hashicorp/nomad · error

Interval can not be less than %v (got %v)

Error message

Interval can not be less than %v (got %v)

What it means

RestartPolicy.Validate() enforces a minimum interval (RestartPolicyMinInterval, 1 minute by default). An interval smaller than this floor is rejected because restart throttling below that granularity is not supported.

Source

Thrown at nomad/structs/structs.go:6579

	*nrp = *r
	return nrp
}

func (r *RestartPolicy) Validate() error {
	var mErr multierror.Error
	switch r.Mode {
	case RestartPolicyModeDelay, RestartPolicyModeFail:
	default:
		_ = multierror.Append(&mErr, fmt.Errorf("Unsupported restart mode: %q", r.Mode))
	}

	// Check for ambiguous/confusing settings
	if r.Attempts == 0 && r.Mode != RestartPolicyModeFail {
		_ = multierror.Append(&mErr, fmt.Errorf("Restart policy %q with %d attempts is ambiguous", r.Mode, r.Attempts))
	}

	if r.Interval.Nanoseconds() < RestartPolicyMinInterval.Nanoseconds() {
		_ = multierror.Append(&mErr, fmt.Errorf("Interval can not be less than %v (got %v)", RestartPolicyMinInterval, r.Interval))
	}
	if time.Duration(r.Attempts)*r.Delay > r.Interval {
		_ = multierror.Append(&mErr,
			fmt.Errorf("Nomad can't restart the TaskGroup %v times in an interval of %v with a delay of %v", r.Attempts, r.Interval, r.Delay))
	}
	return mErr.ErrorOrNil()
}

func NewRestartPolicy(jobType string) *RestartPolicy {
	switch jobType {
	case JobTypeService, JobTypeSystem:
		rp := DefaultServiceJobRestartPolicy
		return &rp
	case JobTypeBatch:
		rp := DefaultBatchJobRestartPolicy
		return &rp
	}
	return nil

View on GitHub (pinned to 482b49bf1a)

Solutions

1. Raise restart_policy.interval to at least the minimum (>= 1m; default is 30m).
2. Verify duration units in HCL (e.g. "30m", not 30).
3. Run `nomad job validate` to see the exact minimum printed in the error.

Example fix

// before
restart {
  interval = "30s"
  attempts = 2
  delay    = "15s"
}
// after
restart {
  interval = "30m"
  attempts = 2
  delay    = "15s"
}

if rp != nil && rp.Interval.Nanoseconds() < structs.RestartPolicyMinInterval.Nanoseconds() {
    return fmt.Errorf("restart interval %v < minimum %v", rp.Interval, structs.RestartPolicyMinInterval)
}

When it happens

Trigger: A restart block with interval set below the minimum (e.g. interval = "30s"), or interval parsed as plain seconds/zero due to a unit mistake in HCL or JSON job submission.

Common situations: Unit confusion ("30" meaning 30s instead of 30m), copy-pasting durations from configs using different units, or generating policies in code with time.Duration in the wrong magnitude.

Related errors

• Nomad can't restart the TaskGroup %v times in an interval of
• KillTimeout must be a positive value
• gcs_timeout not a valid duration: %w
• gcs_timeout must be > 0
• git_timeout not a valid duration: %w

AI-assisted analysis of hashicorp/nomad@482b49bf1a (2026-09-04). Data as JSON: /api/errors/843eedbb556444c0. Report an issue: GitHub.