apache/cassandra · error · ConfigurationException

Unable to create an instance of the compression service prov

Error message

Unable to create an instance of the compression service provider for %s

What it means

newCompressionProvider reflectively constructs the configured AbstractCompressionProvider used for custom compression implementations. Any construction failure (other than an existing ConfigurationException) is wrapped in a ConfigurationException naming the class. This happens at startup when a custom compression provider is configured.

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/utils/FBUtilities.java:760

    public static AbstractCompressionProvider newCompressionProvider(String className) throws ConfigurationException
    {
        try
        {
            if (!className.contains("."))
                className = "org.apache.cassandra.io.compress." + className;

            Class<? extends AbstractCompressionProvider> compressionProviderClass =
                FBUtilities.classForNameWithoutInitialization(className, "compression service provider", AbstractCompressionProvider.class);
            return compressionProviderClass.getConstructor().newInstance();
        }
        catch (ConfigurationException e)
        {
            throw e;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("Unable to create an instance of the compression service provider for %s", className), e);
        }
    }

    /**
     * Loads and initializes a class.
     *
     * @return The Class for the given name.
     * @param classname Fully qualified classname.
     * @param readable Descriptive noun for the role the class plays.
     * @throws ConfigurationException If the class cannot be found.
     */
    public static <T> Class<T> classForName(String classname, String readable) throws ConfigurationException
    {
        try
        {
            return (Class<T>)Class.forName(classname);
        }
        catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoClassDefFoundError e)

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

Correct the provider class name in configuration
Add the provider jar to lib/ on all nodes and restart
Verify the class extends AbstractCompressionProvider with a public (Map) constructor
Check the chained cause for constructor failures

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

try { Class<?> c = Class.forName(className, false, getClass().getClassLoader());
      if (!AbstractCompressionProvider.class.isAssignableFrom(c)) throw new IllegalArgumentException("not an AbstractCompressionProvider: " + className); }
catch (ClassNotFoundException e) { throw new IllegalArgumentException("compression provider not found", e); }

Try / catch

try {
    provider = FBUtilities.newCompressionProvider(className);
} catch (ConfigurationException e) {
    // fall back to default compressor or abort startup with cause
    throw new IllegalStateException("compression provider init failed", e);
}

Prevention

Only configure class_name when using a non-default compression provider
Ship provider jars with the same version everywhere
Keep the (Map) constructor public and stable
Check schema compression_options for stale class names after upgrades

When it happens

Trigger: compression provider configuration (e.g. class_name under compression_options) pointing to a class that is absent, not an AbstractCompressionProvider, missing the expected (Map) constructor, or whose constructor throws.

Common situations: Custom compression jar not shipped to the cluster; typo in class name; constructor throws on bad parameters; API change after Cassandra upgrade.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/d624b9cf5aa6ccc3. Report an issue: GitHub.