microsoft/garnet · critical · Exception

Cannot use CommitFrequencyMs or CommitWait without EnableAOF

Error message

Cannot use CommitFrequencyMs or CommitWait without EnableAOF

What it means

Thrown by GarnetServer.CreateAOF when AOF is disabled (EnableAOF=false) but either CommitFrequencyMs is non-zero or WaitForCommit is true. These settings only make sense in the context of an active append-only file; without AOF enabled, they are meaningless and indicate a misconfiguration. Garnet fails fast rather than silently ignoring the intent.

Source

Thrown at libs/host/GarnetServer.cs:480

                , Tsavorite.core.StoreFunctions.Create(new GarnetKeyComparer(),
                    () => new GarnetObjectSerializer(customCommandManager),
                    new GarnetRecordTriggers(cacheSizeTracker, rangeIndexManager, vectorManager))
                , (allocatorSettings, storeFunctions) => new(allocatorSettings, storeFunctions));

            if (kvSettings.LogMemorySize > 0 || kvSettings.ReadCacheMemorySize > 0)
            {
                cacheSizeTracker.Initialize(store, kvSettings.LogMemorySize, kvSettings.ReadCacheMemorySize, this.loggerFactory);
                sizeTracker = cacheSizeTracker;
            }
            return store;
        }

        private GarnetAppendOnlyFile CreateAOF(int dbId)
        {
            if (!opts.EnableAOF)
            {
                if (opts.CommitFrequencyMs != 0 || opts.WaitForCommit)
                    throw new Exception("Cannot use CommitFrequencyMs or CommitWait without EnableAOF");
                return null;
            }

            if (opts.FastAofTruncate && opts.CommitFrequencyMs != -1)
                throw new Exception("Need to set CommitFrequencyMs to -1 (manual commits) with FastAofTruncate");

            opts.GetAofSettings(dbId, out var aofSettings);
            var appendOnlyFile = new GarnetAppendOnlyFile(opts, aofSettings, logger: this.loggerFactory?.CreateLogger("GarnetLog [aof]"));

            if (opts.CommitFrequencyMs < 0 && opts.WaitForCommit)
                throw new Exception("Cannot use CommitWait with manual commits");
            return appendOnlyFile;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Start server instance
        /// </summary>
        public void Start()

View on GitHub (pinned to 951b0fc683)

Solutions

1. If you want AOF durability, set EnableAOF=true.
2. If AOF is intentionally disabled, set CommitFrequencyMs=0 and WaitForCommit=false.
3. Review your config to ensure AOF-related settings are consistent with the EnableAOF flag.

Example fix

// before
var opts = new GarnetServerOptions
{
    EnableAOF = false,
    CommitFrequencyMs = 1000  // inconsistent
};

// after: enable AOF
var opts = new GarnetServerOptions
{
    EnableAOF = true,
    CommitFrequencyMs = 1000
};

if (!opts.EnableAOF && (opts.CommitFrequencyMs != 0 || opts.WaitForCommit))
    throw new InvalidOperationException(
        "CommitFrequencyMs and WaitForCommit require EnableAOF=true. " +
        "Either enable AOF or clear these settings.");

static bool AreAofSettingsConsistent(GarnetServerOptions opts) =>
    opts.EnableAOF || (opts.CommitFrequencyMs == 0 && !opts.WaitForCommit);

When it happens

Trigger: Configuring GarnetServerOptions with EnableAOF=false while also setting CommitFrequencyMs to a non-zero value or WaitForCommit=true. The check is at GarnetServer.cs:479.

Common situations: Disabling AOF but forgetting to clear related commit settings; config templates that set commit parameters globally; misunderstanding that commit frequency only applies when AOF is active.

Related errors

• Need to set CommitFrequencyMs to -1 (manual commits) with Fa
• Cannot use CommitWait with manual commits
• AofSizeLimit cannot be enforced with disabled AOF!
• AofMemorySize (effective {effectiveMemory} after rounding do
• AofPageSize (effective {effectivePage} after rounding down t

AI-assisted analysis of microsoft/garnet@951b0fc683 (2026-08-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/5dd97c755a97fed0. Report an issue: GitHub.