewrite conflicts.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid state transition" errors: "status must be X, actually Y", "already rejected/charging/uninstalled", "cannot ... while running" — what they mean when a library rejects your call — this error's family across 31 libraries.

Related errors

• Failed setting pending repair to %s on %s (pending repair is
• Failed setting isTransient to %b on %s (isTransient is %b)
• No holder claimed isPendingRepair: %s, isPendingRepair %s
• Could not reference sstables
• Maximum pool size has been changed while resizing

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1da979f0c9ec524c. Report an issue: GitHub.