apache/hadoop · error · InvalidRequestException

Cannot set a negative expiration: {expiry.getMillis()}

Error message

Cannot set a negative expiration: {expiry.getMillis()}

What it means

Error "Cannot set a negative expiration: {expiry.getMillis()}" thrown in apache/hadoop.

Source

Thrown at hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/CacheManager.java:423

   * 
   * @param info to validate.
   * @param maxRelativeExpiryTime of the info's pool.
   * @return the expiration time, or the pool's max absolute expiration if the
   *         info's expiration was not set.
   * @throws InvalidRequestException if the info's Expiration is invalid.
   */
  private static long validateExpiryTime(CacheDirectiveInfo info,
      long maxRelativeExpiryTime) throws InvalidRequestException {
    LOG.trace("Validating directive {} pool maxRelativeExpiryTime {}", info,
        maxRelativeExpiryTime);
    final long now = new Date().getTime();
    final long maxAbsoluteExpiryTime = now + maxRelativeExpiryTime;
    if (info == null || info.getExpiration() == null) {
      return maxAbsoluteExpiryTime;
    }
    Expiration expiry = info.getExpiration();
    if (expiry.getMillis() < 0l) {
      throw new InvalidRequestException("Cannot set a negative expiration: "
          + expiry.getMillis());
    }
    long relExpiryTime, absExpiryTime;
    if (expiry.isRelative()) {
      relExpiryTime = expiry.getMillis();
      absExpiryTime = now + relExpiryTime;
    } else {
      absExpiryTime = expiry.getMillis();
      relExpiryTime = absExpiryTime - now;
    }
    // Need to cap the expiry so we don't overflow a long when doing math
    if (relExpiryTime > Expiration.MAX_RELATIVE_EXPIRY_MS) {
      throw new InvalidRequestException("Expiration "
          + expiry.toString() + " is too far in the future!");
    }
    // Fail if the requested expiry is greater than the max
    if (relExpiryTime > maxRelativeExpiryTime) {
      throw new InvalidRequestException("Expiration " + expiry.toString()

View on GitHub (pinned to 2add963021)

Solutions

1. Use a positive TTL/expiration for the cache directive (e.g. -ttl 3600000 or 'never').

When it happens

Trigger: addCacheDirective/modify with a negative expiration time.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of apache/hadoop@2add963021 (2026-08-22). Data as JSON: /api/errors/949756fef1209b17. Report an issue: GitHub.