apache/cassandra · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unrecognised option(s) in column spec

Error message

Unrecognised option(s) in column spec: ${spec}

What it means

StressProfile.init parses per-column spec maps from the stress YAML. Each column spec may only contain the keys name, population, size, and cluster; any leftover keys cause this IllegalArgumentException listing the unrecognised keys. It exists to catch YAML typos early instead of silently ignoring misconfigured options.

Solutions

1. Remove or correct the unrecognised keys listed in the exception message from the column spec in the YAML
2. Rename misspelled options to the supported set: name, population, size, cluster
3. Check the cassandra-stress profile YAML schema/docs for the correct option names
4. Validate the YAML by running a minimal profile before scaling up

Example fix

# before
columnspec:
  clustering: uniform(1..10)
  name: c1
# after
columnspec:
  cluster: uniform(1..10)
  name: c1

// validate column spec keys before load
Set<String> allowed = Set.of("name","population","size","cluster");
spec.keySet().forEach(k -> { if (!allowed.contains(k)) throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad column spec key: " + k); });

try { profile.init(yaml); } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) { log.error("Profile column spec invalid: {}", e.getMessage()); throw new ConfigException(e); }

When it happens

Trigger: Calling profile.init(yaml) where a column spec entry in the YAML contains an option other than name/population/size/cluster (e.g. misspelled 'clustering' instead of 'cluster', or stray keys like 'type').

Common situations: Typos in stress YAML column definitions, copying options from other tools, using outdated option names from older cassandra-stress docs, hand-editing profile YAML files.

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.

Related errors

• Missing name argument in column spec
• No bulk read query defined with name
• No query defined with name
• Unrecognised insert option(s)
• Config contains both old and new keys for the same…

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ffc0ba6a932f9c2d. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at tools/stress/src/org/apache/cassandra/stress/StressProfile.java:255

        else
        {
            tableCql = null;
        }

        columnConfigs = new HashMap<>();

        if (yaml.columnspec != null)
        {
            for (Map<String, Object> spec : yaml.columnspec)
            {
                lowerCase(spec);
                String name = (String) spec.remove("name");
                DistributionFactory population = !spec.containsKey("population") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("population"));
                DistributionFactory size = !spec.containsKey("size") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("size"));
                DistributionFactory clustering = !spec.containsKey("cluster") ? null : OptionDistribution.get((String) spec.remove("cluster"));

                if (!spec.isEmpty())
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unrecognised option(s) in column spec: " + spec);
                if (name == null)
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("Missing name argument in column spec");

                GeneratorConfig config = new GeneratorConfig(seedStr + name, clustering, size, population);
                columnConfigs.put(name, config);
            }
        }
    }

    public void maybeCreateSchema(StressSettings settings)
    {
        if (!schemaCreated)
        {
            JavaDriverClient client = settings.getJavaDriverClient();

            if (keyspaceCql != null)
            {
                try

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