crowdsecurity/crowdsec · error

invalid since in dsn: %w

Error message

invalid since in dsn: %w

What it means

ConfigureByDSN parses DSN parameters for the VictoriaLogs acquisition source. The `since` parameter must be a valid Go duration string (e.g. "5m", "1h"); when time.ParseDuration fails to parse the provided value, the error is wrapped with "invalid since in dsn" and configuration is aborted.

Source

Thrown at pkg/acquisition/modules/victorialogs/config.go:161

	}

	if q := params.Get("query"); q != "" {
		s.Config.Query = q
	}

	if w := params.Get("wait_for_ready"); w != "" {
		s.Config.WaitForReady, err = time.ParseDuration(w)
		if err != nil {
			return err
		}
	} else {
		s.Config.WaitForReady = 10 * time.Second
	}

	if since := params.Get("since"); since != "" {
		s.Config.Since, err = time.ParseDuration(since)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid since in dsn: %w", err)
		}
	}

	if maxFailureDuration := params.Get("max_failure_duration"); maxFailureDuration != "" {
		duration, err := time.ParseDuration(maxFailureDuration)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid max_failure_duration in dsn: %w", err)
		}

		s.Config.MaxFailureDuration = duration
	} else {
		s.Config.MaxFailureDuration = 5 * time.Second // for OneShot mode it doesn't make sense to have longer duration
	}

	if limit := params.Get("limit"); limit != "" {
		limit, err := strconv.Atoi(limit)
		if err != nil {
			return fmt.Errorf("invalid limit in dsn: %w", err)

View on GitHub (pinned to 909b515798)

Solutions

1. Fix the `since` value in the DSN/acquis.yaml to a valid Go duration, e.g. `since=1h`
2. Remember valid units are ns, us, ms, s, m, h — days/weeks are not supported; convert manually (e.g. 1d -> 24h)
3. Check the wrapped error message for the exact position where parsing failed
4. Omit the `since` parameter entirely to use the default

Example fix

// before
url: victorialogs+http://127.0.0.1:8428?since=24h
// after
url: victorialogs+http://127.0.0.1:8428?since=24h0m0s # or a valid unit like 1h

const dsn = "victorialogs+http://127.0.0.1:8428?since=1h"
const p = new URL(dsn.slice("victorialogs+".length))
const since = p.searchParams.get("since")
if (since && !/^-?\d+(ns|us|ms|s|m|h)([\d.]+(ns|us|ms|s|m|h))*$/.test(since)) {
  throw new Error(`invalid since duration: ${since}`)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling ConfigureByDSN (or cscli/crowdsec loading the acquis.yaml DSN) with a `since=` URL parameter that is not a parseable duration, e.g. `since=yesterday`, `since=24h`, `since=3600` (missing unit).

Common situations: Typo in the duration unit, copying a Unix timestamp or human phrase into `since`, or setting `since` in a config file without realizing Go duration syntax requires a unit suffix.

Understand the failure class

Background: "invalid duration" / "failed to parse duration": why your timeout, interval, or TTL string is rejected and which formats each library accepts — this error's family across 32 libraries.

Related errors

• invalid max_failure_duration in dsn: %w
• cannot parse VictoriaLogs acquisition configuration: %s
• while parsing dsn '%s': %w
• invalid DSN %s for VictoriaLogs source, must start with vict
• invalid limit in dsn: %w

AI-assisted analysis of crowdsecurity/crowdsec@909b515798 (2026-09-06). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f48deafd14712e4. Report an issue: GitHub.