apache/cassandra · critical · ConfigurationException

%s as value of %s is invalid duration! %s

Error message

%s as value of %s is invalid duration! %s

What it means

Cassandra's cloud metadata connector (used by snitches like Ec2Snitch) reads the `cassandra.metadata_request_timeout` / METADATA_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_PROPERTY setting and parses it as a DurationSpec.IntMillisecondsBound. If the configured string is not a valid duration (wrong unit, non-numeric, negative, or out of range), the spec constructor throws IllegalArgumentException, which is re-wrapped as ConfigurationException with this message. Node startup fails until the property is fixed.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/locator/AbstractCloudMetadataServiceConnector.java:79

        }
        catch (MalformedURLException | IllegalArgumentException | URISyntaxException ex)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException(format("Snitch metadata service URL '%s' is invalid. Please review snitch properties " +
                                                    "defined in the configured '%s' configuration file.",
                                                    parsedMetadataServiceUrl,
                                                    CassandraRelevantProperties.CASSANDRA_RACKDC_PROPERTIES.getKey()),
                                             ex);
        }

        String metadataRequestTimeout = properties.get(METADATA_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_PROPERTY, DEFAULT_METADATA_REQUEST_TIMEOUT);

        try
        {
            this.requestTimeoutMs = new DurationSpec.IntMillisecondsBound(metadataRequestTimeout).toMilliseconds();
        }
        catch (IllegalArgumentException ex)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException(format("%s as value of %s is invalid duration! " + ex.getMessage(),
                                                    metadataRequestTimeout,
                                                    METADATA_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_PROPERTY));
        }
    }

    public SnitchProperties getProperties()
    {
        return properties;
    }

    public final String apiCall(String query) throws IOException
    {
        return apiCall(metadataServiceUrl, query, "GET", ImmutableMap.of(), 200);
    }

    public final String apiCall(String query, Map<String, String> extraHeaders) throws IOException
    {
        return apiCall(metadataServiceUrl, query, "GET", extraHeaders, 200);

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

1. Fix the property value to a valid duration with an accepted unit, e.g. -Dcassandra.metadata_request_timeout=500ms
2. Remove the custom property to fall back to the default timeout
3. Check ex.getMessage() in the error text: it states exactly why parsing failed (unit or range)
4. Restart the node after correcting the value

Example fix

// before
cassandra-env.sh: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.metadata_request_timeout=10sec"
// after
cassandra-env.sh: JVM_OPTS="$JVM_OPTS -Dcassandra.metadata_request_timeout=10s"

// Validate before setting the JVM property / yaml value
String v = System.getProperty("cassandra.metadata_request_timeout", "");
if (!v.isEmpty()) {
    try {
        new DurationSpec.IntMillisecondsBound(v);
    } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Bad " + "cassandra.metadata_request_timeout" + " value: " + v);
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting the metadata request timeout property (e.g. -Dcassandra.metadata_request_timeout=abc, or '5x', or '-1ms') so that DurationSpec.IntMillisecondsBound cannot parse it; occurs in the AbstractCloudMetadataServiceConnector constructor at startup.

Common situations: Typo in the duration unit (e.g. '500' without unit is rejected in newer versions, '5secs' instead of '5s'), copy-pasted config from an older Cassandra version, or an empty value in cassandra.yaml / JVM options.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid duration" / "failed to parse duration": why your timeout, interval, or TTL string is rejected and which formats each library accepts — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• Configuration must specify either node_proximity and initial
• Snitch metadata service URL '%s' is invalid. Please review s
• No metadata server could be found in lease file.
• Initial location provider rejected registration location, pl
• %s has authorization enabled which requires %s to enable aut

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c65eeedd8aa5b71c. Report an issue: GitHub.