nodetool getmaxhintwindow¶

Displays the maximum hint window in milliseconds.

Synopsis¶

nodetool [connection_options] getmaxhintwindow

See connection options for connection options.

Description¶

nodetool getmaxhintwindow displays the current maximum hint window configuration. The hint window defines how long Cassandra will store hints for an unavailable node. If a node is down longer than this window, hints are not stored and repair is needed to restore consistency.

Examples¶

Basic Usage¶

nodetool getmaxhintwindow

Sample Output¶

Current max hint window: 10800000 ms

Understanding the Hint Window¶

Default Value¶

The default is 3 hours.

Configuration¶

The cassandra.yaml parameter name varies by version:

Cassandra Version	Parameter Name	Example
Pre-4.1	`max_hint_window_in_ms`	`10800000` (3 hours)
4.1+	`max_hint_window`	`3h`

# cassandra.yaml (4.1+)
max_hint_window: 3h

# cassandra.yaml (Pre-4.1)
# max_hint_window_in_ms: 10800000

How It Works¶

Node Down Duration	Hint Behavior
< hint window	Hints stored and delivered
> hint window	No hints stored, needs repair

Use Cases¶

Verify Configuration¶

# Check current hint window
nodetool getmaxhintwindow

# Convert to hours: 10800000ms = 3 hours

Capacity Planning¶

Understanding hint window helps plan for: - Maximum outage duration covered by hints - When repair becomes necessary - Hint storage disk requirements

Command	Relationship
setmaxhintwindow	Set hint window
listpendinghints	View pending hints
statushandoff	Check handoff status