What causes "%s is not valid for %s" in apache/cassandra?

Set timestamp_resolution to one of SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, MINUTES or HOURS (default MILLISECONDS).

apache/cassandra · error · ConfigurationException

is not valid for

Error message

%s is not valid for %s

What it means

ConfigurationException thrown by TimeWindowCompactionStrategyOptions.validateOptions when the timestamp_resolution option is not one of the accepted time units (seconds, milliseconds, minutes, hours) or is not a valid TimeUnit name at all. The same message is used both when the value parses to a TimeUnit that isn't in the valid set and when TimeUnit.valueOf throws IllegalArgumentException for an unknown name.

Solutions

Set timestamp_resolution to one of SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, MINUTES or HOURS (default MILLISECONDS).
Remove the option to use the default resolution.
Match the resolution to how the table's write timestamp is actually generated.

Example fix

// before
{'class':'TimeWindowCompactionStrategy','timestamp_resolution':'MICROSECONDS'}
// after
{'class':'TimeWindowCompactionStrategy','timestamp_resolution':'MILLISECONDS'}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

Set<String> valid = Set.of("SECONDS","MILLISECONDS","MINUTES","HOURS");
if (opts.containsKey("timestamp_resolution") && !valid.contains(opts.get("timestamp_resolution"))) throw new IllegalArgumentException("timestamp_resolution must be one of " + valid);

Try / catch

try { schema.alterTable(cql); } catch (ConfigurationException e) { if (e.getMessage().contains("TIMESTAMP_RESOLUTION_KEY")) { /* use a valid unit name and retry */ } else throw e; }

Prevention

Only use SECONDS, MILLISECONDS, MINUTES or HOURS — not arbitrary TimeUnit constants.
Match the resolution to the timestamp source of the table (usually MILLISECONDS).
Keep option values exact-case uppercase TimeUnit names.

When it happens

Trigger: CREATE/ALTER TABLE with {'class':'TimeWindowCompactionStrategy','timestamp_resolution':'MICROSECONDS'} (valid TimeUnit, not in validTimestampTimeUnits) or 'timestamp_resolution':'sec' (not a TimeUnit constant, caught as IllegalArgumentException).

Common situations: Choosing an unsupported resolution like DAYS or MICROSECONDS; abbreviating unit names ('secs'); copy-pasting options from a different system that accepts arbitrary ChronoUnit names.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/914527c2f4dfbbbe. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/db/compaction/TimeWindowCompactionStrategyOptions.java:101

    public TimeWindowCompactionStrategyOptions()
    {
        sstableWindowUnit = DEFAULT_COMPACTION_WINDOW_UNIT;
        timestampResolution = DEFAULT_TIMESTAMP_RESOLUTION;
        sstableWindowSize = DEFAULT_COMPACTION_WINDOW_SIZE;
        expiredSSTableCheckFrequency = TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(DEFAULT_EXPIRED_SSTABLE_CHECK_FREQUENCY_SECONDS, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
        ignoreOverlaps = DEFAULT_UNSAFE_AGGRESSIVE_SSTABLE_EXPIRATION;
        stcsOptions = new SizeTieredCompactionStrategyOptions();
    }

    public static Map<String, String> validateOptions(Map<String, String> options, Map<String, String> uncheckedOptions) throws  ConfigurationException
    {
        String optionValue = options.get(TIMESTAMP_RESOLUTION_KEY);
        try
        {
            if (optionValue != null)
                if (!validTimestampTimeUnits.contains(TimeUnit.valueOf(optionValue)))
                    throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("%s is not valid for %s", optionValue, TIMESTAMP_RESOLUTION_KEY));
        }
        catch (IllegalArgumentException e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("%s is not valid for %s", optionValue, TIMESTAMP_RESOLUTION_KEY));
        }


        optionValue = options.get(COMPACTION_WINDOW_UNIT_KEY);
        try
        {
            if (optionValue != null)
                if (!validWindowTimeUnits.contains(TimeUnit.valueOf(optionValue)))
                    throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("%s is not valid for %s", optionValue, COMPACTION_WINDOW_UNIT_KEY));

        }
        catch (IllegalArgumentException e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("%s is not valid for %s", optionValue, COMPACTION_WINDOW_UNIT_KEY), e);

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