nodetool gettimeout

Displays the timeout value for the specified type.

---

Synopsis

nodetool [connection_options] gettimeout <timeout_type>

Description

nodetool gettimeout retrieves the current timeout value for a specific operation type. Timeouts control how long Cassandra waits for various operations before failing with a timeout exception.

Understanding current timeout settings is essential for:

• Troubleshooting timeout errors - Verify current settings
• Performance tuning - Assess if timeouts match workload requirements
• Configuration validation - Confirm runtime matches expected values

---

Arguments

Argument	Description
timeout_type	The type of timeout to query

Timeout Types

Type	Description
read	Timeout for read operations
write	Timeout for write operations
range	Timeout for range read operations
counterwrite	Timeout for counter write operations
cascontention	Timeout for CAS (Compare-and-Set) contention retries
truncate	Timeout for truncate operations
misc	Timeout for miscellaneous operations
internodeconnect	Timeout for internode connections
internodeuser	Timeout for internode streaming

---

Examples

Get Read Timeout

nodetool gettimeout read

Output:

Current timeout for type read: 5000 ms

Get Write Timeout

nodetool gettimeout write

Get All Timeouts

# Check all timeout types
for type in read write range counterwrite cascontention truncate misc; do
    echo -n "$type: "
    nodetool gettimeout $type
done

---

Default Timeout Values

Timeout Type	Default	Description
read	5000 ms	Single partition reads
write	2000 ms	Writes and mutations
range	10000 ms	Range scans and token range reads
counterwrite	5000 ms	Counter mutations
cascontention	1000 ms	LWT contention retries
truncate	60000 ms	Table truncation

---

Use Cases

Troubleshoot Timeout Errors

When seeing ReadTimeoutException or WriteTimeoutException:

# Check current read timeout
nodetool gettimeout read

# If timeouts are appropriate, issue is likely performance-related
# If timeouts are too low, consider increasing

# Check write timeout
nodetool gettimeout write

Verify Configuration

Confirm runtime matches cassandra.yaml:

#!/bin/bash
# verify_timeouts.sh

echo "=== Timeout Configuration Verification ==="
echo ""

echo "Runtime values:"
for type in read write range counterwrite; do
    nodetool gettimeout $type
done

echo ""
echo "cassandra.yaml values:"
grep -E "read_request_timeout|write_request_timeout|range_request_timeout|counter_write_request_timeout" /etc/cassandra/cassandra.yaml

Performance Analysis

Understand timeout settings for capacity planning:

#!/bin/bash
# timeout_analysis.sh

echo "=== Timeout Analysis ==="
echo ""

read_timeout=$(nodetool gettimeout read 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)
write_timeout=$(nodetool gettimeout write 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)
range_timeout=$(nodetool gettimeout range 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)

echo "Current Timeouts:"
echo "  Read:  ${read_timeout}ms"
echo "  Write: ${write_timeout}ms"
echo "  Range: ${range_timeout}ms"

echo ""
echo "Recommendations:"
if [ "$read_timeout" -lt 5000 ]; then
    echo "  - Read timeout below default (5000ms)"
fi
if [ "$write_timeout" -lt 2000 ]; then
    echo "  - Write timeout below default (2000ms)"
fi

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Cluster-Wide Check

Compare Across Nodes

#!/bin/bash
# check_timeouts_cluster.sh

TIMEOUT_TYPE="${1:-read}"

echo "=== Cluster Timeout Check: $TIMEOUT_TYPE ==="
echo ""

# Get list of node IPs from local nodetool status
nodes=$(nodetool status | grep "^UN" | awk '{print $2}')

for node in $nodes; do
    echo -n "$node: "
    ssh "$node" "nodetool gettimeout $TIMEOUT_TYPE" 2>/dev/null || echo "FAILED"
done

Verify Consistency

#!/bin/bash
# verify_timeout_consistency.sh

echo "=== Timeout Consistency Check ==="
echo ""

# Get list of node IPs from local nodetool status
nodes=$(nodetool status | grep "^UN" | awk '{print $2}')

for type in read write range counterwrite; do
    echo "Checking $type timeout:"
    values=""
    for node in $nodes; do
        value=$(ssh "$node" "nodetool gettimeout $type" 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)
        echo "  $node: ${value}ms"
        values="$values $value"
    done

    unique=$(echo $values | tr ' ' '\n' | sort -u | grep -v "^$" | wc -l)
    if [ "$unique" -gt 1 ]; then
        echo "  WARNING: Inconsistent values across cluster!"
    else
        echo "  OK: Consistent across cluster"
    fi
    echo ""
done

---

Monitoring Integration

Prometheus Export

#!/bin/bash
# Export timeouts as metrics

for type in read write range counterwrite cascontention; do
    value=$(nodetool gettimeout $type 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)
    if [ -n "$value" ]; then
        echo "cassandra_timeout_${type}_ms $value"
    fi
done

JSON Output

#!/bin/bash
# Output timeouts as JSON

echo "{"
echo "  \"timestamp\": \"$(date -Iseconds)\","
echo "  \"timeouts\": {"

first=true
for type in read write range counterwrite cascontention truncate; do
    value=$(nodetool gettimeout $type 2>/dev/null | grep -oE "[0-9]+" | head -1)
    if [ -n "$value" ]; then
        if [ "$first" = true ]; then
            first=false
        else
            echo ","
        fi
        echo -n "    \"$type\": $value"
    fi
done

echo ""
echo "  }"
echo "}"

---

Troubleshooting

Command Fails

# Check JMX connectivity
nodetool info

# Verify timeout type is valid
nodetool gettimeout read  # Known valid type

Invalid Timeout Type

# If you see "unknown timeout type" error
# Use one of: read, write, range, counterwrite, cascontention, truncate, misc

Unexpected Value

# If value differs from cassandra.yaml
# Runtime may have been changed with settimeout
# Or JVM parameters may override

# Check for JVM overrides
ps aux | grep cassandra | grep timeout

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Best Practices

Timeout Management

1. Document current values - Record timeouts as part of configuration management
2. Cluster consistency - Ensure all nodes have the same timeouts
3. Monitor timeout errors - Correlate errors with timeout settings
4. Adjust carefully - Increasing timeouts masks performance issues
5. Consider workload - Range queries often need longer timeouts

Timeout Tuning Guidance

• Read timeout: Increase for slow storage or complex queries
• Write timeout: Rarely needs increasing; investigate if writes timeout
• Range timeout: May need increasing for large scans
• Counter timeout: Important for counter-heavy workloads
• CAS contention: Affects LWT operations under contention

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Related Commands

Command	Relationship
settimeout	Modify timeout values
info	General node information
proxyhistograms	View latency distributions