nodetool stop¶

Stops compaction operations.

Synopsis¶

nodetool [connection_options] stop [options] <compaction_type>

Description¶

nodetool stop interrupts running compaction operations. This is useful when compaction is impacting cluster performance or when emergency intervention is needed.

Arguments¶

Argument	Description
`compaction_type`	Type of compaction to stop

Options¶

Option	Description
`-id, --compaction-id <id>`	Stop a specific compaction by its ID (from `compactionstats`)

Compaction Types¶

Type	Description
`COMPACTION`	Regular compaction
`VALIDATION`	Repair validation (Merkle tree)
`CLEANUP`	Cleanup after topology change
`SCRUB`	Scrub operation
`UPGRADE_SSTABLES`	SSTable upgrade
`INDEX_BUILD`	Secondary index builds
`VIEW_BUILD`	Materialized view builds
`INDEX_SUMMARY`	Index summary redistribution
`TOMBSTONE_COMPACTION`	Tombstone-only compaction
`ANTICOMPACTION`	Post-repair anticompaction
`VERIFY`	Verification operations
`RELOCATE`	SSTable relocation
`GARBAGE_COLLECT`	Garbage collection compaction

Examples¶

Stop Regular Compaction¶

nodetool stop COMPACTION

Stop Validation (During Repair)¶

nodetool stop VALIDATION

Stop Cleanup¶

nodetool stop CLEANUP

Stop Index Build¶

nodetool stop INDEX_BUILD

Stop View Build¶

nodetool stop VIEW_BUILD

Stop Specific Compaction by ID¶

# First, get the compaction ID from compactionstats
nodetool compactionstats

# Stop specific compaction by ID
nodetool stop -id 12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789abc COMPACTION

Stop All Types¶

nodetool stop COMPACTION
nodetool stop VALIDATION
nodetool stop CLEANUP

When to Use¶

Emergency: High Latency¶

When compaction is causing unacceptable latency:

# Check if compaction is the cause
nodetool compactionstats

# Stop compaction
nodetool stop COMPACTION

Disk Full¶

When disk is critically low:

# Stop compaction immediately
nodetool stop COMPACTION

# Free space
nodetool clearsnapshot

# Consider reducing compaction throughput before resuming
nodetool setcompactionthroughput 32

Slow Repair¶

When repair validation is taking too long:

# Check repair status
nodetool repair_admin list

# Stop the validation
nodetool stop VALIDATION

# Cancel the repair
nodetool repair_admin cancel <id>

Behavior¶

Stop Behavior

When stopped:

Current compaction is interrupted
Partial work is discarded
Compaction will restart automatically
Manual compaction needs to be re-run

Auto-Resume¶

Automatic compactions resume based on the compaction strategy. To prevent immediate restart:

# Stop compaction
nodetool stop COMPACTION

# Disable auto-compaction for specific table
nodetool disableautocompaction my_keyspace my_table

Verification¶

Before Stop¶

# See what's running
nodetool compactionstats

After Stop¶

# Verify stopped
nodetool compactionstats
# Should show fewer or no active compactions

Impact¶

Stop Type	Impact
COMPACTION	SSTable count may grow
VALIDATION	Repair incomplete
CLEANUP	Extra data remains temporarily
INDEX_BUILD	Index incomplete
VIEW_BUILD	Materialized view incomplete
GARBAGE_COLLECT	Garbage not collected

Workflow: Performance Issue¶

# 1. Identify compaction causing issues
nodetool compactionstats

# 2. Stop the compaction type
nodetool stop COMPACTION

# 3. Reduce throughput
nodetool setcompactionthroughput 32

# 4. Allow compaction to resume at lower rate
# (auto-compaction restarts automatically)

# 5. Monitor
watch nodetool compactionstats

Common Scenarios¶

Scenario: Large Compaction Blocking Operations¶

# Stop the compaction
nodetool stop COMPACTION

# Reduce compaction impact
nodetool setcompactionthroughput 32
nodetool setconcurrentcompactors 1

Scenario: Repair Taking Too Long¶

# Stop validation
nodetool stop VALIDATION

# Wait for current segment to finish
sleep 30

# Restart with smaller scope
nodetool repair -pr my_keyspace

Important Considerations¶

Stopping Compaction

Does not prevent future compactions
SSTable count will grow
Read performance may degrade
Disk usage may increase
Should be temporary

Don't Use For¶

Routine operations (use throughput tuning instead)
Long-term compaction control (use strategy tuning)
Disk space issues (will make worse long-term)

Command	Relationship
compactionstats	View running compactions
setcompactionthroughput	Control compaction speed
compact	Force compaction
repair_admin	Manage repair sessions