apache/cassandra · error · ConfigurationException

write_size_warn_threshold (%s) cannot be less than min_track

Error message

write_size_warn_threshold (%s) cannot be less than min_tracked_partition_size (%s)

What it means

write_size_warn_threshold cannot be below min_tracked_partition_size: the warn gate must trigger no earlier than partitions start being tracked, otherwise tracking is meaningless. validateWriteSizeThreshold throws this ConfigurationException when writeSizeWarn.toBytes() < minTrackedSize.toBytes().

Source

Thrown at src/java/org/apache/cassandra/config/DatabaseDescriptor.java:1378

        validateWriteSizeThreshold(config.write_size_warn_threshold, config.min_tracked_partition_size);
        validateWriteTombstoneThresholdRange(config.write_tombstone_warn_threshold, config.min_tracked_partition_tombstone_count);
    }

    private static void validateReadThresholds(String name, DataStorageSpec.LongBytesBound warn, DataStorageSpec.LongBytesBound fail)
    {
        if (fail != null && warn != null && fail.toBytes() < warn.toBytes())
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("%s (%s) must be greater than or equal to %s (%s)",
                                                           name + "_fail_threshold", fail,
                                                           name + "_warn_threshold", warn));
    }

    private static void validateWriteSizeThreshold(DataStorageSpec.LongBytesBound writeSizeWarn, DataStorageSpec.LongBytesBound minTrackedSize)
    {
        if (writeSizeWarn != null && minTrackedSize != null)
        {
            if (writeSizeWarn.toBytes() < minTrackedSize.toBytes())
                throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("write_size_warn_threshold (%s) cannot be less than min_tracked_partition_size (%s)", writeSizeWarn, minTrackedSize));
        }
    }

    private static void validateWriteTombstoneThresholdRange(int writeTombstoneWarn, long minTrackedTombstoneCount)
    {
        if (writeTombstoneWarn < -1)
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("write_tombstone_warn_threshold (%d) must be -1 (disabled) or >= 0", writeTombstoneWarn));

        if (writeTombstoneWarn != -1 && writeTombstoneWarn < minTrackedTombstoneCount)
            throw new ConfigurationException(String.format("write_tombstone_warn_threshold (%d) cannot be less than min_tracked_partition_tombstone_count (%d)",
                                                           writeTombstoneWarn, minTrackedTombstoneCount));
    }

    public static GuardrailsOptions getGuardrailsConfig()
    {
        return guardrails;
    }

View on GitHub (pinned to 88fd0f6a0e)

Solutions

  1. Raise write_size_warn_threshold to be >= min_tracked_partition_size
  2. Lower min_tracked_partition_size below the warn threshold
  3. Verify unit suffixes so the byte comparison matches intent
  4. Use the exception values to see exactly which parsed bounds conflict

Example fix

// before (cassandra.yaml)
write_size_warn_threshold: 4MiB
min_tracked_partition_size: 8MiB
// after
write_size_warn_threshold: 16MiB
min_tracked_partition_size: 8MiB
Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (writeSizeWarn != null && minTrackedSize != null && writeSizeWarn.toBytes() < minTrackedSize.toBytes())
    throw new IllegalArgumentException("write_size_warn_threshold < min_tracked_partition_size");

Try / catch

try { DatabaseDescriptor.daemonInitialization(); } catch (ConfigurationException e) { LOG.error("Write size thresholds invalid: " + e.getMessage()); System.exit(1); }

Prevention

When it happens

Trigger: cassandra.yaml with write_size_warn_threshold smaller than min_tracked_partition_size (both non-null), validated at startup by DatabaseDescriptor.

Common situations: Lowering the warn threshold for earlier warnings without realizing it must stay above the tracking floor; units mismatch making the warn value smaller in bytes; upgrading and carrying over older defaults that now conflict.

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

AI-assisted analysis of apache/cassandra@88fd0f6a0e (2026-09-10). Data as JSON: /api/errors/adfb82acc8caa66a. Report an issue: GitHub.