apache/cassandra · error · InvalidRequestException

Forbidden default_time_to_live detected for a materialized v

Error message

Forbidden default_time_to_live detected for a materialized view. Data in a materialized view always expire at the same time than the corresponding data in the parent table. default_time_to_live must be set to zero, see CASSANDRA-12868 for more information

What it means

Materialized views must have default_time_to_live = 0 because view rows must expire at exactly the same time as the corresponding base-table rows; a view-level TTL would cause divergence (CASSANDRA-12868). AlterViewStatement.apply() throws when the altered params have defaultTimeToLive > 0.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/cql3/statements/schema/AlterViewStatement.java:101

        }

        attrs.validate();

        // Guardrails on table properties
        Guardrails.tableProperties.guard(attrs.updatedProperties(), attrs::removeProperty, state);

        TableParams params = attrs.asAlteredTableParams(view.metadata.params);

        if (params.gcGraceSeconds == 0)
        {
            throw ire("Cannot alter gc_grace_seconds of a materialized view to 0, since this " +
                      "value is used to TTL undelivered updates. Setting gc_grace_seconds too " +
                      "low might cause undelivered updates to expire before being replayed.");
        }

        if (params.defaultTimeToLive > 0)
        {
            throw ire("Forbidden default_time_to_live detected for a materialized view. " +
                      "Data in a materialized view always expire at the same time than " +
                      "the corresponding data in the parent table. default_time_to_live " +
                      "must be set to zero, see CASSANDRA-12868 for more information");
        }

        ViewMetadata newView = view.copy(view.metadata.withSwapped(params));
        return schema.withAddedOrUpdated(keyspace.withSwapped(keyspace.views.withSwapped(newView)));
    }

    SchemaChange schemaChangeEvent(KeyspacesDiff diff)
    {
        return new SchemaChange(Change.UPDATED, Target.TABLE, keyspaceName, viewName);
    }

    public void authorize(ClientState client)
    {
        ViewMetadata view = Schema.instance.getView(keyspaceName, viewName);
        if (null != view)

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Remove the default_time_to_live option from the ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW statement
2. Set TTL on the base table instead (`ALTER TABLE ... WITH default_time_to_live = n` or per-row USING TTL), which propagates expiry to views
3. Keep/force default_time_to_live = 0 on the view

Example fix

// before
ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW ks.v WITH default_time_to_live = 604800;

// after
ALTER TABLE ks.base WITH default_time_to_live = 604800;

// Ensure no positive TTL is applied to views
if (Number(opts.default_time_to_live) > 0) {
  throw new Error('default_time_to_live must be 0 for materialized views (CASSANDRA-12868)');
}

function isViewSafeTtl(s) { const n = Number(s); return Number.isFinite(n) && n === 0; }

try {
  session.execute(alterViewCql);
} catch (e) {
  if (/Forbidden default_time_to_live/.test(e.message)) {
    // move the TTL to the base table instead
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: `ALTER MATERIALIZED VIEW <ks>.<view> WITH default_time_to_live = <n>` for any n > 0.

Common situations: Applying table-level TTL policies uniformly to views; attempting to 'fix' expiring data by adding TTL at the view level instead of the base table.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

• Cannot alter gc_grace_seconds of a materialized view to 0, s
• Cannot set default_time_to_live for a materialized view. Dat
• Load CIDR groups cache operation not supported by %s
• 'Get CIDR groups for IP' operation not supported by %s
• ACCESS TO DATACENTERS operations not supported by AllowAllNe

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0d43213ec3d18fde. Report an issue: GitHub.